Zilliz Cloud vs Pinecone

Zilliz Cloud8.9Visit Pinecone8.9Visit

Zilliz Cloud #1 in Ai Databases 8.9/10 Free plan · 30-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 2 of 3 features Visit Zilliz Cloud

vs

Pinecone #2 in Ai Databases 8.9/10 Free plan · 21-day trial Free planFree trial✓ 2 of 3 features Visit Pinecone

• Zilliz Cloud fits best

  Teams wanting a managed vector database with a free tier

• Pinecone fits best

  Teams building AI search and retrieval systems

Advertiser disclosure: iTechGuides is reader-supported. Vendors can pay for top positions in our rankings and for a place on other products' pages, and we may earn a commission when you click some links. Bought places stand at the number bought; this page and our disclosure say so. Paying vendors may get a fuller, more detailed review from our editors, and that review can change their score. How we rank.

Side by side

Feature	Zilliz Cloud 8.9/10 Visit ↗	Pinecone 8.9/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	8.9	8.9
Ranking	#1 in Ai Databases	#2 in Ai Databases
Best for	Teams wanting a managed vector database with a free tier	Teams building AI search and retrieval systems
Pricing model	Free plan + paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	—	—
Free plan	✓	✓
Free trial	30 days	21 days
Free trial length	30 days · no card needed	21 days
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Docs	Community, Docs
Compliance	SSO/SAML, 2FA, GDPR, HIPAA, SOC 2, ISO 27001	SOC 2, GDPR, HIPAA, SSO/SAML
Built for	Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise	Solo, Small business, Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Zilliz Cloud 2/3 · Pinecone 2/3
Metadata filtering	✓	✓
Hybrid search	✓	✓
Managed backups	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Specs
Deployment	Not checked yet	Not checked yet
Index types	FLAT, IVF_FLAT, IVF_SQ8, IVF_PQ, HNSW, DISKANN, AUTOINDEX, SCANN, HNSW_SQ, HNSW_PQ, HNSW_PRQ, IVF_RABITQ, SPARSE_INVERTED_INDEX, SPARSE_WAND	Ananas, PQFS, IVF with PQFS
Max vector dimensions	32768	Not checked yet
Our review
Pros	Hybrid dense-sparse, BM25, multimodal, and filtered vector search Free plan includes 5 GB storage and 2.5 million vCUs monthly RBAC, SSO, MFA, private networking, and multiple compliance options	Combines dense, sparse, and full-text indexes with hybrid search Adds metadata filtering, reranking, and automatic index tuning Paid tiers add monitoring, backups, and enterprise security options
Cons	Paid pricing varies by usage, deployment, provider, region, and resources Deployment is cloud-only Support channels list documentation only	Builder starts at $20/month; Standard and Enterprise have higher minimums Standard requires at least $50/month and Enterprise at least $500/month Cloud-only deployment may not suit teams seeking self-hosted software
Our verdict	Zilliz Cloud is a managed Milvus-based vector database for teams building AI applications. It serves prototypes, development workloads, and production systems that need vector similarity search, metadata filtering, hybrid retrieval,… Read the review →	Pinecone is a managed vector database for engineering teams building AI applications, including retrieval-augmented generation, semantic search, recommendations, and agent knowledge systems. Available through web and API, it combines dense… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Zilliz Cloud — where it wins

  • Hybrid dense-sparse, BM25, multimodal, and filtered vector search
  • Free plan includes 5 GB storage and 2.5 million vCUs monthly
  • RBAC, SSO, MFA, private networking, and multiple compliance options

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid pricing varies by usage, deployment, provider, region, and resources
  • Deployment is cloud-only
  • Support channels list documentation only

• Pinecone — where it wins

  • Combines dense, sparse, and full-text indexes with hybrid search
  • Adds metadata filtering, reranking, and automatic index tuning
  • Paid tiers add monitoring, backups, and enterprise security options

  Where it doesn't

  • Builder starts at $20/month; Standard and Enterprise have higher minimums
  • Standard requires at least $50/month and Enterprise at least $500/month
  • Cloud-only deployment may not suit teams seeking self-hosted software

• Zilliz Cloud8.9/10 · Free plan · 30-day trial

  A managed vector database with hybrid search, enterprise controls, and a free tier.

  Visit Zilliz CloudFull verdict →
• Pinecone8.9/10 · Free plan · 21-day trial

  A managed vector-search service with hybrid retrieval, filtering, and tiered plans.

  Visit PineconeFull verdict →