# Faiss vs txtai

| Attribute | Faiss | txtai |
|---|---|---|
| **Vioscale score** | 62 (36% (low)) | 62.9 (56% (medium)) |
| activity.commits_last_30d | 47 | 70 |
| adoption.dependent_repos | 5,592 | 14 |
| adoption.github_stars | 40,809 | 12,909 |
| deployment.options | `{"self_hosted":true}` | `{"cloud":true,"self_hosted":true}` |
| description.long | Faiss is a library for efficient similarity search and clustering of dense vectors. It contains algorithms that search in sets of vectors of any size, up to ones that possibly do not fit in RAM. | txtai is an open-source Python framework for building semantic search applications, LLM-powered agents, retrieval augmented generation systems, and language model workflows with support for multiple vector backends and integration with various LLMs. |
| features.capabilities | `{"ann_index":"HNSW, IVF, PQ, multi-index, NSG","deployment":"self_hosted","serverless":false,"quantization":"product","storage_tier":"disk_backed","licence_class":"permissive_oss","product_class":"extension","distance_metrics":"Euclidean (L2), inner product, L1, Linf","horizontal_scale":"single_node"}` | `{"ann_index":"HNSW, IVF, IVFSparse, milvus-lite, turbovec, zvec","deployment":"embedded","consistency":"tunable","open_source":true,"quantization":"scalar","storage_tier":"disk_backed","hybrid_search":true,"licence_class":"permissive_oss","multi_tenancy":true,"product_class":"dedicated_dbms","full_text_bm25":true,"multimodal_rag":true,"distance_metrics":"cosine","horizontal_scale":"sharded_distributed","hybrid_retrieval":true,"metadata_filtering":"pre_filter","citation_attribution":true,"llm_provider_agnostic":true,"managed_ingestion_pipeline":true,"embedding_provider_agnostic":true,"multi_hop_agentic_retrieval":true}` |
| integrations.count | - | 10 |
| integrations.list | - | `[{"name":"llama.cpp"},{"name":"LiteLLM"},{"name":"Hugging Face"},{"name":"OpenAI"},{"name":"Claude"},{"name":"AWS Bedrock"},{"name":"smolagents"},{"name":"OpenCode"},{"name":"DuckDB"},{"name":"Milvus"},{"name":"LiteRT"}]` |
| language.primary | C++ | Python |
| license.spdx | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| platform.support | `{"mac":true,"linux":true,"windows":true}` | `{"cli":true,"web":true}` |
| pricing | `{"type":"open_source","sourceUrl":"https://faiss.ai","retrievedAt":"2026-08-13T20:46:34.341Z"}` | `{"type":"open_source","freeTier":true,"sourceUrl":"https://neuml.github.io/txtai","retrievedAt":"2026-08-21T12:43:59.946Z"}` |
| pricing.free_tier | - | yes |
| pricing.model | commercial | open_source |
| pricing.price_level | free | free |
| pricing.transparent | - | yes |
| release.cadence_days | 83 | 26 |
| release.history | `[{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.15.0","date":"2026-08-03T17:10:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.15.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.14.3","date":"2026-06-13T04:03:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.14.2","date":"2026-05-22T20:05:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.14.1","date":"2026-03-06T17:49:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.14.0","date":"2026-03-03T03:19:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.14.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.13.2","date":"2025-12-19T23:41:59Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.13.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.13.1","date":"2025-12-03T00:02:15Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.13.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.13.0","date":"2025-11-12T17:18:44Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.13.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.12.0","date":"2025-08-12T16:46:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.11.0","date":"2025-04-25T14:13:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.10.0","date":"2025-01-31T23:29:10Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.9.0","date":"2024-10-04T21:33:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.8.0","date":"2024-03-01T01:04:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.7.4","date":"2023-04-20T13:45:29Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.7.4"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.7.3","date":"2022-11-30T15:24:12Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.7.3"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.7.2","date":"2022-01-10T12:19:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.7.2"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.7.1","date":"2021-05-28T09:08:34Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.7.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.7.0","date":"2021-02-13T14:11:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.6.5","date":"2020-12-21T05:24:03Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.5"},{"url":"https://github.com/facebookresearch/faiss/releases/tag/v1.6.4","date":"2020-10-22T13:28:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v1.6.4"}]` | `[{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.12.0","date":"2026-07-30T19:43:23Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.12.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.11.0","date":"2026-07-01T15:07:00Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.11.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.10.0","date":"2026-06-04T10:22:48Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.10.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.9.0","date":"2026-05-12T15:21:53Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.9.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.8.0","date":"2026-04-29T15:29:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.8.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.7.0","date":"2026-03-20T17:10:04Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.7.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.6.0","date":"2026-02-25T17:56:31Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.5.0","date":"2026-02-12T16:44:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.4.1","date":"2026-01-23T17:03:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.4.0","date":"2026-01-21T15:30:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.3.0","date":"2025-12-22T23:35:33Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.3.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.2.0","date":"2025-11-21T15:09:50Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.2.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.1.0","date":"2025-11-04T13:23:09Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.1.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.0.1","date":"2025-09-15T13:25:58Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v9.0.0","date":"2025-08-28T19:17:55Z","type":"stable","version":"v9.0.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v8.6.0","date":"2025-06-10T14:25:49Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.6.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v8.5.0","date":"2025-04-14T20:09:38Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.5.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v8.4.0","date":"2025-03-11T14:24:16Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.4.0"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v8.3.1","date":"2025-02-12T16:51:27Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.3.1"},{"url":"https://github.com/neuml/txtai/releases/tag/v8.3.0","date":"2025-02-11T18:56:25Z","type":"stable","version":"v8.3.0"}]` |
| reliability.status_page | yes | yes |
| security.scorecard | 6.1 | 4.9 |
| security.vulnerabilities | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=faiss-cpu&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` | `{"count":0,"source":"https://advisories.ecosyste.ms/api/v1/advisories?ecosystem=pypi&package_name=txtai&per_page=100","last_12m":0,"max_severity":null}` |

## Capabilities (Vector Databases)

| Capability | Faiss | txtai |
|---|:--:|:--:|
| **Deployment** |  |  |
| Deployment | Self-hosted | Embedded |
| Serverless / consumption pricing | ✗ | - |
| **Index** |  |  |
| ANN index (HNSW / IVF / DiskANN / ScaNN / flat) | HNSW, IVF, PQ, multi-index, NSG | HNSW, IVF, IVFSparse, milvus-lite, turbovec, zvec |
| Distance metrics (cosine / dot / Euclidean) | Euclidean (L2), inner product, L1, Linf | cosine |
| **Query** |  |  |
| Metadata filtering | - | Pre-filter |
| Hybrid search (dense + sparse fusion) | - | ✓ |
| Built-in BM25 / lexical | - | ✓ |
| **Storage** |  |  |
| Quantization | Product | Scalar |
| On-disk vs in-memory | Disk-backed | Disk-backed |
| **Scale** |  |  |
| Multi-tenancy (namespaces / collections / tenants) | - | ✓ |
| Horizontal scale | Single-node | Sharded / distributed |
| **Consistency** |  |  |
| Consistency | - | Tunable |
| **Licensing** |  |  |
| Licence class | Permissive OSS | Permissive OSS |
| **Classification** |  |  |
| Purpose-built vs feature-of-parent | Extension | Dedicated DBMS |

*Source: Vioscale. Generated 2026-09-01T16:27:48.762Z. "-" = undocumented, not absent.*