Databases & Vector · side by side
Zilliz Cloud (Milvus) vs Pinecone
Compare Zilliz Cloud (Milvus), Pinecone by database engines, storage, compute, backups, branching and vector-search features.
Databases & Vector pricing calculator
These providers bill in different units. Each estimate uses its own workload; there is no same-volume price winner.
Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
10
Pinecone
20 GB
Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
Custom / not listed
Custom / unlisted usage pricing · 10 million vectors
Pinecone
$57 / mo
Standard · 20 GB storage
Listed USD plan fees and tracked usage only. Unlisted compute, transfer, extras, taxes and contract terms are excluded. Custom or unsupported plan usage is not estimated.
Databases & Vector overview & pricing
| Databases & Vector | Zilliz Cloud (Milvus) | Pinecone |
|---|---|---|
| Provider | Zilliz | Pinecone |
| Billing unit | million vectors | GB storage |
| Plan at selected usage | Custom / unlisted usage pricing | Standard |
| Monthly estimate | Custom / not listed | $57/mo |
| Workload | 10 million vectors | 20 GB storage |
| Free access | Free cluster | 2 GB starter |
| Published plans | Free, Standard, Enterprise, Business Critical, On-demand Compute, BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud) | Starter, Builder, Standard, Enterprise |
| Prices checked | 2026-10-08 | 2026-10-08 |
Provider
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Zilliz
- Pinecone
- Pinecone
Billing unit
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- million vectors
- Pinecone
- GB storage
Plan at selected usage
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Custom / unlisted usage pricing
- Pinecone
- Standard
Monthly estimate
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Custom / not listed
- Pinecone
- $57/mo
Workload
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- 10 million vectors
- Pinecone
- 20 GB storage
Free access
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Free cluster
- Pinecone
- 2 GB starter
Published plans
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Free, Standard, Enterprise, Business Critical, On-demand Compute, BYOC (Bring Your Own Cloud)
- Pinecone
- Starter, Builder, Standard, Enterprise
Prices checked
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- 2026-10-08
- Pinecone
- 2026-10-08
Databases & Vector monthly cost
Zilliz Cloud (Milvus): Not pricedPinecone: $57
Different workloads, separate estimates
Start with the engine and workload: relational databases, vector indexes and Redis services are not interchangeable. Storage estimates do not include unlisted compute, query, replication or network charges. Check backup retention, regions and scaling behavior.
Databases & Vector feature comparison
| Databases & Vector | Zilliz Cloud (Milvus) | Pinecone |
|---|---|---|
| Uptime SLA | Not listed | |
| Support | Not listed | Free support included |
| Cloud Availability | Not listed | AWS, Azure, GCP |
| Region Availability | Not listed | All available regions |
| Dedicated Read Nodes | Not listed | |
| Index Types | Not listed | Dense, Sparse, and Full-Text |
| Indexes | Not listed | 20 per project |
| Namespaces per Index | Not listed | 100,000 |
| Embedding Models | Not listed | All available models |
| Reranking Models | Not listed | All available models |
| Console Index Metrics | Not listed | |
| Prometheus and Datadog Monitoring | Not listed | |
| Database - Storage | Not listed | Unlimited $0.33/GB/mo |
| Database - Write Units | Not listed | Unlimited $4-$4.50 per million (varies by cloud and region) |
| Database - Read Units | Not listed | Unlimited $16-$18 per million (varies by cloud and region) |
| Database - Egress | Not listed | Unlimited $0.10/GB 100GB/mo included |
| Import from object storage | Not listed | $0.25 per GB |
| Backups | Not listed | $0.10/GB/mo |
| Restore from backup | Not listed | $0.15 per GB |
| Cross-region restore | Not listed | Cross-region transfer pricing applies |
| Assistant - Document Limit | Not listed | Unlimited |
| Assistant - Storage | Not listed | Unlimited $3/GB/mo |
| Assistant - Input Tokens | Not listed | Unlimited $8 per million |
| Assistant - Output Tokens | Not listed | Unlimited $15 per million |
| Assistant - Context Processed Tokens | Not listed | Unlimited $5 per million |
| Assistant - Evaluation Processed Tokens | Not listed | Unlimited $8 per million |
| Assistant - Evaluation Output Tokens | Not listed | Unlimited $15 per million |
| Assistant - Ingestion Units | Not listed | $0.0005/ingestion unit $0.001/ingestion unit for multi-modal (400 tokens/~300 words per ingestion unit) |
| Assistant - Region | Not listed | Any |
| Inference - llama-text-embed-v2 | Not listed | Unlimited $0.16/M tokens |
| Inference - multilingual-e5-large | Not listed | Unlimited $0.08/M tokens |
| Inference - pinecone-sparse-english-v0 | Not listed | Unlimited $0.08/M tokens |
| Inference - bge-reranker-v2-m3 | Not listed | Unlimited $2/1k requests |
| Inference - pinecone-rerank-v0 | Not listed | Unlimited $2/1k requests |
| Inference - cohere-rerank-4-fast | Not listed | Unlimited $2/1k rerank units |
| Projects | Not listed | 20 |
| Users | Not listed | Unlimited |
| Admin API | Not listed | |
| SSO (SAML 2.0) | Not listed | |
| SAML roles | Not listed | |
| SCIM | Not listed | |
| Service Accounts | Not listed | |
| Encryption at rest and in transit | Not listed | |
| RBAC | Not listed | |
| Audit Logs | Not listed | |
| Private Endpoints | Not listed | |
| Customer Managed Encryption Keys | Not listed | |
| SOC 2 | Not listed | |
| GDPR | Not listed | |
| ISO 27001 | Not listed | |
| HIPAA | Not listed | $190/mo |
Uptime SLA
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Support
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Free support included
Cloud Availability
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- AWS, Azure, GCP
Region Availability
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- All available regions
Dedicated Read Nodes
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Index Types
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Dense, Sparse, and Full-Text
Indexes
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- 20 per project
Namespaces per Index
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- 100,000
Embedding Models
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- All available models
Reranking Models
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- All available models
Console Index Metrics
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Prometheus and Datadog Monitoring
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Database - Storage
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $0.33/GB/mo
Database - Write Units
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $4-$4.50 per million (varies by cloud and region)
Database - Read Units
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $16-$18 per million (varies by cloud and region)
Database - Egress
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $0.10/GB 100GB/mo included
Import from object storage
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- $0.25 per GB
Backups
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- $0.10/GB/mo
Restore from backup
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- $0.15 per GB
Cross-region restore
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Cross-region transfer pricing applies
Assistant - Document Limit
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited
Assistant - Storage
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $3/GB/mo
Assistant - Input Tokens
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $8 per million
Assistant - Output Tokens
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $15 per million
Assistant - Context Processed Tokens
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $5 per million
Assistant - Evaluation Processed Tokens
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $8 per million
Assistant - Evaluation Output Tokens
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $15 per million
Assistant - Ingestion Units
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- $0.0005/ingestion unit $0.001/ingestion unit for multi-modal (400 tokens/~300 words per ingestion unit)
Assistant - Region
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Any
Inference - llama-text-embed-v2
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $0.16/M tokens
Inference - multilingual-e5-large
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $0.08/M tokens
Inference - pinecone-sparse-english-v0
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $0.08/M tokens
Inference - bge-reranker-v2-m3
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $2/1k requests
Inference - pinecone-rerank-v0
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $2/1k requests
Inference - cohere-rerank-4-fast
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited $2/1k rerank units
Projects
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- 20
Users
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- Unlimited
Admin API
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
SSO (SAML 2.0)
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
SAML roles
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
SCIM
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Service Accounts
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Encryption at rest and in transit
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
RBAC
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Audit Logs
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Private Endpoints
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
Customer Managed Encryption Keys
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
SOC 2
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
GDPR
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
ISO 27001
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
HIPAA
- Zilliz Cloud (Milvus)
- Not listed
- Pinecone
- $190/mo
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Which database providers fit your needs?
Zilliz Cloud (Milvus) features & plan notes
- Open-source Milvus
- Billion-scale vectors
- GPU index
Pinecone features & plan notes
- Serverless vector DB
- Hybrid search
- 3 week trial includes $300 credits
- Everything in Builder
- Pay-as-you-go for Database On-Demand, Inference, and Assistant Usage
- Choose your cloud and region
- Dedicated Read Nodes (DRN)
- Import from object storage
- Backup and Restore
- RBAC
- SSO (SAML 2.0)
- HIPAA add-on
- Includes Free support
- Response SLAs available via Developer or Pro support add-on
How to compare database providers
Start with the engine and workload: relational databases, vector indexes and Redis services are not interchangeable. Storage estimates do not include unlisted compute, query, replication or network charges. Check backup retention, regions and scaling behavior.
Browse Databases & Vector pricing