{"id":"self-host-vector","slug":"self-host-vector","name":"Self-host vector DB","shortName":"Self-host vector DB","problemStatement":"Run vectors in your VPC/K8s with open source.","whenNotTopPick":"No ops appetite — Pinecone/Qdrant Cloud. Billion-scale specialized — Milvus/Zilliz.","categoryIds":["cat-vector-memory"],"depotPickProviderId":"qdrant","depotPickRationale":"capability + lockInRisk low + dx of ops.","runnersUpIds":["weaviate","zilliz","chroma"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.24,"pricePerformance":0.18,"latencyReliability":0.18,"developerDx":0.16,"privacyPosture":0.1,"lockInRisk":0.08,"maturity":0.06},"methodologyNotes":"capability + lockInRisk low + dx of ops.","tags":["self"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"No ops appetite — Pinecone/Qdrant Cloud. Billion-scale specialized — Milvus/Zilliz.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"weaviate","name":"Weaviate","overallForJob":8.15,"pickOverallForJob":8.57,"beatsPickOn":["maturity"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":3,"runnerUpLockInRisk":3.5,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":["open source (provider tag `oss`)"],"runnerUpExitSignals":["open source (provider tag `oss`)"],"pickNotes":[{"text":"Great self-host story","field":"strengths"},{"text":"Self-host or Cloud — either way you can leave.","field":"scores.notes"}],"selfHostFallback":[{"id":"chroma","name":"Chroma","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/chroma-core/chroma/blob/main/LICENSE"},{"id":"qdrant-oss","name":"Qdrant","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/qdrant/qdrant/blob/master/LICENSE"},{"id":"lancedb","name":"LanceDB","license":"Apache-2.0","sourceUrl":"https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/blob/main/LICENSE"}],"migration":"The pick has lower stored lock-in risk than runner-up Weaviate (3 vs 3.5). Pick exit signals: open source (provider tag `oss`). Self-host fallback listed for this job: Chroma, Qdrant, LanceDB.","migrationReason":null,"derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":1,"sourcesReachable":1,"pricingRows":0,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":0,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}},"depotPick":{"id":"qdrant","slug":"qdrant","name":"Qdrant","tagline":"Depot pick for serious vector workloads with filters. Self-host or Cloud — either way you can leave.","overall":8.57},"runnersUp":[{"id":"weaviate","slug":"weaviate","name":"Weaviate","tagline":"Best when hybrid search and modularity matter. Cloud for convenience; self-host when lock-in anxiety spikes.","overall":8.15},{"id":"zilliz","slug":"zilliz","name":"Zilliz (Milvus)","tagline":"When you're truly at massive scale, Milvus/Zilliz earns its complexity. Don't start here for a chatbot MVP.","overall":8.1},{"id":"chroma","slug":"chroma","name":"Chroma","tagline":"Prototype on Chroma; graduate to Qdrant/pgvector/Pinecone before your corpus and QPS grow up.","overall":7.88}]}