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Milvus vs Zilliz Cloud

Milvus: Cloud-native, distributed open-source vector database built for billions of vectors. Zilliz Cloud: Fully managed Milvus from its creators, with serverless, dedicated and BYOC deployments.

key differences

  • Licensing: Milvus is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Zilliz Cloud is proprietary (Proprietary SaaS).
  • Only Milvus has change data capture.
  • Only Zilliz Cloud has encryption at rest.
  • Zilliz Cloud has a serverless option; Milvus does not.
  • Milvus can run embedded in your application process.

choose milvus for

  • +Billion-scale semantic and image search
  • +RAG platforms serving many teams
  • +Recommendation and deduplication
  • +Multimodal retrieval over lakehouse data

best at · Vector search, RAG, Search

choose zilliz-cloud for

  • +Production RAG without running Milvus
  • +Large-scale semantic and image search
  • +Multi-tenant AI SaaS backends

best at · Vector search, RAG, Search

MilvusCloud-native, distributed open-source vector database built for billions of vectors.
Zilliz CloudFully managed Milvus from its creators, with serverless, dedicated and BYOC deployments.
overview
Primary model
Vector
Vector
Also supports
Search Engine, Document
Search Engine
Type
Database engine
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
LF AI & Data Foundation (developed mainly by Zilliz)
Zilliz
First release
2019
2022
Latest version
3.0.4 (Oct 26, 2026)
–
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
ProprietaryProprietary SaaS
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
45.9
0.4
Rank
#35
#656
GitHub stars
46.5K
–
Stack Overflow questions
208
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Massive (Multi-PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
None
None
Consistency
Tunable, Strong, Eventual
Tunable, Strong, Eventual
Schema
Strict
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Shared storage, Embedded, Client server
Distributed, Serverless, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
—
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
✓
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
—
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
✓
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
✓
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
✓
✓
Streaming ingest
✓
✓
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
Milvus API (boolean filter expressions)
Milvus API (boolean filter expressions)
Client languages
Python, Java, Go, Node.js, C#, Rust
Python, Java, Go, Node.js, C#
Best for
Vector search, RAG, Search
Vector search, RAG, Search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Milvus vs Zilliz Cloud: FAQ

What is the difference between Milvus and Zilliz Cloud?

Milvus: Cloud-native, distributed open-source vector database built for billions of vectors. Zilliz Cloud: Fully managed Milvus from its creators, with serverless, dedicated and BYOC deployments. Licensing: Milvus is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Zilliz Cloud is proprietary (Proprietary SaaS). Only Milvus has change data capture. Only Zilliz Cloud has encryption at rest.

When should I choose Milvus over Zilliz Cloud?

Choose Milvus for billion-scale semantic and image search; RAG platforms serving many teams; and recommendation and deduplication. Choose Zilliz Cloud for production RAG without running Milvus; large-scale semantic and image search; and multi-tenant AI SaaS backends.

Is Milvus or Zilliz Cloud more popular?

Milvus ranks #35 on the WhichDB Score (45.9/100) and Zilliz Cloud ranks #656 (0.4/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Milvus and Zilliz Cloud open source?

Yes. Milvus is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. No. Zilliz Cloud is proprietary, closed-source software.