Pinecone vs Weaviate

A detailed comparison to help you choose the right tool for your use case.

P

Pinecone

Infrastructure

Managed vector database for AI applications

W

Weaviate

Infrastructure

Open-source vector database with built-in ML models

Feature
Pinecone
Weaviate
Deployment
Fully managed only
Self-hosted or managed cloud
Open Source
No
Yes (BSD-3)
Hybrid Search
Vector only
Vector + keyword (BM25)
Built-in Vectorizers
No — bring your own
Yes — multiple modules
Pricing
Free tier, then $70+/mo
Free self-hosted, cloud starts free
Scalability
Serverless auto-scaling
Horizontal scaling
Query Performance
Excellent
Very good
Ecosystem
Extensive integrations
Good integrations

Pinecone

Strengths

  • Fully managed & serverless
  • Fast query performance
  • Easy to get started

Limitations

  • Vendor lock-in
  • Costs at scale
  • Limited query capabilities vs SQL

Weaviate

Strengths

  • Open source with cloud option
  • Built-in vectorizers
  • Hybrid search

Limitations

  • Resource intensive self-hosted
  • Complex schema management
  • Learning curve

Verdict

Pinecone is best for teams wanting fully managed simplicity with no ops overhead. Weaviate wins for teams needing open-source flexibility, hybrid search, and self-hosting control.

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