# Milvus vs Weaviate

**Leader by vioscaleAI score:** Weaviate

| Attribute | Milvus | Weaviate |
|---|---|---|
| **vioscaleAI score** | 57.2 (57% (medium)) | 62.5 (73% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 100 | 100 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 7 | 15 |
| adoption.github_stars | 46,375 | 16,862 |
| content.faq | `[{"answer":"A distributed database system for storing and searching high-dimensional vectors at scale. Supports multiple deployment models from local notebooks to cloud-managed services, with capabilities for hybrid search combining dense and sparse embeddings. It is indexed under Vector Databases.","source":"https://milvus.io","question":"What is Milvus?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Milvus offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://milvus.io","question":"Is Milvus free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Milvus supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://milvus.io","question":"What platforms does Milvus support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Milvus can be deployed cloud / SaaS, hybrid and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://milvus.io","question":"Can Milvus be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have confirmed 7 integrations for Milvus, including OpenAI, Sentence Transformers, BGE-M3, SPLADE, Jina AI, BM25 and PyMilvus. This is what we could verify from public sources, so the vendor may support others we have not indexed.","source":"https://milvus.io","question":"What does Milvus integrate with?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Milvus is published under the Apache-2.0 licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus","question":"Is Milvus open source?","confidence":0.95}]` | `[{"answer":"Weaviate is an open-source vector database that supports hybrid search, metadata filtering, and scalable deployments. It enables developers to build AI applications with semantic search capabilities. It is indexed under Vector Databases.","source":"https://weaviate.io/blog/weaviate-cloud-pricing-update","question":"What is Weaviate?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Weaviate offers a free tier, so you can start without paying. Pricing changes often, so verify at source before relying on it.","source":"https://weaviate.io","question":"Is Weaviate free?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Weaviate supports the web and a command-line interface. Platforms we have not confirmed are simply not listed here rather than ruled out.","source":"https://weaviate.io","question":"What platforms does Weaviate support?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"Yes. Weaviate can be deployed cloud / SaaS and self-hosted, so it does not have to run on the vendor's infrastructure.","source":"https://weaviate.io/blog/weaviate-cloud-pricing-update","question":"Can Weaviate be self-hosted?","confidence":0.6},{"answer":"We have independently confirmed SOC 2, HIPAA and GDPR for Weaviate. Certifications we do not list are ones we have not been able to verify from public sources, which is not the same as Weaviate not holding them. Always confirm compliance directly before you rely on it.","source":"https://weaviate.io","question":"What security certifications does Weaviate have?","confidence":0.48},{"answer":"Yes. Weaviate is published under the BSD-3-Clause licence, a permissive licence that generally allows commercial use and modification. Licence terms can change between releases, so verify against the repository for the version you intend to use.","source":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate","question":"Is Weaviate open source?","confidence":0.95},{"answer":"Weaviate is available worldwide. The vendor is headquartered in the Netherlands.","source":"https://weaviate.io","question":"Where is Weaviate available?","confidence":0.75}]` |
| deployment.options | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | A high-performance, distributed vector database that enables fast similarity search across billions of high-dimensional vectors, supporting real-time updates, flexible metadata filtering, and hybrid search capabilities for AI and machine learning applications. | A vector database that enables semantic search by storing both objects and vectors, with built-in support for combining vector similarity search with traditional keyword search, retrieval-augmented generation, and reranking capabilities. |
| features.capabilities | `{"ann_index":"HNSW, IVF, FLAT, SCANN, DiskANN, GPU_CAGRA","deployment":"self_hosted","serverless":true,"consistency":"eventual","quantization":"product","storage_tier":"disk_backed","hybrid_search":true,"licence_class":"permissive_oss","multi_tenancy":true,"product_class":"dedicated_dbms","full_text_bm25":true,"distance_metrics":"cosine, Euclidean, dot product","horizontal_scale":"sharded_distributed","metadata_filtering":"pre_filter"}` | `{"ann_index":"HNSW","deployment":"self_hosted","consistency":"tunable","quantization":"product","hybrid_search":true,"licence_class":"permissive_oss","multi_tenancy":true,"product_class":"dedicated_dbms","full_text_bm25":true,"horizontal_scale":"sharded_distributed"}` |
| integrations.count | 2 | 25 |
| integrations.list | `[{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Sentence Transformers"},{"name":"BGE-M3"},{"name":"SPLADE"},{"name":"Jina AI"},{"name":"BM25"},{"name":"PyMilvus"},{"name":"Jina","category":"reranking"}]` | - |
| language.primary | Go | Go |
| license.spdx | Apache-2.0 | BSD-3-Clause |
| market.availability | - | `{"hqCountry":"NL","primaryMarkets":[],"availabilityScope":"global","availableCountries":[],"notAvailableCountries":[]}` |
| platform.support | `{"cli":true,"web":true,"linux":true}` | `{"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://milvus.io","retrievedAt":"2026-10-13T15:15:28.965Z"}` | `{"type":"hybrid","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://weaviate.io","retrievedAt":"2026-08-05T13:28:29.566Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | yes | yes |
| pricing.model | open_source | freemium |
| pricing.price_level | free | low |
| pricing.transparent | no | no |
| release.cadence_days | 7 | 1 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.25","date":"2026-09-29T06:56:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.25"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v3.0.2","date":"2026-09-20T09:36:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.24","date":"2026-09-16T10:51:14Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.24"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/client/v3.0.0","date":"2026-09-18T04:31:53Z","type":"stable","version":"client/v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v3.0.1","date":"2026-09-09T07:32:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.23","date":"2026-08-28T07:59:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.23"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.22","date":"2026-08-04T01:55:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.22"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v3.0.0","date":"2026-07-29T14:27:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v3.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.21","date":"2026-07-24T06:50:28Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.21"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/client/v3.0.0-beta","date":"2026-07-19T14:35:01Z","type":"prerelease","version":"client/v3.0.0-beta"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.20","date":"2026-07-14T06:44:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.20"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.19","date":"2026-06-26T11:47:18Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.19"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.18","date":"2026-06-05T04:03:06Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/client/v2.6.5","date":"2026-05-26T02:44:44Z","type":"stable","version":"client/v2.6.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.17","date":"2026-05-22T03:15:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.16","date":"2026-05-14T04:15:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v3.0-beta","date":"2026-05-09T04:49:46Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v3.0-beta"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/client/v2.6.4","date":"2026-05-08T02:40:41Z","type":"stable","version":"client/v2.6.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.15","date":"2026-04-17T02:29:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus/releases/tag/v2.6.14","date":"2026-04-07T02:08:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v2.6.14"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.8","date":"2026-10-01T18:18:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.8"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.18","date":"2026-10-01T14:55:17Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.18"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.40.0-rc.2","date":"2026-09-30T20:12:35Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.40.0-rc.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.7","date":"2026-09-25T13:18:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.7"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.6","date":"2026-09-22T14:55:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.6"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.17","date":"2026-09-22T12:47:57Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.40.0-rc.1","date":"2026-09-19T16:20:42Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.40.0-rc.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.16","date":"2026-09-18T12:38:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.40.0-rc.0","date":"2026-09-15T20:18:04Z","type":"prerelease","version":"v1.40.0-rc.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.5","date":"2026-09-15T08:24:52Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.15","date":"2026-09-14T19:02:47Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.37.17","date":"2026-09-14T18:05:08Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.37.17"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.4","date":"2026-09-11T17:51:37Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.3","date":"2026-09-07T13:49:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.14","date":"2026-09-07T12:19:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.14"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.37.16","date":"2026-09-07T12:56:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.37.16"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.13","date":"2026-08-27T10:13:43Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.13"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.37.15","date":"2026-08-27T06:41:32Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.37.15"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.39.2","date":"2026-08-26T17:21:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.39.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/releases/tag/v1.38.12","date":"2026-08-25T12:21:22Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.38.12"}]` |
| reliability.sla_pct | - | 99.95 |
| reliability.status_page | - | yes |
| security.disclosure_policy | - | yes |
| security.gdpr | - | yes |
| security.hipaa | - | yes |
| security.scorecard | 4.4 | 6.7 |
| security.soc2 | - | yes |
| security.trust_center | - | https://weaviate.io/blog/tags/security |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fmilvus-io%2Fmilvus%2Fpkg&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":5,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=go&package_name=github.com%2Fweaviate%2Fweaviate&per_page=100","last_12m":3,"max_severity":"HIGH"}` |

## Capabilities (Vector Databases)

| Capability | Milvus | Weaviate |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Self-hosted |
| Serverless / consumption pricing | ✓ | - |
| **Index** |  |  |
| ANN index (HNSW / IVF / DiskANN / ScaNN / flat) | HNSW, IVF, FLAT, SCANN, DiskANN, GPU_CAGRA | HNSW |
| Distance metrics (cosine / dot / Euclidean) | cosine, Euclidean, dot product | - |
| **Query** |  |  |
| Metadata filtering | Pre-filter | - |
| Hybrid search (dense + sparse fusion) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Built-in BM25 / lexical | ✓ | ✓ |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Quantization | Product | Product |
| On-disk vs in-memory | Disk-backed | - |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Multi-tenancy (namespaces / collections / tenants) | ✓ | ✓ |
| Horizontal scale | Sharded / distributed | Sharded / distributed |
| **Consistency** |  |  |
| Consistency | Eventual | Tunable |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Permissive OSS | Permissive OSS |
| **Classification** |  |  |
| Purpose-built vs feature-of-parent | Dedicated DBMS | Dedicated DBMS |

*Source: vioscaleAI. Generated 2026-10-16T20:50:09.479Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*