ChromaDB for prototypes and smaller projects, Pinecone for production without ops.
ChromaDB¶
- Open-source, embedded (or server mode)
- Python-first API
- Auto-embedding support
- Ideal for prototypes and smaller datasets
- Free, self-hosted
Pinecone¶
- Fully managed serverless
- High performance and availability
- Metadata filtering
- Namespaces for multi-tenancy
- Pay-per-usage
Comparison¶
- Setup: ChromaDB = pip install, Pinecone = API key
- Scale: Pinecone for millions of vectors, ChromaDB for thousands to hundreds of thousands
- Ops: Pinecone zero, ChromaDB self-managed
- Price: ChromaDB free, Pinecone from $0 (free tier) to $$
- Lock-in: ChromaDB none, Pinecone vendor
When to Use Which¶
- ChromaDB — prototypes, POC, embedded in app, budget-conscious
- Pinecone — production, high availability, zero ops
ChromaDB to Start, Pinecone for Production¶
Start with ChromaDB, migrate to Pinecone or Qdrant for production.
chromadbpineconevector db