Weaviate
by Weaviate B.V.
The AI-native, open-source vector database developers love.
Weaviate is an open-source, AI-native vector database that stores objects and vectors together, enabling vector, keyword, and hybrid search with built-in vectorization, multi-tenancy, and RAG capabilities for production AI applications.
At a Glance
- Category
- Infrastructure & Cloud
- Pricing
- Free, Usage-based, Subscription, Contact for pricing
- Target Market
- Enterprise Developers, Data Scientists, ML Engineers, DevOps / MLOps Engineers, CTOs
- Founded
- 2019
- Headquarters
- Amsterdam, Netherlands
- Customers
- 20M+ open-source downloads; thousands of customers
Key Features
- ✓AI-native vector database
Stores objects and their vector embeddings together in one Go-based system, usable as a primary database for AI applications.
- ✓Hybrid search
Combines BM25 keyword search with vector search using customizable weighting for higher-quality, more relevant results.
- ✓Built-in vectorization
Automatically generates embeddings at import via native Weaviate Embeddings or 20+ third-party model integrations, with no separate pipeline required.
- ✓Multi-tenancy
First-class tenant isolation that scales to millions of tenants in a single instance, ideal for multi-tenant SaaS.
- ✓Query Agent and agent tooling
Managed RAG via the Query Agent plus agent memory (Engram), enabling agentic retrieval over Weaviate Cloud collections.
- ✓Flexible deployment
Open-source (BSD-3) for self-hosting via Docker or Kubernetes, plus managed Weaviate Cloud and bring-your-own-cloud (BYOC) options.
Capabilities
Use Cases
- •Retrieval-augmented generation
Store and retrieve embeddings to ground LLM responses with relevant context for accurate AI-native applications.
- •Semantic and hybrid search
Search across documents, images, audio, and video by combining vector similarity with keyword matching.
- •Multi-tenant SaaS data isolation
Serve many customers from one cluster with per-tenant partitions while controlling cost and maintaining performance.
Ideal For
Best For
- ✓Building RAG and semantic search on unstructured data
- ✓Multi-tenant SaaS applications needing per-customer data isolation
- ✓Self-hosted or hybrid vector search deployments under an open-source license
Integrations
Deployment
Market & Ratings
20M+ open-source downloads; thousands of customers
Market Analysis
Pros
- ✓Open-source and free to self-host (BSD-3)
- ✓Flexible deployment: self-hosted, managed cloud, or BYOC
- ✓Strong hybrid search and built-in vectorization
- ✓Excellent multi-tenancy for SaaS use cases
- ✓Active developer community and praised technical support
Cons
- ✗Self-hosting requires operational effort and tuning at scale
- ✗Managed cloud pricing model (per vector dimension) can be complex to estimate
- ✗Some users report setup friction and inconsistencies at large scale
Pricing
Open Source (Self-hosted)
$0
- ✓BSD-3 licensed, free software
- ✓Self-host via Docker or Kubernetes
- ✓Pay only your own infrastructure costs
- ✓Full core database features
- ✓Community support
Free Sandbox
$0
- ✓14-day trial cluster on Weaviate Cloud
- ✓Community support
- ✓Evaluation and prototyping
Flex
From $45/mo
- ✓Pay-as-you-go managed cloud
- ✓All core database features
- ✓Built-in RBAC
- ✓AI-native Embeddings and Agents
- ✓99.5% uptime on Shared Cloud
- ✓Automated upgrades
Plus
From $280/mo
- ✓Everything in Flex
- ✓Annual commitment options
- ✓Enhanced security
- ✓Stronger SLAs (99.9% uptime)
- ✓Choice of Shared or Dedicated deployments
Premium
Contact for pricing
- ✓Dedicated infrastructure or BYOC
- ✓Business-critical SLAs (99.95% uptime)
- ✓Priority response
- ✓Highest security and compliance (including HIPAA)
Weaviate OSS is free under the BSD-3 license (you pay only infrastructure). Weaviate Cloud restructured pricing in October 2025 to bill on vector dimensions stored, object storage, and backup storage; the Flex entry tier starts at $45/mo (older $25/mo Serverless tier was retired).
Stay Ahead of the Curve
Weekly enterprise AI insights for technology leaders. No spam, no vendor pitches—unsubscribe anytime.
SubscribeRelated Products
Spectro Cloud
Turn AI silicon into production infrastructure across cloud, edge, and sovereign environments
SambaNova
Full-stack AI inference on custom dataflow chips — in the cloud, on-prem, or sovereign.
Upscale AI
The pure-play AI networking company building the full-stack fabric for GPU and XPU clusters
Prime Intellect
The open superintelligence stack — own your intelligence with custom compute, RL training, and inference in one platform.