vector databases
for Infra & data engineers
Weaviate vs Milvus: which is better for Infra & data engineers?
TL;DR for Infra & data engineers
Weaviate combines graph and vector search with modules for multi-modal retrieval; Milvus focuses on scalable, cloud‑native vector storage with GPU acceleration.
Key Differences
| Feature | Weaviate | Milvus |
|---|---|---|
| Graph & vector vs vector‑only | Weaviate approach | Milvus approach |
| Modules & multi-modal integration | Weaviate approach | Milvus approach |
| GraphQL API vs gRPC | Weaviate approach | Milvus approach |
| Scalability design | Weaviate approach | Milvus approach |
| Ops complexity | Weaviate approach | Milvus approach |
| Pricing & hosting | Weaviate approach | Milvus approach |
Pricing Snapshot
Weaviate: free OSS; cloud from ~$75/mo; Milvus: free OSS; Zilliz Cloud from ~$0.10/hr (2025‑10‑13)
Last reviewed: 2025-10-13
Weaviate
Choose Weaviate if:
- You want schema & knowledge graph features
- You need multi-modal modules & GraphQL
- You can handle more complexity
Pros
- + Open-source with managed cloud
- + GraphQL & REST API
- + Knowledge graph & vector search
- + Extensible modules (multi-modal & LLMs)
- + Flexible schema design
Cons
- - Steeper learning curve
- - Resource-intensive at scale
- - More complex setup
- - Higher cloud cost than self-hosting
Milvus
Choose Milvus if:
- You need raw scale & throughput
- You plan GPU-accelerated search
- You prefer simpler vector operations
Pros
- + Highly scalable & distributed
- + Multiple index types
- + GPU & CPU acceleration
- + Active open-source community
- + Hybrid search support
Cons
- - Complex cluster management
- - High infrastructure requirements
- - Steep learning curve
- - Operational overhead
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