Weaviate
4.4
Weaviate is an open-source vector database that also generates embeddings and runs query agents inside the same system, so a retrieval pipeline does not have to be assembled from three services. It can be self-hosted or bought as a managed cloud.
- Commercial use OK
- Free tier
- Enterprise contract
- Pricing
- From $45/mo
- Free tier
- Free tier
- Commercial use
- Permitted
- Japanese UI
- Not confirmed
- Enterprise contract
- Available
What it is good for
- RAG where you would rather not run an embedding service separately
- Hybrid search combining vectors with keyword matching
- Teams that need the option to self-host
- Workloads with heavy metadata filtering
Strengths and trade-offs
Strengths
- Embedding generation and query agents in the same system
- Open source, with a managed cloud using the same engine
- Strong hybrid search rather than vectors only
- Module system for swapping embedding providers
Trade-offs
- More moving parts than a pure vector store
- Self-hosting a stateful cluster is real operational work
- Managed pricing climbs with both storage and queries
Editors' review
A retrieval stack rather than a vector store
Most vector databases do one job and assume you bring embeddings. Weaviate bundles generation and querying into the same system, which removes a service from the architecture and a class of version-skew bugs where the index and the query use different embedding models.
Hybrid search is the other reason teams pick it. Pure vector search fails on exact identifiers — product codes, error numbers — and combining it with keyword matching in one query is how real retrieval behaves.
The cost is surface area. There is more to configure and more to operate than a single-purpose store, and self-hosting means owning a stateful cluster. Start on the cloud and keep the self-hosted path as the exit.
Verdict
Choose it when you want retrieval as one system rather than three. Pinecone is simpler if you only need vectors.
Compiled from official documentation and public sources, with our own editorial judgement. We do not publish figures we cannot source.