Course guide

Vector Database Comparison: Qdrant vs Pinecone vs pgvector vs Weaviate

Compare the top vector databases for RAG systems: Qdrant, Pinecone, pgvector, Weaviate, Milvus, and ChromaDB. Performance, features, pricing, and when to use each.

Vector databases store and search high-dimensional embeddings for semantic similarity. Choosing the right one depends on your scale, deployment model, and feature requirements.

Quick Comparison

Database	Type	Best For	Open Source
Qdrant	Dedicated vector DB	Production, high performance, filtering	Yes
pgvector	PostgreSQL extension	Existing PG users, small-medium scale	Yes
Pinecone	Managed cloud	Zero-ops, fast start	No
Weaviate	Multi-modal	Text + images, GraphQL API	Yes
Milvus	Distributed	Billion-scale datasets	Yes
ChromaDB	Embedded	Prototyping, local dev	Yes

Learn Vector Database Engineering

Module 4 covers vector database internals, indexing algorithms, and production deployment.