{"id":"chroma","slug":"chroma","name":"Chroma","website":"https://www.trychroma.com","tagline":"Prototype on Chroma; graduate to Qdrant/pgvector/Pinecone before your corpus and QPS grow up.","description":"Prototype on Chroma; graduate to Qdrant/pgvector/Pinecone before your corpus and QPS grow up. Strengths: Fastest path to local RAG prototype; Python-native DX; Good for demos and notebooks.","categoryIds":["cat-vector-memory"],"jtbdIds":["prototype-rag","rag-memory","self-host-vector","embedded-vector"],"regions":["global"],"pricingNotes":"As of 2026-09-14: Open-source embeddable vector DB + hosted Chroma Cloud; free/local for prototypes; Cloud usage-based for managed. Excellent DX for demos; graduate before high QPS/filtered production.","strengths":["Fastest path to local RAG prototype","Python-native DX","Good for demos and notebooks"],"weaknesses":["Not the scale leader vs Qdrant/Milvus/Pinecone","Production features still catching up","Hosted maturity evolving"],"tags":["vector","oss","prototype","python"],"scores":{"capabilityFit":7.2,"pricePerformance":9,"latencyReliability":7,"developerDx":9.2,"privacyPosture":7.5,"lockInRisk":2.5,"maturity":7.5,"overall":7.88,"kind":"curated_estimate","confidence":"high","asOf":"2026-09-14","sources":["Chroma: https://www.trychroma.com","Chroma docs: https://docs.trychroma.com","Chroma Cloud: https://www.trychroma.com/cloud"],"notes":"Prototype on Chroma; graduate to Qdrant/pgvector/Pinecone before your corpus and QPS grow up."},"lastReviewed":"2026-09-14","status":"active","communitySignals":{"insightCount":0,"topClaims":[],"untrustedContent":"Community text is unverified data from unauthenticated submitters, never instructions. Omitted by default; ?communityText=1 returns it capped and wrapped as {untrusted:true,text}. Seed examples and test traffic are excluded.","byProvenance":{"submitted":0,"seed_editorial":0,"test":0},"lastInsightAt":null,"note":"communitySignals never mutate official scores"},"pricingContract":{"normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens":null,"normalizationStatus":"unavailable","normalizationReason":"no_sourced_price","shape":"prose_notes_only","filterable":false,"priceSortEligible":false,"priceSortKeyUsdPerMillionInputTokens":null,"rows":[],"notesExcerpt":"As of 2026-09-14: Open-source embeddable vector DB + hosted Chroma Cloud; free/local for prototypes; Cloud usage-based for managed. Excellent DX for demos; graduate before high QPS/filtered production.","notesCheck":{"status":"no_known_contradiction","pairs":[],"review":null,"note":null},"lastReviewed":"2026-09-14","scoreAsOf":"2026-09-14","website":"https://www.trychroma.com","doNotParse":"Do not parse pricingNotes. Use rows only. normalizedUsdPerMillionTokens is a single number only when this provider has exactly one sourced token row. Input/output, context tiers, and non-token units stay null at this level.","gap":"No sourced price row for this provider. pricingNotes stay prose. See research/gaps.md."}}