Postgres-native vectors (pgvector)
Keep vectors next to relational data with minimal new systems.
At a glance — Oct 2026
Updated 2026-10-27 · forward this page: /jtbds/postgres-vector#briefScores as of 2026-09-14 (43 days old; Depot marks scores stale after 30 days). The pick is still Depot's current editorial pick; it has not been re-reviewed since. Prices below carry their own dates.
- Depot Pick
- Supabase (pgvector) · 8.61/10 for this job (curated estimate, high confidence)
dx + pricePerf + lockInRisk. Default for most agent apps.
- Runner-up
- Neon · 8.59/10
Scores higher than the pick on: Capability fit, Privacy / data retention.
- When not to use the pick
- Corpus/QPS exceeds comfortable Postgres vector range — Qdrant/Milvus/Turbopuffer.
- Lock-in / migration
- Self-host fallback listed for this job: pgvector.
- Sourced price (no comparable unit)
Pick: no sourced price in this job's unit (no_sourced_price).
No cheapest SKU (no_comparable_unit_for_job). No price was invented.
- Free option
- pgvector (oss) — source, as of 2026-10-25
- Failure modes to watch
- Schema drift: Validate every tool call and every loaded table against the current schema. Quarantine mismatches instead of coercing them.
- Stale retrieval: Store the source URL and the time it was fetched. If a newer canonical page exists, or two stored sources disagree, do not answer from the older one.
Cite: Agent Provider Depot, Depot Pick for postgres-vector: supabase-pgvector, scores as of 2026-09-14. Agents: GET /api/decide?jtbd=postgres-vector
Free Postgres-native vectors (pgvector) options
Supabase (pgvector)
dx + pricePerf + lockInRisk. Default for most agent apps.
Pricing (directional): Postgres + pgvector + Auth + Storage; usage on compute/storage; free tier. Vectors hitchhike on Postgres.
Lock-in risk: higher = more lock-in (worse). Overall already inverts this dimension.
Depot default for most agent apps under ~25–50M vectors. Don't add Pinecone until Postgres actually hurts.
Quote for Postgres-native vectors (pgvector)
Depot Pick stays Supabase (pgvector). Prices below are sourced SKU rows only (as of 2026-10-27). Input and output are not blended. GET /api/quote?jtbd=postgres-vector
Nothing was compared. no comparable sourced unit for this job; chat input $/1M and other units were not borrowed pickIsPriceWinner is null.
Sourced price unavailable for the Depot Pick. No row in the pricing index.
3 of 4 candidates have no sourced price row. 4 are excluded from the Matching price comparison (none). no comparable sourced unit for this job; chat input $/1M and other units were not borrowed
Runners-up
When NOT to use the top pick
Corpus/QPS exceeds comfortable Postgres vector range — Qdrant/Milvus/Turbopuffer.
Full ranking (score table)
Ranked with this JTBD's weights. Scores are curated estimates unless marked otherwise. Agents: prefer /api/decide then this table for tie-breaks.
| # | Provider | Overall | Fit | $/perf | Latency | DX | As of |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Supabase (pgvector)Depot Pick | 8.6 | 8.5 | 9.0 | 8.6 | 9.4 | 2026-09-14 |
| 2 | Neon | 8.6 | 8.6 | 8.8 | 8.6 | 9.4 | 2026-09-14 |
| 3 | PlanetScale | 8.2 | 8.6 | 7.4 | 8.8 | 9.2 | 2026-09-14 |
| 4 | AWS EC2 | 7.9 | 9.2 | 7.0 | 9.5 | 6.5 | 2026-09-14 |
Score methodology for this job
dx + pricePerf + lockInRisk. Default for most agent apps.
capabilityFit: 24%pricePerformance: 18%latencyReliability: 18%developerDx: 16%privacyPosture: 10%lockInRisk: 8%maturity: 6%