Both are open source retrieval options with comparable terms, so the choice comes down to which model of the problem you prefer — compare the descriptions below rather than the licence.
Embedded vector store that runs in-process. Ideal first index.
Embedded multimodal store backed by the Lance columnar format.
| Chroma | LanceDB | |
|---|---|---|
| Licence | Open source | Open source |
| Pricing | open source | open source |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| Languages | Python, TypeScript | Python, TypeScript |
| Install | pip install chromadb | pip install lancedb |
| Keys required | None | None |
Both are open source retrieval options with comparable terms, so the choice comes down to which model of the problem you prefer — compare the descriptions below rather than the licence. Chroma: Embedded vector store that runs in-process. Ideal first index. LanceDB: Embedded multimodal store backed by the Lance columnar format.
Chroma can run on your own infrastructure. LanceDB can run on your own infrastructure.
Chroma is open source (open source). LanceDB is open source (open source).
Every page here answers to Accept: text/markdown and returns the same content at roughly a tenth the tokens. No separate site, no toggle — same URL.
curl -s -H "Accept: text/markdown" https://newagent.build/compare/chroma-vs-lancedb