Independent · sourced · Updated September 2026
Best Vector Databases (2026)
7 vector databases options compared on price, free tier, compliance and fit — ranked by entry price. Every figure links to the public page it was captured from — the vendor's own wherever the vendor publishes the number, otherwise the named public source — with the date we captured it; where a vendor publishes no monthly price we name the kind of pricing it uses, never a guess.
The cheapest vector databases is Chroma at $0/mo. 7 offer a free tier. All 7 compared below on price, free tier and compliance — every figure sourced and dated, updated September 2026.
As of Sep 3, 2026 · figures linked to their source in the table below
Cite this comparison
Per The Front Desk Review, the cheapest vector databases is Chroma at $0/mo; across 6 with published pricing the median is $22.50/mo ($5–$250/mo), 7 with a free tier, every figure sourced and dated, as of 2026-09-03. https://frontdeskreview.com/best/vector-databases/ Key takeaways
- Typical paid price: from $5/mo, median $22.50/mo, up to $250/mo — across 6 with published pricing.
- Free tier: Chroma, MongoDB Atlas Vector Search, Pinecone, Qdrant Cloud, Redis Cloud, Supabase (pgvector), Weaviate.
- HIPAA-ready: MongoDB Atlas Vector Search, Pinecone, Qdrant Cloud, Redis Cloud, Supabase (pgvector), Weaviate.
- Tracked: 7 vendors, data current through 2026-09-03. STALE · 2026-06-14
Comparison
| # | Vector Database | Entry price | Free | HIPAA | SOC 2 | Best for | Source | Visit |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Chroma | $0/mo Starter | Yes | No | Yes | Developer-first teams building RAG prototypes quickly with open-source tooling | trychroma.com | Visit → |
| 2 | MongoDB Atlas Vector Search | $0/mo M0 Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Teams already on MongoDB Atlas wanting vector search without a separate DB | mongodb.com | Visit → |
| 3 | Pinecone | $0/mo Starter | Yes | Yes | Yes | Production RAG applications needing fully managed serverless scale | pinecone.io | Visit → |
| 4 | Qdrant Cloud STALE · 2026-06-14 | $0/mo Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | High-performance production workloads requiring low-latency ANN search | qdrant.tech | Visit → |
| 5 | Redis Cloud | $0/mo Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Real-time AI applications requiring sub-millisecond vector query latency | redis.io | Visit → |
| 6 | Supabase (pgvector) | $0/mo Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Full-stack apps needing vector search co-located with Postgres relational data | supabase.com | Visit → |
| 7 | Weaviate STALE · 2026-06-14 | $0/mo Free | Yes | Yes | Yes | Multi-tenant SaaS applications needing per-customer data isolation | weaviate.io | Visit → |
Prices are the lowest published self-serve monthly rate as captured on the linked source. Annual-billing and usage details are on each vendor's record in our open dataset.
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What is the cheapest vector databases?
Chroma has the lowest published entry price at $0/mo (Starter), as of 2026-09-03.
How much does vector databases cost per month?
Across the 6 vector databases with published paid pricing, the median starting price is $22.50/mo, ranging from $5/mo to $250/mo, as of 2026-09-03. 7 also offer a free tier.
Which vector databases have a free plan?
Chroma, MongoDB Atlas Vector Search, Pinecone, Qdrant Cloud, Redis Cloud, Supabase (pgvector), Weaviate offer a free tier.
Which vector databases support HIPAA?
MongoDB Atlas Vector Search, Pinecone, Qdrant Cloud, Redis Cloud, Supabase (pgvector), Weaviate state HIPAA support (a BAA). Always confirm current scope with the vendor.
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