Chroma vs Elasticsearch
Compare deployment options, cost efficiency, and features to choose the right vector database for your application.
Database Comparison
Chroma takes the lead.
Both Chroma and Elasticsearch are powerful vector databases designed for efficient similarity search and storage. However, their deployment options and features differ in important ways.
Why Chroma:
- Chroma ranks higher overall
- Elasticsearch offers more deployment options
- Chroma is more cost-effective
- Chroma has more permissive licensing
- Elasticsearch has 2 more strengths
Chroma
Chroma is a lightweight, local-first vector database designed for fast prototyping and flexible on-device or self-hosted RAG workflows. It supports efficient in-memory and SPANN search modes, making it ideal for local experimentation and small to medium RAG systems.
Elasticsearch
Elasticsearch is one of Europe's most widely deployed open-source search engines that includes native vector database capabilities. It combines dense vector search with traditional full-text BM25 keyword search for powerful hybrid retrieval, making it ideal for RAG applications that need both semantic and lexical search capabilities.
Feature Comparison
Infrastructure & Technical Details
| Feature | Chroma | Elasticsearch |
|---|---|---|
| Deployment | Self-Hosted, Managed Cloud | Self-Hosted, Managed Cloud, Serverless |
| Cost | Free (local), Chroma Cloud starts at $0 with $5 free credits | Serverless: usage-based (ECU); Hosted: starts ~$95/month; Self-hosted: free (infra cost only) |
| License | Apache 2.0 | AGPL v3 / SSPL / Elastic License 2.0 |
| Index Types | HNSW, SPANN | HNSW, int8_hnsw, int4_hnsw, bbq_hnsw, Flat |
| Cloud Providers | Any | AWS, Azure, GCP, Alibaba Cloud |
| Regional Flexibility | medium | high |
| Strengths | 10 | 12 |
| Weaknesses | 7 | 8 |