Chroma alternative. Prototype locally, scale to production.

Scaling beyond the Chroma vector database? LanceDB gives you the same simple embedded experience, with disk-native storage that scales to petabytes and production workloads.

Why teams switch

Compute-storage separation

Prototype embedded, scale to cloud. No RAM ceiling.

One table, not six systems

Raw data, embeddings, and features together. No sync jobs. No drift.

Schema evolution without rebuilds

New embedding model? Add a column. No re-indexing, no migrations, no downtime.

Full-text + hybrid search, native

Vector, full-text, and SQL queries in one system. Chroma is vector-only.

Comparison

	Chroma	LanceDB
Cost	Lightweight embedded library for prototyping.	Object storage with compute-storage separation. Up to 100x savings at scale.
Scale	Designed for local development and small datasets.	20 PB largest table. 20K+ QPS. Billions of vectors.
Search	Vector search only.	Native vector, full-text, and SQL hybrid search in one query.
Data model	Vectors and metadata storage.	Schema evolution - raw data, embeddings, and features in one table.
Production	No built-in production scaling path.	Same code from embedded to LanceDB Cloud.
Best for	Local prototyping and small datasets.	Prototype locally, scale to production without re-architecture.

The Power of the Lance Format

Vector Search

Fast scans and random access from the same table — no tradeoff
Zero-copy access for high throughput without serialization overhead

Multi-Modal

Raw data, embeddings, and metadata in one table — not pointers to blob storage
No separate metadata store to keep in sync

Chroma alternative. Prototype locally, scale to production.

Enterprise-Grade Requirements

Security

Granular RBAC, SSO integration, and VPC deployment options.

Governance

Data versioning and time-travel capabilities for auditability.

Support

Dedicated technical account management and guaranteed SLAs.