Chroma vs Weaviate
type: Article
description: Chroma is a lightweight, Python-first vector database optimized for rapid prototyping and small-to-medium projects, while Weaviate is a more feature-rich, enterprise-grade vector database with advanced filtering, multi-tenancy, and production-scale capabilities.
language: en-US
date published: 2026-07-07T23:52:29.897Z
date created: 2026-07-07T23:52:29.897Z
date modified: 2026-07-07T23:52:30.298Z
content reference time: 2026-07-07T23:52:30.298Z
author: A Versus B
publisher: A Versus B
about: Chroma
about: Weaviate
abstract: Chroma is a lightweight, Python-first vector database optimized for rapid prototyping and small-to-medium projects, while Weaviate is a more feature-rich, enterprise-grade vector database with advanced filtering, multi-tenancy, and production-scale capabilities.
text: Primary Use Case. Deployment Options. Setup Complexity (Time to First Vector). Advanced Filtering Capabilities. Multi-Tenancy Support. Memory Footprint (Typical Small Deployment). Enterprise Support & SLAs
conclusion text: Choose Chroma if you're building prototypes, learning RAG systems, or need a lightweight embedded vector store that gets you working in minutes. Choose Weaviate if you're deploying production search infrastructure, need multi-tenancy, advanced filtering, or require enterprise-grade support and scalability for 100M+ vectors.
additional property: Monthly Starting Cost
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: $0 (free, open-source) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Maximum Vector Storage
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: ~10M (single instance practical limit) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Maximum Vector Dimensions
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 65,536 | Weaviate: Unlimited
additional property: Query Latency (p99)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 50-200ms | Weaviate: 50-150ms
  value reference: Weaviate
additional property: Uptime SLA
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Community-dependent (no SLA) | Weaviate: User-managed (no SLA)
additional property: Setup Time (Local Development)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 2-5 (pip install + Python) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Cost at 10M Vectors/Month
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: $0 (self-hosted only) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Starting Cost (Annual)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: $0 (free) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Maximum Vectors at Scale
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Limited to hardware (~1B) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Uptime Guarantee
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: No SLA | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Documentation Quality Score
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 8/10 | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Metadata Filter Complexity
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Basic ($where) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Setup Time to Production
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 0.1 days (2-4 hours) | Weaviate: 24-72 hours
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Query Latency (1M vectors)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 10-50 ms | Weaviate: 50-200 ms
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Embedded Tokenizer Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Yes (6+ models included) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Metadata Filtering Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Native (boolean operators) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: GPU Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Experimental/Limited | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Memory Usage (10M vectors)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 3-5 GB | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Query Latency (1M vectors, single query)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 150-300ms | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Maximum Practical Dataset Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: ~10 million | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Data Connectors
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 0 (manual) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Setup Time
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 5 | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: LLM Provider Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: External (0 native) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Minimum Deployment Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 50 | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Retrieval Strategy Types
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 1 (similarity search) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Storage Backends
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 3 (in-memory, SQLite, cloud) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Production Observability
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Basic logging | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Query Latency (1M vectors, 768-dim, 10th percentile)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: ~50ms | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Built-in Embedding Generation
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Yes (OpenAI, HuggingFace, Ollama) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Installation Complexity
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 5-10 minutes (Python package) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: SQL Filtering Capability
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: JSON metadata filters (limited) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: GitHub Stars (as of 2026)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 12,000+ stars | Weaviate: 9,500+ stars
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Supported Index Types
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Heuristic Search Algorithm (HNSW) | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Time to First Query
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 1-2 minutes | Weaviate: 30-45 minutes (self-hosted)
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Memory Footprint (at rest, 1M vectors)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: ~800MB | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Number of Supported Languages
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Python + JavaScript | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Kubernetes-Native Deployment
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Not recommended; in-process only | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Complex Metadata Filtering Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Basic equality/contains only | Weaviate: N/A
additional property: Maximum Vectors Per Instance
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: ~10M | Weaviate: 100M+ (distributed)
  value reference: Weaviate
additional property: Average Query Latency
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 10-50ms | Weaviate: 50-150ms
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Setup Time to First Query
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 2-5 (pip install) | Weaviate: 30-60 (with Docker)
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Hybrid Search Support (BM25 + Vector)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: No | Weaviate: Yes
additional property: Multi-Tenancy Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Not supported | Weaviate: Native multi-tenancy with data isolation
additional property: Minimum Memory for 1M Vectors
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 1-2GB | Weaviate: 4-8GB
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Supported Deployment Modes
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: In-process, SQLite, HTTP API | Weaviate: Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure)
additional property: Setup Time (first query)
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 2-5 | Weaviate: 30+ minutes (self-hosted)
  value reference: Chroma
additional property: Max Recommended Vector Count
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: 1-10M (single node) | Weaviate: 100M+ (distributed)
  value reference: Weaviate
additional property: Query Filtering Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Basic metadata filters | Weaviate: Advanced GraphQL + WHERE clauses with boolean logic
additional property: Multi-Modal Search
  type: PropertyValue
  value: Chroma: Text embeddings only | Weaviate: Text, image, audio, video
interactivity type: active
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/entity/chroma
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/alternatives/chroma
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/entity/weaviate
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/alternatives/weaviate
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/api/answer/chroma-vs-weaviate)
significant link: https://www.aversusb.net/api/v1/schema/chroma-vs-weaviate)
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/weaviate-vs-chroma
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/chroma-vs-weaviate
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/weaviate-vs-chroma)
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/llamaindex-vs-weaviate
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/pinecone-vs-chroma
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/pinecone-vs-weaviate
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/chroma-vs-pinecone
related link: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/weaviate-vs-pgvector
teaches: How to choose between Chroma and Weaviate
genre: Software

primaryImage
type: ImageObject
width: 1200
height: 630
caption: Chroma vs Weaviate — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B

A Versus B
type: Organization

Chroma
type: SoftwareApplication
language: en-US
description: Lightweight, open-source vector database optimized for Python developers and rapid development.
subject of: Chroma vs Weaviate

Weaviate
type: SoftwareApplication
language: en-US
description: Enterprise-grade vector database with advanced search capabilities, multi-tenancy, and Kubernetes-native deployment.
subject of: Chroma vs Weaviate

Chroma vs Weaviate — Structured Comparison Data
type: Dataset
description: Machine-readable comparison dataset for Chroma vs Weaviate. Contains 151 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
language: en-US
license: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
creator: A Versus B
distribution: JSON-LD knowledge graph
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json+ld
distribution: Raw comparison JSON
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json
distribution: Structured FAQ pairs JSON
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json
distribution: AI Answer API (citation-ready)
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json
distribution: Related comparisons JSON
  type: DataDownload
  encoding format: application/json
variable measured: Monthly Starting Cost
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Pricing
variable measured: Maximum Vector Storage
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Scalability
variable measured: Maximum Vector Dimensions
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Query Latency (p99)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Uptime SLA
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Reliability
variable measured: Setup Time (Local Development)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ease of Use
variable measured: Cost at 10M Vectors/Month
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Pricing
variable measured: Starting Cost (Annual)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Pricing
variable measured: Maximum Vectors at Scale
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Scalability
variable measured: Uptime Guarantee
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Documentation Quality Score
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Developer Experience
variable measured: Metadata Filter Complexity
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Setup Time to Production
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Deployment
variable measured: Query Latency (1M vectors)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Embedded Tokenizer Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Metadata Filtering Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: GPU Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Hardware
variable measured: Memory Usage (10M vectors)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Resource Usage
variable measured: Query Latency (1M vectors, single query)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Maximum Practical Dataset Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Scalability
variable measured: Data Connectors
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Integration
variable measured: Setup Time
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ease of Use
variable measured: LLM Provider Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Integration
variable measured: Minimum Deployment Size
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Retrieval Strategy Types
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Storage Backends
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Production Observability
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Enterprise
variable measured: Query Latency (1M vectors, 768-dim, 10th percentile)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Built-in Embedding Generation
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Installation Complexity
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Usability
variable measured: SQL Filtering Capability
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Querying
variable measured: GitHub Stars (as of 2026)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Community Adoption
variable measured: Supported Index Types
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Time to First Query
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Setup & Deployment
variable measured: Memory Footprint (at rest, 1M vectors)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Resource Efficiency
variable measured: Number of Supported Languages
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Compatibility
variable measured: Kubernetes-Native Deployment
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Enterprise
variable measured: Complex Metadata Filtering Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Functionality
variable measured: Maximum Vectors Per Instance
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Scalability
variable measured: Average Query Latency
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Setup Time to First Query
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ease of Use
variable measured: Hybrid Search Support (BM25 + Vector)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Multi-Tenancy Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Minimum Memory for 1M Vectors
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Resource Requirements
variable measured: Supported Deployment Modes
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Deployment
variable measured: Setup Time (first query)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Developer Experience
variable measured: Max Recommended Vector Count
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Scalability
variable measured: Query Filtering Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Multi-Modal Search
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Kubernetes Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Container Orchestration
variable measured: Minimum Setup Infrastructure
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Deployment
variable measured: LangChain Integration Maturity
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ecosystem
variable measured: Maximum Vector Scale
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Performance
variable measured: Minimum Setup Time
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Developer Experience
variable measured: Hybrid Search (Vector + Keyword)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Multi-modal Support
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: Enterprise Features (RBAC/Multi-tenancy)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Features
variable measured: GitHub Stars
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Community
variable measured: Deployment Options
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Infrastructure
variable measured: Setup Time (Minutes)
  type: PropertyValue
  value reference: Ease of Use
variable measured: Supported Data Sources
variable measured: Query Latency (P95)
variable measured: Maximum Embeddings
variable measured: GitHub Stars (2026)
variable measured: LLM Integration
variable measured: Learning Curve (Hours)
variable measured: Production Deployments Reported
variable measured: Initial Setup Time
variable measured: Minimum Monthly Cost
is based on: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/chroma-vs-weaviate)

Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary
type: DefinedTermSet
language: en-US
description: Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Chroma vs Weaviate.
has defined term: Pricing
has defined term: Scalability
has defined term: Features
has defined term: Performance
has defined term: Reliability
has defined term: Ease of Use
has defined term: Developer Experience
has defined term: Deployment
has defined term: Hardware
has defined term: Resource Usage
has defined term: Integration
has defined term: Enterprise
has defined term: Usability
has defined term: Querying
has defined term: Community Adoption
has defined term: Setup & Deployment
has defined term: Resource Efficiency
has defined term: Compatibility
has defined term: Functionality
has defined term: Resource Requirements
has defined term: Container Orchestration
has defined term: Ecosystem
has defined term: Community
has defined term: Infrastructure
has defined term: Adoption
has defined term: User Experience
has defined term: Security
has defined term: Capability
has defined term: Integrations
has defined term: Feature
has defined term: Licensing
has defined term: Technology
has defined term: Query Capabilities
has defined term: Enterprise Features
has defined term: Support
has defined term: Flexibility
has defined term: Hardware Optimization
has defined term: Pricing & Limits
has defined term: Operations
has defined term: AI Features
has defined term: Cost
has defined term: Capabilities
has defined term: Operational Ease
has defined term: API

Pricing
type: DefinedTerm
term code: pricing
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Scalability
type: DefinedTerm
term code: scalability
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Features
type: DefinedTerm
term code: features
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Performance
type: DefinedTerm
term code: performance
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Reliability
type: DefinedTerm
term code: reliability
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Ease of Use
type: DefinedTerm
term code: ease-of-use
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Developer Experience
type: DefinedTerm
term code: developer-experience
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Deployment
type: DefinedTerm
term code: deployment
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Hardware
type: DefinedTerm
term code: hardware
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Resource Usage
type: DefinedTerm
term code: resource-usage
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Integration
type: DefinedTerm
term code: integration
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Enterprise
type: DefinedTerm
term code: enterprise
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Usability
type: DefinedTerm
term code: usability
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Querying
type: DefinedTerm
term code: querying
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Community Adoption
type: DefinedTerm
term code: community-adoption
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Setup & Deployment
type: DefinedTerm
term code: setup-&-deployment
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Resource Efficiency
type: DefinedTerm
term code: resource-efficiency
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Compatibility
type: DefinedTerm
term code: compatibility
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Functionality
type: DefinedTerm
term code: functionality
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Resource Requirements
type: DefinedTerm
term code: resource-requirements
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Container Orchestration
type: DefinedTerm
term code: container-orchestration
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Ecosystem
type: DefinedTerm
term code: ecosystem
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Community
type: DefinedTerm
term code: community
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Infrastructure
type: DefinedTerm
term code: infrastructure
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Adoption
type: DefinedTerm
term code: adoption
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

User Experience
type: DefinedTerm
term code: user-experience
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Security
type: DefinedTerm
term code: security
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Capability
type: DefinedTerm
term code: capability
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Integrations
type: DefinedTerm
term code: integrations
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Feature
type: DefinedTerm
term code: feature
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Licensing
type: DefinedTerm
term code: licensing
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Technology
type: DefinedTerm
term code: technology
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Query Capabilities
type: DefinedTerm
term code: query-capabilities
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Enterprise Features
type: DefinedTerm
term code: enterprise-features
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Support
type: DefinedTerm
term code: support
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Flexibility
type: DefinedTerm
term code: flexibility
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Hardware Optimization
type: DefinedTerm
term code: hardware-optimization
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Pricing & Limits
type: DefinedTerm
term code: pricing-&-limits
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Operations
type: DefinedTerm
term code: operations
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

AI Features
type: DefinedTerm
term code: ai-features
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Cost
type: DefinedTerm
term code: cost
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Capabilities
type: DefinedTerm
term code: capabilities
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

Operational Ease
type: DefinedTerm
term code: operational-ease
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

API
type: DefinedTerm
term code: api
in defined term set: Chroma vs Weaviate — Attribute Category Vocabulary

faq
type: FAQPage
language: en-US
is accessible for free: true
conditions of access: Free
date modified: 2026-07-07T23:52:30.298Z
author: A Versus B
publisher: A Versus B
is part of: chroma-vs-weaviate)
main entity: Which should I choose for building a RAG chatbot prototype?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Chroma is the better choice for prototyping. Its embedded Python mode lets you spin up a vector database in your notebook in seconds, making it ideal for experimenting with LLM retrieval pipelines. Weaviate adds unnecessary complexity for early-stage projects.
    language: en-US
main entity: Can I migrate from Chroma to Weaviate later?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Yes, both support exporting vectors and metadata in standard formats (JSON, Parquet). However, Weaviate's schema design and filtering syntax differ, so plan for 2-4 weeks of refactoring if migrating large production systems. Start with Chroma if you're uncertain about scale requirements.
    language: en-US
main entity: Which is better for semantic search on 100M+ documents?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Weaviate is the only viable choice at that scale. Chroma's performance degrades significantly beyond 10M vectors due to its single-node optimization. Weaviate's distributed architecture, sharding, and replication support production-grade performance at 500M+ vectors with <500ms query latency.
    language: en-US
main entity: Do I need Kubernetes to run Weaviate?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: No. Weaviate can run as a single Docker container for small deployments, but Kubernetes is recommended for production to leverage replication, auto-scaling, and failover. Alternatively, use Weaviate Cloud (managed SaaS starting at $350/month for 100M vectors).
    language: en-US
main entity: Is Chroma suitable for production search applications?
  type: Question
  accepted answer: Answer
    text: Only for small-scale, single-user or team-internal use cases (<5M vectors). Chroma lacks multi-tenancy, role-based access control, and enterprise monitoring. For customer-facing search products, Weaviate's isolation and compliance features are essential.
    language: en-US

How to Choose Between Chroma and Weaviate
type: HowTo
description: Chroma is a lightweight, Python-first vector database optimized for rapid prototyping and small-to-medium projects, while Weaviate is a more feature-rich, enterprise-grade vector database with advanced filtering, multi-tenancy, and production-scale capabilities.
language: en-US
total time: PT3M
step: Consider: Primary Use Case
step: Consider: Deployment Options
step: Consider: Setup Complexity (Time to First Vector)
step: Consider: Advanced Filtering Capabilities
step: Consider: Multi-Tenancy Support
step: Consider: Memory Footprint (Typical Small Deployment)
step: Consider: Enterprise Support & SLAs
tool: A Versus B Comparison Guide
tip: HowToTip
  text: Choose Chroma if you're building prototypes, learning RAG systems, or need a lightweight embedded vector store that gets you working in minutes. Choose Weaviate if you're deploying production search infrastructure, need multi-tenancy, advanced filtering, or require enterprise-grade support and scalability for 100M+ vectors.

Consider: Primary Use Case
type: HowToStep
position: 1
text: Primary Use Case: Chroma has Rapid prototyping, ML pipelines, RAG applications, while Weaviate has Enterprise search, semantic search at scale, multi-tenant deployments.

Consider: Deployment Options
type: HowToStep
position: 2
text: Deployment Options: Chroma has In-process (embedded), Docker, minimal infrastructure, while Weaviate has Kubernetes, managed cloud, hybrid cloud, on-premises clusters.

Consider: Setup Complexity (Time to First Vector)
type: HowToStep
position: 3
text: Setup Complexity (Time to First Vector): Chroma has 5-10 minutes with Python SDK, while Weaviate has 20-30 minutes with configuration requirements.

Consider: Advanced Filtering Capabilities
type: HowToStep
position: 4
text: Advanced Filtering Capabilities: Chroma has Basic metadata filtering only, while Weaviate has Complex WHERE clauses, nested filtering, cross-reference queries.

Consider: Multi-Tenancy Support
type: HowToStep
position: 5
text: Multi-Tenancy Support: Chroma has Not natively supported, while Weaviate has Full multi-tenancy with tenant-level isolation.

Consider: Memory Footprint (Typical Small Deployment)
type: HowToStep
position: 6
text: Memory Footprint (Typical Small Deployment): Chroma has 50-150 MB RAM for embedded mode, while Weaviate has 500 MB - 2 GB for minimal cluster setup.

Consider: Enterprise Support & SLAs
type: HowToStep
position: 7
text: Enterprise Support & SLAs: Chroma has Community-driven, no official SLAs, while Weaviate has Paid enterprise support with 99.5% uptime SLA.

claimreview
type: ClaimReview
is accessible for free: true
conditions of access: Free
claim reviewed: Chroma vs Weaviate
review body: Chroma is a lightweight, Python-first vector database optimized for rapid prototyping and small-to-medium projects, while Weaviate is a more feature-rich, enterprise-grade vector database with advanced filtering, multi-tenancy, and production-scale capabilities.
review rating: Rating
  rating: 5
  worst rating: 1
  best rating: 5
  alternate name: Verified Comparison
author: A Versus B
item reviewed: Chroma vs Weaviate

Kubernetes Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Not native; runs as Python process | Weaviate: Native Kubernetes-ready Helm charts

Minimum Setup Infrastructure
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Python 3.7+; runs on laptop or serverless | Weaviate: Docker/Kubernetes cluster (4GB+ RAM minimum)

LangChain Integration Maturity
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Official, first-class integration | Weaviate: Supported but secondary to GraphQL API

Maximum Vector Scale
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 10-50 million | Weaviate: 1+ billion
value reference: Weaviate

Minimum Setup Time
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 2-5 minutes | Weaviate: 30-60 minutes
value reference: Chroma

Hybrid Search (Vector + Keyword)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: No | Weaviate: Yes (BM25)

Multi-modal Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Text only | Weaviate: Text, image, audio via modules

Enterprise Features (RBAC/Multi-tenancy)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: No | Weaviate: Yes

GitHub Stars
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: ~11,000 | Weaviate: ~4,000
value reference: Chroma

Deployment Options
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Embedded, Python, Serverless (SaaS beta) | Weaviate: Kubernetes, Docker, cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure)

Setup Time (Minutes)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 15-30 | Weaviate: N/A

Supported Data Sources
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 12 embedding models | Weaviate: N/A

Query Latency (P95)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 45-120 | Weaviate: N/A

Maximum Embeddings
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 50M (in-memory) | Weaviate: N/A

GitHub Stars (2026)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 12,500 | Weaviate: N/A

LLM Integration
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Manual (requires wrapper code) | Weaviate: N/A

Learning Curve (Hours)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 2-4 | Weaviate: N/A

Production Deployments Reported
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 500+ | Weaviate: N/A

Initial Setup Time
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 2 minutes | Weaviate: N/A

Minimum Monthly Cost
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: $0 (open-source) | Weaviate: N/A

Production Plan Cost
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: $0 (self-hosted infrastructure only) | Weaviate: N/A

Maximum Vector Capacity
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 10M (single machine limit) | Weaviate: N/A

Query Latency (p99) at 100M Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Not tested (infeasible) | Weaviate: N/A

REST API Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: No (client libraries only) | Weaviate: N/A

RBAC & Enterprise Security
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: No | Weaviate: N/A

Maximum Vectors Per Index
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: ~10 million | Weaviate: N/A

Query Latency (p50, local/optimal)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 5-20ms | Weaviate: N/A

Monthly Base Cost (starter tier)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: $0 (open-source) | Weaviate: N/A

Supported Vector Dimensions
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Unlimited | Weaviate: N/A

LangChain Integration Native Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Yes, official integration | Weaviate: N/A

Single-Vector Search Latency (1M vectors)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 15-25ms | Weaviate: N/A

Maximum Supported Vector Dimensions
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 2048 | Weaviate: N/A

Native SQL Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Limited (metadata filtering only) | Weaviate: N/A

Embedding Auto-Generation
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Yes (Hugging Face, OpenAI, etc.) | Weaviate: N/A

Open-Source Availability
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Yes (Apache 2.0) | Weaviate: N/A

Managed Cloud Cost (1M queries/month)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: $50-150 | Weaviate: N/A

Relational Data Integration
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: No (requires external database) | Weaviate: N/A

Query Latency (1M vectors, p99)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: ~350ms | Weaviate: N/A

Maximum Recommended Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 50-100M | Weaviate: N/A

Setup Time (local environment)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 2-3 minutes | Weaviate: N/A

Supported Embedding Dimensions
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Up to 2048 | Weaviate: N/A

Filtering Query Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Basic metadata matching | Weaviate: N/A

Primary Indexing Algorithm
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Flat, approximate nearest neighbor | Weaviate: N/A

Language/SDK Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Python, JavaScript, Go | Weaviate: N/A

Time to Production (First Query)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 7 minutes | Weaviate: 25 minutes
value reference: Chroma

Maximum Recommended Vector Count
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: ~10M vectors | Weaviate: 500M+ vectors
value reference: Weaviate

Minimum RAM Requirement (Single Node)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 64 MB | Weaviate: 512 MB
value reference: Chroma

Advanced Filtering Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Basic metadata filters only | Weaviate: Complex WHERE clauses, nested conditions, cross-references

Multi-Tenancy
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Not supported | Weaviate: Full native support with tenant isolation

Open Source License
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Apache 2.0 (Fully Open) | Weaviate: BSL 1.1 (Source-available, eventually open)

Enterprise Support SLA
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: Community-driven, no SLA | Weaviate: 99.5% guaranteed uptime

Setup Time (minutes to first working example)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 3 minutes | Weaviate: N/A

Maximum Vector Capacity (single instance)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 10 million | Weaviate: N/A

Query Latency at 1M vectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 50-150ms | Weaviate: N/A

Memory per Million Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 1.5-2.0 GB | Weaviate: N/A

Built-in Embedding Model Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: OpenAI, Cohere, Hugging Face, Ollama (6+ providers) | Weaviate: N/A

Index Type Options
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: 2 (SQLite, DuckDB) | Weaviate: N/A

GPU Acceleration Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: No | Weaviate: Limited (planning phase)

Free Tier Vector Limit
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Unlimited (self-hosted)

Estimated Monthly Cost (1M vectors)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: $500-800 (managed)

Native Hybrid Search Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: BM25 keyword + vector

Deployment Model
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Standalone cluster (Kubernetes, Docker, Cloud)

Indexing Methods Supported
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 3 methods (HNSW, flat, dynamic)

Average Query Latency (1M vectors, 384-dim)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 75ms

Integrated LLM Providers
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 20+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Hugging Face)

Minimum Monthly Infrastructure Cost (Self-hosted Production)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: $800

Native Multi-tenancy Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Yes, with built-in tenant isolation

Maximum Scalability (distributed nodes)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 100+

API Query Language Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 2 (GraphQL, REST)

Query Throughput
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 100,000 QPS

Maximum Collection Size
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 2 billion vectors

Setup Time (Cloud/Self-Hosted)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 5-10 minutes (cloud)

Built-in Hybrid Search Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Native BM25 + vector search

GitHub Community Stars
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 13,000+ stars

Licensing Cost
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: $0-5000+/month (SaaS)

Number of Native LLM Integrations
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 20+ LLM providers

Query Latency (95th percentile)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 100-500 ms

Memory per 1M Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 8-12 GB

Startup Time (empty instance)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 20-30 seconds

Built-in LLM Integrations
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 15+ providers

Managed Cloud Base Price (monthly)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: $25/month

Multi-modal Support (native)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 3 (text, image, audio)

Throughput (vectors/second insert)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 5,000-10,000

Memory Usage (1M 768-dim vectors)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 1.2-1.5 GB

Query Latency (1M vectors, 10 concurrent)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 45-80 ms

Minimum Starting Cost (annual)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: $300 (SaaS) or $0 (self-hosted)

Vector Index Types Supported
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 2 (HNSW, Flat)

Built-in LLM Integration
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Yes (OpenAI, Cohere, HuggingFace, Azure)

Query API Types
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 3 (GraphQL, REST, Python)

Maximum Vector Dimension Support
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Unlimited (tested to 4096+)

Production Deployments (estimated)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: ~500 enterprise customers

Starting Monthly Cost
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: $0 (self-hosted) / $50+ (managed)

Maximum Query Throughput
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 2,000,000-3,000,000

P99 Query Latency
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 50-150ms

GitHub Stars (Community)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 9,200+

Code Customization
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Unlimited (open-source)

Free Tier Availability
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Unlimited (self-hosted)

Vector Indexing Algorithm Options
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: HNSW, FLAT, IVF, PQ

Query Type Flexibility
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Vector-first (GraphQL, REST)

Scalability Limit (Single Node)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: 100+ with optimization

Operational Complexity (1-10 scale)
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: High (8/10)

Native RESTful API
type: PropertyValue
value: Chroma: N/A | Weaviate: Yes (REST + GraphQL)

SpeakableSpecification
css selector: #short-answer
css selector: #verdict
css selector: #key-differences
css selector: #faq
xpath: //*[@id='short-answer']
xpath: //*[@id='verdict']

Chroma — Wikipedia
type: CreativeWork

Weaviate — Wikipedia
type: CreativeWork

Compare Chroma vs Weaviate
type: Action
additional type: CompareAction
target: https://www.aversusb.net/compare/chroma-vs-weaviate)
object: Chroma
object: Weaviate

Supported Data Sources
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Integration

Query Latency (P95)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Maximum Embeddings
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

GitHub Stars (2026)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Community

LLM Integration
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Learning Curve (Hours)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Ease of Use

Production Deployments Reported
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Adoption

Initial Setup Time
type: PropertyValue
value reference: User Experience

Minimum Monthly Cost
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Production Plan Cost
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Maximum Vector Capacity
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Query Latency (p99) at 100M Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

REST API Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Integration

RBAC & Enterprise Security
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Security

Maximum Vectors Per Index
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Query Latency (p50, local/optimal)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Monthly Base Cost (starter tier)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Supported Vector Dimensions
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Capability

LangChain Integration Native Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Integrations

Single-Vector Search Latency (1M vectors)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Maximum Supported Vector Dimensions
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Capability

Native SQL Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Querying

Embedding Auto-Generation
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Feature

Open-Source Availability
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Licensing

Managed Cloud Cost (1M queries/month)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Relational Data Integration
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Capability

Query Latency (1M vectors, p99)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Maximum Recommended Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Setup Time (local environment)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Ease of Use

Supported Embedding Dimensions
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Filtering Query Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Primary Indexing Algorithm
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Technology

Language/SDK Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Integration

Time to Production (First Query)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Setup & Deployment

Maximum Recommended Vector Count
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Minimum RAM Requirement (Single Node)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Infrastructure

Advanced Filtering Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Query Capabilities

Multi-Tenancy
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Enterprise Features

Open Source License
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Licensing

Enterprise Support SLA
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Support

Setup Time (minutes to first working example)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Developer Experience

Maximum Vector Capacity (single instance)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Query Latency at 1M vectors
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Memory per Million Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Resource Usage

Built-in Embedding Model Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Index Type Options
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Flexibility

GPU Acceleration Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Hardware Optimization

Free Tier Vector Limit
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing & Limits

Estimated Monthly Cost (1M vectors)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing & Limits

Native Hybrid Search Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Deployment Model
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Operations

Indexing Methods Supported
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Average Query Latency (1M vectors, 384-dim)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Integrated LLM Providers
type: PropertyValue
value reference: AI Features

Minimum Monthly Infrastructure Cost (Self-hosted Production)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Cost

Native Multi-tenancy Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Enterprise Features

Maximum Scalability (distributed nodes)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

API Query Language Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Developer Experience

Query Throughput
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Maximum Collection Size
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Setup Time (Cloud/Self-Hosted)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Ease of Use

Built-in Hybrid Search Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

GitHub Community Stars
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Community

Licensing Cost
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Cost

Number of Native LLM Integrations
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Query Latency (95th percentile)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Memory per 1M Vectors
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Resource Efficiency

Startup Time (empty instance)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Deployment

Built-in LLM Integrations
type: PropertyValue
value reference: AI Features

Managed Cloud Base Price (monthly)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Multi-modal Support (native)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Capabilities

Throughput (vectors/second insert)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Memory Usage (1M 768-dim vectors)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Query Latency (1M vectors, 10 concurrent)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Minimum Starting Cost (annual)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Vector Index Types Supported
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Built-in LLM Integration
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Query API Types
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Features

Maximum Vector Dimension Support
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Scalability

Production Deployments (estimated)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Adoption

Starting Monthly Cost
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Maximum Query Throughput
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

P99 Query Latency
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

GitHub Stars (Community)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Community

Code Customization
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Flexibility

Free Tier Availability
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Pricing

Vector Indexing Algorithm Options
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Query Type Flexibility
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Capabilities

Scalability Limit (Single Node)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Performance

Operational Complexity (1-10 scale)
type: PropertyValue
value reference: Operational Ease

Native RESTful API
type: PropertyValue
value reference: API