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Solutions/RAG AI/Choosing a Vector Database for RAG

Choosing a Vector Database for RAG

Compare Pinecone, Weaviate, Qdrant, pgvector, and Chroma to find the right vector database for your RAG implementation.

How do you choose the right vector database for RAG?

Vector database selection depends on scale, latency requirements, deployment preference, and features needed. Pinecone offers managed simplicity with good performance. Weaviate provides hybrid search (vector + keyword) and self-hosted options. Qdrant excels at filtering and self-hosting. pgvector works well for smaller datasets already using PostgreSQL.

Key Selection Criteria

When evaluating vector databases, consider these factors:

• **Scale** — How many vectors can it handle? (10K to 1B+)

  • Query latency — What's the p99 latency at your expected load?
  • Filtering — Can you filter by metadata before/during vector search?
  • Hybrid search — Do you need combined vector + keyword search?
  • Deployment — Managed, self-hosted, or embedded?
  • Cost model — Per-query, per-storage, or fixed pricing?

The right choice depends on your specific requirements and constraints.

Managed Vector Databases

Pinecone — Fully managed, simple API, good for 1M-1B vectors. Supports metadata filtering and namespaces. Pricing based on pod type and storage. Best for teams that want minimal operational overhead.

Weaviate Cloud — Managed Weaviate with hybrid search (BM25 + vector), GraphQL API, and multi-tenancy. Good choice when you need both semantic and keyword search.

Qdrant Cloud — Managed Qdrant with excellent filtering capabilities and competitive pricing. Strong option for applications with complex filtering requirements.

Zilliz/Milvus Cloud — Managed Milvus with high throughput, good for very large scale deployments exceeding 1B vectors.

Self-Hosted Options

Weaviate — Feature-rich with hybrid search and HNSW index. Modular architecture allows customization. Good for 10M-100M vectors. Active community and good documentation.

Qdrant — Written in Rust for efficiency and low resource usage. Excellent filtering capabilities and payload indexing. Good for 1M-100M vectors. Easy to deploy and operate.

Milvus — Distributed architecture designed for massive scale (1B+ vectors). More complex to operate but handles enterprise-scale workloads. Good for organizations with dedicated infrastructure teams.

Chroma — Embedded database perfect for prototyping and smaller applications. Python-native, easy to get started. Limited to smaller datasets (<100K vectors typically).

When to Use pgvector

pgvector adds vector search capabilities to PostgreSQL. It's the right choice when:

• You have existing Postgres infrastructure you want to leverage

  • Your dataset is smaller (<1M vectors)
  • Your use case is relatively simple without heavy filtering
  • Your team is already familiar with SQL and Postgres

**Limitations to consider:**

  • Slower than purpose-built vector DBs at scale
  • HNSW index requires more memory
  • Fewer specialized features for RAG workflows

Many teams start with pgvector and migrate to specialized vector databases if they outgrow it. This is a valid approach that minimizes initial complexity.

Related Articles

RAG vs Fine-Tuning: When to Use Each

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Document Chunking Strategies for RAG

Learn effective chunking strategies including fixed-size, semantic, recursive, and sentence-window approaches for optimal RAG retrieval.

Secure Enterprise RAG Implementation

Implement enterprise-grade RAG with access control, encryption, PII handling, and compliant deployment architectures.

Explore more RAG implementation topics

Back to RAG AI Knowledge Systems

How Boolean & Beyond helps

Based in Bangalore, we help enterprises across India and globally build RAG systems that deliver accurate, citable answers from your proprietary data.

Knowledge Architecture

We design document pipelines, chunking strategies, and embedding approaches tailored to your content types and query patterns.

Production Reliability

Our RAG systems include hallucination detection, confidence scoring, source citations, and proper error handling from day one.

Enterprise Security

We implement access control, PII handling, audit logging, and compliant deployment for sensitive enterprise data.

Ready to start building?

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Registered Office

Boolean and Beyond

825/90, 13th Cross, 3rd Main

Mahalaxmi Layout, Bengaluru - 560086

Operational Office

590, Diwan Bahadur Rd

Near Savitha Hall, R.S. Puram

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu 641002

Boolean and Beyond

Building AI-enabled products for startups and businesses. From MVPs to production-ready applications.

Company

  • About
  • Services
  • Solutions
  • Industry Guides
  • Work
  • Insights
  • Careers
  • Contact

Services

  • Product Engineering with AI
  • MVP & Early Product Development
  • Generative AI & Agent Systems
  • AI Integration for Existing Products
  • Technology Modernisation & Migration
  • Data Engineering & AI Infrastructure

Resources

  • AI Cost Calculator
  • AI Readiness Assessment
  • AI-Augmented Development
  • Download AI Checklist

Comparisons

  • AI-First vs AI-Augmented
  • Build vs Buy AI
  • RAG vs Fine-Tuning
  • HLS vs DASH Streaming
  • Single vs Multi-Agent
  • PSD2 & SCA Compliance

Legal

  • Terms of Service
  • Privacy Policy

Contact

contact@booleanbeyond.com+91 9952361618

© 2026 Blandcode Labs pvt ltd. All rights reserved.

Bangalore, India