Simpler, Faster Vector Search than Milvus
Comparing Milvus and Zilliz Cloud? Milvus expects a multi-service K8s stack. Zilliz hides that behind pod-based billing. LanceDB is a lightweight alternative that runs embedded or serverless.
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Tomorrow's AI is being built on LanceDB today
Why teams switch
Compute-storage separation
Storage on object storage. Compute scales independently. No multi-container clusters.
One table, not six systems
Embeddings, metadata, and raw data together. No proxies, coordinators, index nodes, data nodes.
Schema evolution without rebuilds
Add columns without rewriting tables. No Milvus integration complexity.
Full-text + hybrid search, native
Vector, full-text, and SQL queries in one system. Built in, not bolted on.
Comparison
Milvus / Zilliz
LanceDB
Cost
Milvus - K8s ops burden. Zilliz - pod-based premium.
Object storage with compute-storage separation. Up to 100x savings.
Scale
Strong at scale, but needs K8s expertise or Zilliz premium.
20 PB largest table. 20K+ QPS. Billions of vectors.
Search
Vector search. Text search via plugins.
Native vector, full-text, and SQL hybrid search in one query.
Data model
Embeddings in Milvus. Raw data elsewhere.
Raw data, embeddings, and features in one table.
Purpose
Service-oriented vector database.
Embedded to serverless vector database.
Best for
Teams with K8s expertise or Zilliz budget.
Teams wanting simplicity without sacrificing scale.
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.
Talk to Engineering
Or try LanceDB OSS — same code, scales to Cloud.
Schedule a Technical Consultation