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Weaviate

Weaviate is a cloud and self-hosted vector database offering hybrid dense+sparse search, strong metadata filtering, and a modular storage layer. It is designed for enterprise and production RAG workloads that require flexibility and scalable cloud hosting.

Rank: #6License: BSDCost: medium

Deployment

Self-Hosted, Managed Cloud

Cost

Free (self-host), cloud starts ~$25/mo

Index Types

HNSW, Hybrid dense+sparse

Deployment

Infrastructure Options

Deployment Types

  • Self-Hosted
  • Managed Cloud

Cloud Providers

  • AWS
  • GCP

Strengths

What Weaviate Does Well

  • Excellent hybrid dense+sparse search built-in
  • Strong schema and data modeling capabilities
  • Modular storage layer (pluggable backends)
  • Built-in vectorization modules (transformers, OpenAI, etc.)
  • Strong multi-tenancy support
  • OIDC authentication support for SSO integration
  • Excellent documentation and community
  • Good balance of features and performance

Weaknesses

Potential Drawbacks

  • GraphQL API can be complex for simple use cases
  • Limited to AWS and GCP for managed cloud
  • Can be resource-intensive for small deployments
  • Steeper learning curve than simpler alternatives
  • Schema management adds complexity
  • Less cost-effective than pure open-source options

Use Cases

When to Choose Weaviate

Ideal For

  • Enterprise applications needing hybrid search
  • Projects requiring strong metadata modeling
  • Teams wanting built-in vectorization
  • Applications with complex filtering needs
  • Multi-tenant SaaS platforms
  • Organizations needing OIDC/SSO integration

Not Ideal For

  • Simple prototypes needing minimal setup
  • Very cost-sensitive projects
  • Teams needing Azure deployment
  • Applications wanting API simplicity over features

Compare Databases

See how it stacks up

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