Weaviate vs Vespa

Weaviate9.1Visit Vespa8.8Visit

Higher score Weaviate #3 in Vector Database Hosting 9.1/10 Free plan Free plan✓ 2 of 3 features Visit Weaviate

vs

Vespa #6 in Vector Database Hosting 8.8/10 Paid ✓ 2 of 3 features Visit Vespa

• Weaviate fits best

  Production hybrid search deployments

• Vespa fits best

  Feature-rich open-source search platforms

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Side by side

Feature	Weaviate 9.1/10 Visit ↗	Vespa 8.8/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.1	8.8
Ranking	#3 in Vector Database Hosting	#6 in Vector Database Hosting
Best for	Production hybrid search deployments	Feature-rich open-source search platforms
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Paid
Starting price	$45/mo	$0.05/unit usage-based
Free plan	✓ (best)	—
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud, Self-hosted	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Linux
Support	Email, Phone, Community, Docs · 24/7	Email, Community, Docs
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Weaviate 2/3 · Vespa 2/3
Hybrid search	✓	✓
Metadata filtering	✓	✓
Serverless scaling	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Included storage	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Deployment regions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Maximum dimensions	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Hybrid search combines vector and BM25/BM25F keyword results Managed cloud and self-hosted deployment options Replication, multitenancy, compression, and multiple index types	Combines dense, lexical, hybrid, and structured search Supports real-time updates, ranking, inference, and distributed scaling Available through Vespa Cloud or self-managed deployment
Cons	Free plan is limited to 100,000 objects and 1 GB memory Flex starts at $45 per month, with usage-based charges possible Premium requires a prepaid contract starting at $400 per month	No free plan is available Startup uses shared resources and has no autoscaling Paid pricing is resource-based rather than a fixed monthly fee
Our verdict	Weaviate is an open-source vector database for developers and teams building AI applications. It stores data objects and vector embeddings, with vector similarity search, BM25/BM25F keyword search, hybrid search, metadata and scalar… Read the review →	Vespa is a distributed AI search and serving platform for teams building search, recommendation, personalization, navigation, and retrieval-augmented generation applications. It brings vector and tensor search, lexical text search with… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Weaviate — where it wins

  • Hybrid search combines vector and BM25/BM25F keyword results
  • Managed cloud and self-hosted deployment options
  • Replication, multitenancy, compression, and multiple index types

  Where it doesn't

  • Free plan is limited to 100,000 objects and 1 GB memory
  • Flex starts at $45 per month, with usage-based charges possible
  • Premium requires a prepaid contract starting at $400 per month

• Vespa — where it wins

  • Combines dense, lexical, hybrid, and structured search
  • Supports real-time updates, ranking, inference, and distributed scaling
  • Available through Vespa Cloud or self-managed deployment

  Where it doesn't

  • No free plan is available
  • Startup uses shared resources and has no autoscaling
  • Paid pricing is resource-based rather than a fixed monthly fee

• Weaviate9.1/10 · Free plan

  A flexible vector database for production hybrid search across cloud and self-managed deployments.

  Visit WeaviateFull verdict →
• Vespa8.8/10 · Paid

  A broad open-source platform for teams building advanced search and retrieval systems.

  Visit VespaFull verdict →