PGVector alternative. Schema changes without migrations.
Hitting pgvector limits? LanceDB gives you dedicated vector infrastructure — without competing for Postgres resources, managing extension upgrades, or running migrations.
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Why teams switch
Compute-storage separation
Dedicated vector infrastructure on object storage. Scale independently from your transactional DB. Up to 100x savings.
One table, not six systems
Raw data, embeddings, and features together. No sync jobs between Postgres and a separate vector store.
Schema evolution without rebuilds
Add embedding columns without ALTER TABLE. No pgvector migrations. No downtime.
Full-text + hybrid search, native
Vector, full-text, and SQL queries in one system. No extensions to manage.
Comparison
PGVector
LanceDB
Cost
Extension sharing resources with transactional workloads.
Dedicated object storage with compute-storage separation. Up to 100x savings.
Scale
Postgres extension, inherits relational DB scaling constraints.
20 PB largest table. 20K+ QPS. Billions of vectors.
Search
Vector via extension. Full-text via Postgres tsvector.
Native vector, full-text, and SQL hybrid search in one query.
Data model
Extension bolted onto relational DB.
Schema evolution - raw data, embeddings, and features in one table.
Operations
Constrained by Postgres query planner and vacuum.
Constrained by Postgres query planner and vacuum.
Best for
Small vector workloads alongside existing Postgres.
Dedicated vector infrastructure at scale, schema evolution.
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
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.
