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Vector database
Type of specialized database system

A vector database stores vectors—fixed-length numerical lists representing data features—and enables efficient search using Approximate Nearest Neighbor algorithms. These high-dimensional vectors encode characteristics of data such as text, images, or audio, derived via feature extraction, word embeddings, or deep learning. Vector databases support applications including similarity search, semantic search, and recommendations engines. They are crucial in retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), where embeddings of domain documents are stored to enhance large language model responses by retrieving relevant context based on a user query vector.

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Techniques

The most important techniques for similarity search on high-dimensional vectors include:

and combinations of these techniques.

In recent benchmarks, HNSW-based implementations have been among the best performers.89 Conferences such as the International Conference on Similarity Search and Applications, SISAP and the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems (NeurIPS) host competitions on vector search in large databases.

Implementations

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

NameLicense
Aerospike1011Proprietary
AllegroGraph1213Proprietary (Managed Service)
Apache Cassandra1415Apache License 2.0
Chroma1617Apache License 2.018
Azure Cosmos DB19Proprietary (Managed Service)
Couchbase2021BSL 1.122
CrateDB23Apache License 2.0
DataStax24Proprietary (Managed Service)
Elasticsearch25Server Side Public License, Elastic License26
HAKES27Apache License 2.028
HDF5 Query Indexing29BSD 3-Clause30
JaguarDB3132Proprietary
LanceDB33Apache License 2.034
Lantern35BSL 1.136
LlamaIndex37MIT License38
MariaDB3940GPL v241
Marqo42Apache License 2.043
Meilisearch44MIT License45
Milvus4647Apache License 2.0
MongoDB Atlas48Server Side Public License (Managed service)
Neo4j4950GPL v3 (Community Edition)51
ObjectBox52Apache License 2.053
OpenSearch545556Apache License 2.057
Oracle Database58Proprietary (Managed Service or License)
Pinecone59Proprietary (Managed Service)
Postgres with pgvector60PostgreSQL License61
Qdrant62Apache License 2.063
Redis Stack6465Redis Source Available License66
Snowflake67Proprietary (Managed Service)
SurrealDB68BSL 1.169
Typesense70GPL v3 (Community Edition)71
Vespa72Apache License 2.073
Weaviate74BSD 3-Clause75

See also

References

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  2. "What is a vector database". Elastic. Retrieved 18 November 2023. https://www.elastic.co/what-is/vector-database ↩

  3. "What is a Vector Database?". Retrieved 10 July 2023. https://www.datastax.com/guides/what-is-a-vector-database ↩

  4. "Vector database". learn.microsoft.com. 2023-12-26. Retrieved 2024-01-11. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/vector-database ↩

  5. Evan Chaki (2023-07-31). "What is a vector database?". Microsoft. A vector database is a type of database that stores data as high-dimensional vectors, which are mathematical representations of features or attributes. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/semantic-kernel/memories/vector-db ↩

  6. "Vector database". learn.microsoft.com. 2023-12-26. Retrieved 2024-01-11. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/cosmos-db/vector-database ↩

  7. Lewis, Patrick; Perez, Ethan; Piktus, Aleksandra; Petroni, Fabio; Karpukhin, Vladimir; Goyal, Naman; Küttler, Heinrich (2020). "Retrieval-augmented generation for knowledge-intensive NLP tasks". Advances in Neural Information Processing Systems 33: 9459–9474. arXiv:2005.11401. /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier) ↩

  8. Aumüller, Martin; Bernhardsson, Erik; Faithfull, Alexander (2017), Beecks, Christian; Borutta, Felix; Kröger, Peer; Seidl, Thomas (eds.), "ANN-Benchmarks: A Benchmarking Tool for Approximate Nearest Neighbor Algorithms", Similarity Search and Applications, vol. 10609, Cham: Springer International Publishing, pp. 34–49, arXiv:1807.05614, doi:10.1007/978-3-319-68474-1_3, ISBN 978-3-319-68473-4, retrieved 2024-03-19 978-3-319-68473-4 ↩

  9. Aumüller, Martin; Bernhardsson, Erik; Faithfull, Alexander (2017). "ANN-Benchmarks: A Benchmarking Tool for Approximate Nearest Neighbor Algorithms". In Beecks, Christian; Borutta, Felix; Kröger, Peer; Seidl, Thomas (eds.). Similarity Search and Applications. Lecture Notes in Computer Science. Vol. 10609. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 34–49. arXiv:1807.05614. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-68474-1_3. ISBN 978-3-319-68474-1. 978-3-319-68474-1 ↩

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  16. Palazzolo, Stephanie. "Vector database Chroma scored $18 million in seed funding at a $75 million valuation. Here's why its technology is key to helping generative AI startups". Business Insider. Retrieved 2023-11-16. https://www.businessinsider.com/vector-database-startup-chroma-raises-seed-funding-generative-artificial-intelligence-2023-4 ↩

  17. MSV, Janakiram (2023-07-28). "Exploring Chroma: The Open Source Vector Database for LLMs". The New Stack. Retrieved 2023-11-16. https://thenewstack.io/exploring-chroma-the-open-source-vector-database-for-llms/ ↩

  18. "chroma/LICENSE at main · chroma-core/chroma". GitHub. https://github.com/chroma-core/chroma/blob/main/LICENSE ↩

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  20. "Couchbase aims to boost developer database productivity with Capella IQ AI tool". VentureBeat. 2023-08-30. https://venturebeat.com/ai/couchbase-aims-to-boost-developer-database-productivity-with-capella-iq-ai-tool/#h-next-on-the-roadmap-for-couchbase-is-vector-support ↩

  21. "Investor Presentation Third Quarter Fiscal 2024". Couchbase Investor Relations. 2023-12-06. https://investors.couchbase.com/static-files/551e5b96-5307-4119-b225-19cfd8540242 ↩

  22. Anderson, Scott (2021-03-26). "Couchbase Adopts BSL License". The Couchbase Blog. Retrieved 2024-02-14. https://www.couchbase.com/blog/couchbase-adopts-bsl-license/ ↩

  23. "Open Source Vector Database". CrateDB Blog. 16 November 2023. Retrieved 2024-11-06. https://cratedb.com/blog/open-source-vector-database ↩

  24. Sean Michael Kerner (18 July 2023). "DataStax brings vector database search to multicloud with Astra DB". Venture Beat. https://venturebeat.com/data-infrastructure/datastax-brings-vector-database-search-to-multicloud-with-astra-db/ ↩

  25. Kerner, Sean (23 May 2023). "Elasticsearch Relevance Engine brings new vectors to generative AI". VentureBeat. Retrieved 18 November 2023. https://venturebeat.com/ai/elasticsearch-relevance-engine-brings-new-vectors-to-generative-ai/ ↩

  26. "elasticsearch/LICENSE.txt at main · elastic/elasticsearch". GitHub. https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch/blob/main/LICENSE.txt ↩

  27. "HAKES | Efficient Data Search with Embedding Vectors at Scale". Retrieved 8 March 2025. https://www.comp.nus.edu.sg/~dbsystem/hakes ↩

  28. "HAKES/LICENSE at main · nusdbsystem/HAKES". GitHub. Retrieved 8 March 2025. https://github.com/nusdbsystem/HAKES/blob/main/LICENSE ↩

  29. "HDF5 Query Indexing". GitHub. 27 Sep 2019. Retrieved 3 May 2024. https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5doc/tree/master/RFCs/HDF5/Query-Indexing ↩

  30. "HDFGroup/COPYING at master · HDFGroup/hdf5". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://github.com/HDFGroup/hdf5/blob/master/COPYING ↩

  31. "JaguarDB Homepage". JaguarDB. Retrieved 2025-04-12. http://jaguardb.com/ ↩

  32. "Vector DBMS". db-engines.com. 2023-07-03. Retrieved 2025-04-12. https://db-engines.com/de/ranking/vector+dbms ↩

  33. "LanceDB Homepage". LanceDB. 2024-12-17. Retrieved 2024-12-17. https://lancedb.com/ ↩

  34. "lancedb/LICENSE at main · lancedb/lancedb". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-12-17. https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb?tab=Apache-2.0-1-ov-file ↩

  35. "Lantern". 2024-04-05. Retrieved 2024-04-05. https://lantern.dev/ ↩

  36. "lantern/LICENSE at main /lanterndata/lantern". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-04-10. https://github.com/lanterndata/lantern/blob/main/LICENSE ↩

  37. Wiggers, Kyle (2023-06-06). "LlamaIndex adds private data to large language models". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/06/llamaindex-adds-private-data-to-large-language-models/ ↩

  38. "llama_index/LICENSE at main · run-llama/llama_index". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://github.com/run-llama/llama_index/blob/main/LICENSE ↩

  39. "MariaDB Vector". MariaDB.org. Retrieved 2024-07-30. https://mariadb.org/projects/mariadb-vector/ ↩

  40. "Vector search in old and modern databases". manticoresearch.com. Retrieved 2024-07-30. https://manticoresearch.com/blog/vector-search-in-databases/ ↩

  41. "Licensing FAQ". MariaDB KnowledgeBase. Retrieved 2024-07-30. https://mariadb.com/kb/en/licensing-faq/ ↩

  42. Sawers, Paul (2023-08-16). "Meet Marqo, an open source vector search engine for AI applications". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-08-20. https://techcrunch.com/2023/08/16/meet-marqo-an-open-source-vector-search-engine-for-ai-applications/ ↩

  43. marqo-ai/marqo, Marqo, 2024-08-20, retrieved 2024-08-20 https://github.com/marqo-ai/marqo?tab=Apache-2.0-1-ov-file#readme ↩

  44. "Meilisearch Homepage". Meilisearch. 2024-10-08. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://meilisearch.com/ ↩

  45. "meilisearch/LICENSE at main · meilisearch/meilisearch". GitHub. Retrieved 2024-10-08. https://github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch/blob/main/LICENSE ↩

  46. "Open Source Vector Database – Milvus – LFAI & DATA". Retrieved 29 October 2023. https://milvus.io/ ↩

  47. Liao, Ingrid Lunden and Rita (2022-08-24). "Zilliz raises $60M, relocates to SF". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/24/zilliz-the-startup-behind-the-milvus-open-source-vector-database-for-ai-applications-raises-60m-and-relocates-to-sf/ ↩

  48. "Introducing Atlas Vector Search: Build Intelligent Applications with Semantic Search and AI Over Any Type of Data". MongoDB. 2023-06-22. https://www.mongodb.com/blog/post/introducing-atlas-vector-search-build-intelligent-applications-semantic-search-ai ↩

  49. "Neo4j enhances its graph database with vector search". itbrief. 2023-08-22. https://itbrief.com.au/story/neo4j-enhances-its-graph-database-with-vector-search ↩

  50. "Vector search indexes". neo4j. https://neo4j.com/docs/cypher-manual/current/indexes/semantic-indexes/vector-indexes ↩

  51. "Neo4j licensing". https://neo4j.com/licensing/ ↩

  52. "Top Fifteen Vector Databases". db-engines.com. 2024-07-03. Retrieved 2024-07-03. https://db-engines.com/de/ranking/vektor+dbms ↩

  53. "ObjectBox Java license". github. https://github.com/objectbox/objectbox-java/blob/main/LICENSE.txt ↩

  54. "Using OpenSearch as a Vector Database". OpenSearch.org. 2023-08-02. Retrieved 2024-02-07. https://opensearch.org/platform/search/vector-database.html ↩

  55. Pan, James Jie; Wang, Jianguo; Li, Guoliang (2023-10-21), Survey of Vector Database Management Systems, arXiv:2310.14021 /wiki/ArXiv_(identifier) ↩

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  58. Hook(1) and Priyadarshi(2), Doug(1) and Ranjan(2) (May 2, 2024). "Oracle Announces General Availability of AI Vector Search in Oracle Database 23ai". oracle. Retrieved July 9, 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) https://blogs.oracle.com/database/post/oracle-announces-general-availability-of-ai-vector-search-in-oracle-database-23ai ↩

  59. "Pinecone leads 'explosion' in vector databases for generative AI". VentureBeat. 2023-07-14. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://venturebeat.com/ai/pinecone-leads-explosion-in-vector-databases-for-generative-ai/ ↩

  60. "pgvector". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-11-27. https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector ↩

  61. "pgvector/License". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-11-27. https://github.com/pgvector/pgvector/blob/master/LICENSE ↩

  62. Sawers, Paul (2023-04-19). "Qdrant, an open-source vector database startup, wants to help AI developers leverage unstructured data". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://techcrunch.com/2023/04/19/qdrant-an-open-source-vector-database-startup-wants-to-help-ai-developers-leverage-unstructured-data/ ↩

  63. "qdrant/LICENSE at master · qdrant/qdrant". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://github.com/qdrant/qdrant/blob/master/LICENSE ↩

  64. "Using Redis as a Vector Database with OpenAI | OpenAI Cookbook". cookbook.openai.com. Retrieved 2024-02-10. https://cookbook.openai.com/examples/vector_databases/redis/getting-started-with-redis-and-openai ↩

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  68. Wiggers, Kyle (2023-01-04). "SurrealDB raises $6M for its database-as-a-service offering". TechCrunch. Retrieved 2024-01-19. https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/04/surrealdb-raises-6m-startup-funding-database-as-a-service/ ↩

  69. "SurrealDB | License FAQs | The ultimate multi-model database". SurrealDB. Retrieved 2024-02-14. https://surrealdb.com/license ↩

  70. Martinez, Miguel (2024-06-20). "Typesense Homepage". Typesense. Retrieved 2024-06-20. https://typesense.org/ ↩

  71. "Typesense licensing". GitHub. https://github.com/typesense/typesense/blob/main/LICENSE.txt ↩

  72. Riley, Duncan (4 October 2023). "Yahoo spins off AI scaling engine Vespa as an independent company". siliconANGLE. Retrieved 18 November 2023. https://siliconangle.com/2023/10/04/yahoo-spins-off-ai-scaling-engine-vespa-independent-company/ ↩

  73. "vespa/LICENSE at master · vespa-engine/vespa". GitHub. https://github.com/vespa-engine/vespa/blob/master/LICENSE ↩

  74. "Weaviate reels in $50M for its AI-optimized vector database". SiliconANGLE. 2023-04-21. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://siliconangle.com/2023/04/21/weaviate-reels-50m-ai-optimized-vector-database/ ↩

  75. "weaviate/LICENSE at master · weaviate/weaviate". GitHub. Retrieved 2023-10-29. https://github.com/weaviate/weaviate/blob/master/LICENSE ↩