shouldiuse.io

Comparison

Chroma vs Weaviate

Chroma and Weaviate both land on Depends.

Chroma versus Weaviate
CompareChromaWeaviate
VerdictDependsDepends
Best forAI teams building RAG and semantic searchEngineering teams building RAG or semantic search
Who it's not forNon-technical teams wanting plug-and-play searchNon-technical teams wanting plug-and-play search
PrivacyKnown 2026 CVEs: tenant-authorization bypass through v1.5.9 and unauthenticated Python-server RCE . patch fast and never expose unauthenticated.11No known public vulnerabilities found in the sources reviewed.
Support qualityNo support reviews for this Chroma foundNo support-quality evidence in sources
Public sentimentPublic reviews are sparse: G2 users praise hassle-free cloud deployment, but overall ratings sit at 3.3/5 across just 6 reviews.⁶Independent user reviews are sparse; most coverage is aggregator listings, with one analysis praising hybrid isolation options.
Biggest gotchaCVE-2026-92782: versions through 1.5.9 fail tenant and database validation . patch before exposing11Free tier covers self-hosting; cloud costs need a quote . model before committing.

Pick Chroma when

  • AI teams building RAG and semantic search
  • Developers wanting a free, self-hosted vector DB
  • Startups fleeing Pinecone's $50 minimum spend
  • Prototype-to-production embedding workloads

When Chroma is not a fit

  • Non-technical teams wanting plug-and-play search
  • Ops-light teams that can't chase CVE patches
  • Enterprises needing vendor SLAs and dedicated support
  • Anyone whose scale fits pgvector on existing Postgres

Pick Weaviate when

  • Engineering teams building RAG or semantic search
  • AI-native app developers needing hybrid search
  • Regulated teams needing SOC 2/HIPAA options
  • On-prem deployments for data privacy

When Weaviate is not a fit

  • Non-technical teams wanting plug-and-play search
  • Projects with no engineer to run a database
  • Simple contact-list or spreadsheet use cases
  • Buyers wanting a finished chatbot, not infrastructure

Sources

  1. Chroma . open-source search infrastructure for AItrychroma.com
    official
  2. Pricing - Chromatrychroma.com
    official
  3. Pricing - Chroma Docs (Cloud)docs.trychroma.com
    official
  4. Security | Chromatrychroma.com
    official
  5. chroma-core/chroma on GitHubgithub.com
    official
  6. Chroma Vector Database Reviews . G2g2.com
    review
  7. Chroma vs Writer (2026) . rfp.wikirfp.wiki
    review
  8. Chroma vector database review: pricing and fit . PE Collectivepecollective.com
    review
  9. Is Chroma Cloud the Best Pinecone Alternative?maxrohde.com
    review
  10. CVE-2026-92782: Chroma Authorization Bypass . SentinelOnesentinelone.com
    security
  11. Chroma through 1.5.9 tenant validation flaw . Rapid7rapid7.com
    security
  12. ChromaDB RCE Exposes Unauthenticated AI Infrastructure . CSA Labslabs.cloudsecurityalliance.org
    security
  13. Chroma raises $18M seed round . SiliconANGLEsiliconangle.com
    news
  14. chroma Alternatives: 24 Open-Source & API Options (2026) . Infrabaseinfrabase.ai
    review
  15. Top Chroma Alternatives . Respan market maprespan.ai
    review
  16. Weaviate: The AI database developers loveweaviate.io
    official