Weaviate is a cloud-native vector database with built-in generative AI integration and GraphQL support, while Milvus is a high-performance open-source vector database optimized for massive-scale similarity search with lower memory overhead. Weaviate excels for AI-powered applications; Milvus for large-scale retrieval at scale.
Weaviate vs Milvus — Side-by-side comparison on A Versus B
Enterprise-grade vector database with advanced search capabilities, multi-tenancy, and Kubernetes-native deployment.
High-performance open-source vector database optimized for massive-scale similarity search with GPU acceleration.
Architecture & Deployment Model. Built-in Generative AI Integration. Query Interface. Memory Efficiency (1M vectors, 768-dim). Vector Indexing Methods. Pricing Model. Production Deployments (known users)
Choose Weaviate if you need AI-powered semantic search with generative AI built-in, prefer managed SaaS simplicity, or want GraphQL-first architecture for modern applications. Choose Milvus if you're optimizing for massive scale (100M+ vectors), need lower operational overhead, prioritize cost-free deployment, or require advanced GPU-accelerated indexing for production similarity search at extreme scale.
Weaviate: Unlimited (self-hosted) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: $500-800 (managed) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 30-45 minutes (self-hosted) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Unlimited | Milvus: 32,768 dimensions
Weaviate: User-managed (no SLA) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: BM25 keyword + vector | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Standalone cluster (Kubernetes, Docker, Cloud) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 3 methods (HNSW, flat, dynamic) | Milvus: N/A
Average Query Latency (1M vectors, 384-dim)
Weaviate: 20+ providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Cohere, Hugging Face) | Milvus: N/A
Minimum Monthly Infrastructure Cost (Self-hosted Production)
Weaviate: Yes, with built-in tenant isolation | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 2 (GraphQL, REST) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 100,000 QPS | Milvus: 500,000 QPS
Weaviate: 2 billion vectors | Milvus: 4+ billion vectors
Weaviate: 5-10 minutes (cloud) | Milvus: 30+ minutes (Docker/K8s)
Weaviate: Native BM25 + vector search | Milvus: Requires external tools
Weaviate: 13,000+ stars | Milvus: 31,000+ stars
Weaviate: $0-5000+/month (SaaS) | Milvus: $0 (open-source)
Weaviate: 20+ LLM providers | Milvus: 0 (external required)
Weaviate: Limited (planning phase) | Milvus: Full CUDA/GPU support
Weaviate: 3 (text, image, audio) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 100M+ (distributed) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 30-60 (with Docker) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Native multi-tenancy with data isolation | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Docker, Kubernetes, Cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Advanced GraphQL + WHERE clauses with boolean logic | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Text, image, audio, video | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Native Kubernetes-ready Helm charts | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Docker/Kubernetes cluster (4GB+ RAM minimum) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Supported but secondary to GraphQL API | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 1.2-1.5 GB | Milvus: 0.4-0.6 GB
Query Latency (1M vectors, 10 concurrent)
Weaviate: 45-80 ms | Milvus: 20-50 ms (CPU), 5-15 ms (GPU)
Weaviate: $300 (SaaS) or $0 (self-hosted) | Milvus: $0 (fully open-source)
Weaviate: 2 (HNSW, Flat) | Milvus: 4+ (IVF, HNSW, DiskANN, GPU-enabled)
Weaviate: Yes (OpenAI, Cohere, HuggingFace, Azure) | Milvus: No (external integration required)
Weaviate: 3 (GraphQL, REST, Python) | Milvus: 3 (gRPC, REST, multiple SDKs)
Weaviate: Unlimited (tested to 4096+) | Milvus: Unlimited (tested to 32768+)
Weaviate: ~500 enterprise customers | Milvus: ~1,000+ organizations globally
Weaviate: Text, image, audio via modules | Milvus: N/A
Enterprise Features (RBAC/Multi-tenancy)
Weaviate: Kubernetes, Docker, cloud (AWS/GCP/Azure) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: $0 (self-hosted) / $50+ (managed) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 30+ minutes (self-hosted) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Unlimited (open-source) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: HNSW, FLAT, IVF, PQ | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Vector-first (GraphQL, REST) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 100+ with optimization | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Yes (REST + GraphQL) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Complex WHERE clauses, nested conditions, cross-references | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: Full native support with tenant isolation | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: BSL 1.1 (Source-available, eventually open) | Milvus: N/A
Weaviate: 99.5% guaranteed uptime | Milvus: N/A
Monthly Cost (1M vectors, 1K queries/day)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: $20-150 (infrastructure dependent)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: Unlimited (hardware-constrained)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: Self-managed (no SLA)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: 40+ (includes Spark, Kafka, Airflow)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: Full; supports Parquet, Arrow, SQL dumps, zero egress cost
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: 120-300 minutes (self-hosted)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: Unlimited (self-hosted)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: $100-500 (managed) or $0 (self-hosted)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: 8+ languages (Python, Node.js, Go, Java, C++, Rust, C#, RESTful)
Weaviate: N/A | Milvus: Self-managed (customer responsible)
How to choose between Weaviate and Milvus
Weaviate vs Milvus — Structured Comparison Data
Machine-readable comparison dataset for Weaviate vs Milvus. Contains 93 attribute comparisons, 5 FAQ pairs.
Weaviate vs Milvus — Attribute Category Vocabulary
Taxonomy of attribute categories used to classify comparison data for Weaviate vs Milvus.
Which vector database is better for RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) applications?
Weaviate is optimized for RAG with built-in generative AI modules and native OpenAI/Cohere integration, reducing implementation time by 50-70%. Milvus requires external LLM orchestration (LangChain, LlamaIndex) but works equally well once configured. Choose Weaviate for faster RAG deployment; choose Milvus for cost-optimized large-scale retrieval.
Can I use Weaviate and Milvus on-premises without cloud lock-in?
Yes, both support self-hosted deployment via Docker and Kubernetes. Weaviate requires separate infrastructure management (no automatic scaling); Milvus is fully cloud-agnostic and optimized for Kubernetes with Helm charts. Both are suitable for on-premises deployment with zero vendor lock-in when self-hosted.
Which database scales better to 1 billion vectors?
Milvus scales more efficiently due to 40-60% lower memory overhead, DiskANN indexing, and native GPU support. At 1B vectors, Weaviate would require significantly more infrastructure. Milvus is the clear choice for billion-scale vector workloads.
What's the learning curve difference between Weaviate and Milvus?
Weaviate has a shallower learning curve (2-3 days to production) due to GraphQL simplicity and built-in AI integrations. Milvus has a steeper curve (1-2 weeks) due to index tuning, gRPC complexity, and cluster configuration. Weaviate wins for rapid prototyping; Milvus for teams with ML expertise.
Which has better community and documentation?
Weaviate has more polished SaaS documentation (Weaviate.io) with interactive courses; Milvus has stronger open-source community engagement on GitHub (7,500+ stars vs 5,800+). Weaviate documentation is more enterprise-focused; Milvus documentation is more technical and research-oriented.
How to Choose Between Weaviate and Milvus
Consider: Architecture & Deployment Model
Architecture & Deployment Model: Weaviate has Cloud-native with managed SaaS and self-hosted options, while Milvus has Pure open-source with Docker and Kubernetes deployment.
Consider: Built-in Generative AI Integration
Built-in Generative AI Integration: Weaviate has Native integration with OpenAI, Cohere, HuggingFace (out-of-box), while Milvus has Requires external integration via SDKs.
Query Interface: Weaviate has GraphQL, REST API, and Python client, while Milvus has gRPC, REST API, and Python/Go/Java SDKs.
Consider: Memory Efficiency (1M vectors, 768-dim)
Memory Efficiency (1M vectors, 768-dim): Weaviate has ~1.2-1.5 GB RAM overhead, while Milvus has ~400-600 MB RAM overhead.
Vector Indexing Methods: Weaviate has HNSW, flat indexes, while Milvus has IVF, HNSW, DiskANN, GPU support.
Pricing Model: Weaviate has $25/month starter to $1,200+/month enterprise (managed), while Milvus has Free and open-source (self-hosted costs apply).
Consider: Production Deployments (known users)
Production Deployments (known users): Weaviate has 500+ companies including Fortune 500s, while Milvus has 1,000+ organizations, strong in China/Asia.