Vector Database Comparison
Choosing the right vector store for production in 2026
The vector database market hit $1.2B in 2024 and is projected to reach $6.5B by 2033 (22.5% CAGR). Pinecone leads managed deployments ($750M valuation, $138M raised, 30ms P99 at 1M vectors). Qdrant wins performance benchmarks with Rust-based architecture. Weaviate offers native hybrid search ($67.7M raised). pgvector eliminates infrastructure overhead for Postgres shops. The selection decision increasingly depends on operational complexity tolerance, not feature checklists.
$6.5B
Market by 2033 (22.5% CAGR)
Verified Market Reports
30ms
P99 latency at 1M vectors (Pinecone)
Benchmark
$750M
Pinecone valuation
Crunchbase
7
Major platforms compared
Research
Platform Comparison
Seven vector databases dominate the production landscape in 2026. The right choice depends on existing infrastructure, compliance requirements, scale needs, and operational complexity tolerance.
Pinecone
$750M$750M valuation, $138M raised (Andreessen Horowitz, Menlo Ventures). 30ms P99 at 1M vectors. Fully managed, SOC2, serverless tier.
Weaviate
Hybrid$67.7M raised (NEA, Battery, Index). Native hybrid search (BM25 + vector). GraphQL API. Self-hostable.
Qdrant
PerformanceRust-based. Highest raw throughput in benchmarks. 50ms P99 at 1M vectors with advanced filtering. $9.8M raised.
Milvus / Zilliz
ScaleBillion-scale with GPU acceleration. Open-source core with managed Zilliz Cloud. Best for massive datasets.
Chroma
Dev-FirstDeveloper-friendly, great for prototyping. 1GB free forever. Growing production features but still maturing.
pgvector
PostgresPostgreSQL extension. Zero additional infrastructure. Sufficient for many use cases — eliminates a dependency.
Performance Benchmarks (2026)
Head-to-head benchmarks at 1M vector scale reveal clear performance tiers. Purpose-built databases (Pinecone, Qdrant, Milvus) edge ahead at massive scale, while pgvector performs well for datasets under 10M vectors. Weaviate requires more memory at very large scale but offers the best hybrid search.
Pinecone
30ms P9930ms P99 latency at 1M vectors. Best managed latency. Predictable cost model.
Weaviate
45ms P9545ms P95 at 500K vectors. Higher memory usage at scale. Best hybrid search.
Qdrant
Best Filters50ms P99 at 1M vectors. Best filtering performance. Customizable distance metrics.
pgvector
<10M Sweet SpotCompetitive up to 10M vectors. Beyond that, purpose-built databases pull ahead significantly.
Selection Decision Framework
The selection matrix has crystallized around five decision axes: (1) Managed vs self-hosted preference — Pinecone for zero-ops, Qdrant/Weaviate for self-hosted control. (2) Compliance requirements — SOC2/HIPAA narrows to Pinecone and Zilliz Cloud. (3) Hybrid search needs — Weaviate is the clear winner. (4) Scale — billions of vectors demands Milvus. (5) Existing infrastructure — Postgres shops should start with pgvector.
Zero-Ops Teams
PineconePinecone. Fully managed, predictable pricing, SOC2 compliant.
Performance-Critical
QdrantQdrant. Rust-based, best filtering, highest raw throughput.
Hybrid Search Required
WeaviateWeaviate. Native BM25 + vector search. GraphQL API.
Already on Postgres
pgvectorpgvector first. Only add a dedicated DB if you exceed 10M vectors.
Market Trajectory
The vector database market was valued at $1.2B in 2024 and is projected to reach $6.5B by 2033 at 22.5% CAGR. Key driver: every RAG deployment needs a vector store, and RAG is now used in 60%+ of production AI applications. The market is consolidating — expect acquisitions of smaller players by cloud providers within 2 years.
Key Findings
Vector database market: $1.2B (2024) → $6.5B by 2033 at 22.5% CAGR
Pinecone leads managed deployments at $750M valuation with 30ms P99 latency at 1M vectors
Qdrant (Rust-based) delivers best filtering performance and highest raw throughput in benchmarks
Weaviate ($67.7M raised) provides the strongest native hybrid search (BM25 + vector)
pgvector is competitive up to 10M vectors and eliminates a separate infrastructure dependency
Every RAG deployment needs a vector store — 60%+ of production AI apps use RAG
Market consolidation expected: cloud provider acquisitions of vector DB startups within 2 years
Frequently Asked Questions
Pinecone offers sub-10ms P99 latency with full SOC2 compliance, making it best for zero-ops teams.
Sources & References
5 validated sources · Last updated 2026-02-06