Chroma
Product status: Status not recorded
No lifecycle review is recorded for this listing. Its inclusion in the directory does not confirm current availability; check the vendor before relying on it.
No status check date recorded
A retrieval database for documents, embeddings and metadata, with local, self-hosted and separately billed Cloud deployments. No lifecycle review is recorded for this listing. Its inclusion in the directory does not confirm current availability; check the vendor before relying on it.
Product preview
Decision notes
Official-document research
Based on the cited documentation. We did not use the product, purchase a plan, or run quality, speed or reliability tests in this review.
Consider it for
- Developers who can evaluate retrieval and data handling
Choose another approach if
- Assuming all-in free hosting or universal no retention
Pricing and conditions
Documented terms
Cloud displays Starter $0/month plus usage and $5 free credit; Team $250/month plus usage with $100 included that does not roll over. Writes $2.50/GiB, storage $0.33/GiB/month, queries $0.0075/TiB, returned traffic $0.09/GiB. Most other credits do not expire; limits can pause service. Taxes extra; ISO dollar currency, region and final order unconfirmed. Apache code has no license fee; hardware/embeddings/operations remain separate.
Pricing source read:
Pricing or terms sourceCode, model and service licensing
Apache-2.0 covers repository code with notice/modification conditions, not models or Cloud. Cloud grants internal-business access with integration restrictions; customer data remains yours subject to service processing. AI training requires express customer permission, while Usage/Aggregated Data can improve products. Third-party embedding contracts differ. Termination permits requesting data for 30 days; backups and legal retention can remain, not blanket zero retention.
Basis and limits of the recorded score
Original 4.6/5 retained; the original scoring worksheet and hands-on evidence are unavailable. This documentation review did not re-score the product.
Overview
Chroma stores documents, embeddings and metadata for retrieval applications. Official docs describe dense/sparse hybrid retrieval, keyword/regex search and modality-aware indexing.
Choose the deployment before budgeting: local software and Cloud have different operating duties, contracts and data paths. Retrieval quality and migration effort were not measured here. Benchmark retrieval on your own queries before choosing an index and embedding model, and check the backup and export path; a local store and a managed service fail in different ways.
Sources
The factual claims in this review were read from the pages below. Each date is when an editor last opened the source, not when the product changed.
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor pricing page Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
- Vendor documentation Checked 2026-10-15
Pros / Cons
Pros
- Several retrieval methods
- Apache-licensed self-hosting option
Cons
- Embedding and operations costs are separate
- Cloud terms limit service reuse
Who it's for
Document retrieval for RAG
Comparing local and managed retrieval
Bottom line
Choose the deployment and embedding provider alongside the database.
Key Features
Tags
Frequently asked questions
Is Chroma currently available?
No lifecycle review is recorded for this listing. Its inclusion in the directory does not confirm current availability; check the vendor before relying on it.
What is Chroma?
Chroma is a AI Platforms tool developed by Chroma. A retrieval database for documents, embeddings and metadata, with local, self-hosted and separately billed Cloud deployments.
What costs and terms should I check for Chroma?
Cloud displays Starter $0/month plus usage and $5 free credit; Team $250/month plus usage with $100 included that does not roll over. Writes $2.50/GiB, storage $0.33/GiB/month, queries $0.0075/TiB, returned traffic $0.09/GiB. Most other credits do not expire; limits can pause service. Taxes extra; ISO dollar currency, region and final order unconfirmed. Apache code has no license fee; hardware/embeddings/operations remain separate.
Is Chroma open source?
Apache-2.0 covers repository code with notice/modification conditions, not models or Cloud. Cloud grants internal-business access with integration restrictions; customer data remains yours subject to service processing. AI training requires express customer permission, while Usage/Aggregated Data can improve products. Third-party embedding contracts differ. Termination permits requesting data for 30 days; backups and legal retention can remain, not blanket zero retention.
What are the best alternatives to Chroma?
Notable AI Platforms alternatives include Hugging Face, Replicate, Ollama. Browse all 138 tools in our AI Platforms category for a full overview.
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Basic Info
- Pricing
- Freemium
Cloud displays Starter $0/month plus usage and $5 free credit; Team $250/month plus usage with $100 included that does not roll over. Writes $2.50/GiB, storage $0.33/GiB/month, queries $0.0075/TiB, returned traffic $0.09/GiB. Most other credits do not expire; limits can pause service. Taxes extra; ISO dollar currency, region and final order unconfirmed. Apache code has no license fee; hardware/embeddings/operations remain separate.
- Editorial score
- ★ 4.6 / 5 How we score
- Platforms
- PythonJSCloudSelf-host
- Last verified
- Not recorded
