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Updated 1 week ago · Independent Analysis
Databricks Vector Search vs Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Capability Overview
Databricks Vector Searchvs Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
4.6G2+0.2 vs Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Only in Databricks Vector Search
- ✦ Managed Vector Index
- ✦ Delta Lake Integration
- ✦ Unity Catalog Governance
10k+ users · est. 2013
Milvus / Zilliz Cloudvs Databricks Vector Search
4.4G2-0.2 vs Databricks Vector Search
Only in Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
- ✦ Open Source (Apache 2.0)
- ✦ Distributed Architecture
- ✦ Billion-Scale Vectors
✓ Free plan5k+ users · est. 2017
Quick VerdictIndependent Analysis
Databricks Vector Search and Milvus / Zilliz Cloud are both Vector Databases tools. Compare features, pricing, and ratings below to find the best fit for your team.
When to Choose Databricks Vector Search vs Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
The question that matters: “In what situation will I regret choosing A over B after 3 months?”
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud Unique Strength
Trillion-Scale Vector Search via Zilliz Cloud
Milvus scales to trillions of vectors using hierarchical index structures with tiered storage, serving billion-scale collections that exceed single-machine memory limits via Zilliz Cloud managed deployment.
→ Choose Milvus / Zilliz Cloud if this scenario applies to you. Databricks Vector Search doesn't offer a comparable solution.
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud Unique Strength
GPU-Accelerated Index Building for Large Collections
Milvus GPU indexing builds IVFPQ indexes on billion-vector collections 10x faster than CPU-only builds, reducing the time from ingestion to searchable index for large-scale embedding pipelines.
→ Choose Milvus / Zilliz Cloud if this scenario applies to you. Databricks Vector Search doesn't offer a comparable solution.
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud Unique Strength
Dynamic Schema and Partition Management for Multi-Tenant Apps
Milvus partitions split a collection by tenant key, improving query isolation and allowing partition-level operations like load/release to balance memory usage across a shared cluster.
→ Choose Milvus / Zilliz Cloud if this scenario applies to you. Databricks Vector Search doesn't offer a comparable solution.
Pricing Comparison & PlansHigh· Verified May 30, 2026
Databricks Vector Search Plans
Paid plans only
Standard
Contact SalesBest for: This plan is suitable for general-purpose vector search needs
- ✓Automatically indexes data in a vector database.
- ✓Supports accurate and fast search results and LLM predictions.
- ✓Billed per hour for compute.
- ✓Includes cloud instance cost.
- ✓Supports hybrid keyword-similarity search.
View on vendor site
MOST POPULARStorage Optimized
Contact SalesBest for: Designed for use cases requiring high storage capacity for vectors
- ✓Scales RAG applications up to billions of vectors.
- ✓Designed for large-scale use cases.
- ✓Billed per hour for compute.
- ✓Includes cloud instance cost.
- ✓Provides 10-20x faster indexing.
View on vendor site
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud Plans
Free tier available
Free
FreeBest for: Ideal for testing, development, and small-scale projects
- ✓5 GB storage
- ✓2.5M vCUs per month included
- ✓Up to 5 collections
View on vendor site
Serverless
Contact SalesBest for: Suited for dynamic workloads where automatic scaling and cost efficiency are key
- ✓Zero-copy access to external data
- ✓On-demand query jobs and system-managed index builds
- ✓Pay only for active job runtime, with no always-on compute
- ✓Compute usage billed on a per-second basis
View on vendor site
Dedicated Standard
Contact SalesBest for: Designed for stable, production-grade applications requiring dedicated resources
- ✓Performance-optimized CU options (From $63 per million vectors / month)
- ✓Capacity-optimized CU options (From $16 per million vectors / month)
- ✓Tiered-storage CU options (From $5 per million vectors / month)
- ✓Persistent data storage ($0.025/GB)
- ✓Multi-Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure)
View on vendor site
MOST POPULARDedicated Enterprise
Contact SalesBest for: large organizations needing robust performance, advanced security, and comprehensive support
- ✓RBAC and organization management
- ✓Multiple payment options
- ✓Prometheus metrics
- ✓99.9% monthly uptime availability
- ✓Data backups every 24 hours, retained for 7 days
View on vendor site
Dedicated Business Critical
Contact SalesBest for: For mission-critical applications demanding the highest levels of availability, performance, and compliance
- ✓All Enterprise features
- ✓HIPAA/GDPR compliance
View on vendor site
Capability Breakdown
7 differences found across 14 standardized features
Feature
Databricks Vector Search
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Self-Hosted
✗
✓
Open Source
✗
✓
Sparse Vectors
✗
✓
Built-in Embedding
✓
✗
Real-time Updates
✗
✓
HNSW Index
✗
✓
Disk-based Index
✗
✓
Total (raw)
16
16
Databricks Vector Search Features
- •Managed Vector Index
- •Delta Lake Integration
- •Unity Catalog Governance
- •Auto-Sync from Delta Tables
- •Hybrid Search
- •Metadata Filtering
- •MLflow Integration
- •LangChain Integration
- •Python SDK
- •REST API
- •Serverless or Provisioned Compute
- •RBAC via Unity Catalog
- •Real-time Sync
- •Multi-model Embedding Support
- •Audit Logs
- •Enterprise SLA
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud Features
- •Open Source (Apache 2.0)
- •Distributed Architecture
- •Billion-Scale Vectors
- •ANNS Algorithms (HNSW, IVF, DiskANN)
- •Hybrid Search
- •GPU Acceleration
- •Multi-vector Search
- •Sparse Vector Support
- •Metadata Filtering
- •Data Partitioning
- •Incremental Indexing
- •Python/Java/Go SDKs
- •Kubernetes Native
- •LangChain Integration
- •Time Travel (data versioning)
- •RBAC
Strengths & Limitations
Evaluative strengths and weaknesses: not feature lists
Pros
- +Seamless integration with Delta Lake and Unity Catalog
- +Auto-sync keeps vector index current without manual pipelines
- +Unified governance across data and vectors
- +No separate infrastructure for existing Databricks users
Cons
- −Only available within Databricks: no standalone option
- −Adds to Databricks DBU costs
Pros
- +CNCF project: battle-tested for billion-scale workloads
- +GPU acceleration and DiskANN for cost-efficient large-scale search
- +Distributed architecture with independent storage/compute scaling
- +Multi-vector search supports complex AI use cases
Cons
- −Operational complexity: requires Kubernetes expertise for self-hosted
- −Overkill for small-scale RAG applications
At a Glance
User Rating
4.6/5vs4.4/5
Databricks Vector Search
▲
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Starting Price
ContactvsFree tier
Databricks Vector Search
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Feature Count
16 featuresvs16 features
Databricks Vector Search
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
User Base
10vs5
Databricks Vector Search
▲
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Databricks Vector Search · Price & Data SyncLast verified: May 30, 2026 · CE-DB-2026W23-B10F8B · ✓ Pricing updated May 30, 2026
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud · Price & Data SyncLast verified: May 30, 2026 · CE-DB-2026W23-E56FFD · ✓ Pricing updated May 30, 2026
Recent Price History
Databricks Vector Search
Databricks Vector Search added a new "Standard" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Databricks Vector Search
Databricks Vector Search removed the "Serverless Vector Search" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Databricks Vector Search
Databricks Vector Search added a new "Storage Optimized" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud removed the "Zilliz Cloud Serverless" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud added a new "Serverless" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud added a new "Dedicated Standard" plan (Custom pricing)
Plan added · May 30, 2026
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud removed the "Milvus Open Source" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
Milvus / Zilliz Cloud removed the "Zilliz Cloud Enterprise" plan
Plan removed · May 30, 2026
Databricks Vector Search
Plan added · May 21, 2026
Databricks Vector Search
Plan removed · May 21, 2026
Frequently Asked Questions
Related Comparisons
Databricks Vector Search
Milvus / Zilliz CloudFree planSources & Data Trail · Databricks Vector Search
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-30)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.6/5 · 768 reviews
Sources & Data Trail · Milvus / Zilliz Cloud
- 1.Official Pricing Page·Source of verified tiers(Checked: 2026-05-30)
- 2.Official Website·Official vendor website
- 3.G2·G2 verified reviews · 4.4/5 · 53 reviews