tools
Milvus
Open-source vector database for similarity search, hybrid retrieval, metadata filtering, and AI application data.
Milvus stores embeddings and structured data in collections, then supports vector, sparse, hybrid, text, and filtered search. It offers Lite for local Python applications, Standalone in Docker, and Distributed deployments on Kubernetes.
Developers use it for RAG, semantic search, image and multimodal search, deduplication, and AI-agent data stores. The software is free under Apache 2.0; managed hosting is offered separately through Zilliz Cloud and is not priced on Milvus.io.
Features
- Dense, sparse, hybrid, and multi-vector search
- Metadata filtering, scalar queries, and flexible schemas
- TEXT fields with text_match, phrase_match, and BM25
- External Collections for zero-copy lakehouse retrieval
- Point-in-time read-only Snapshots
- Server-side sorting, aggregation, and faceted search
- REST and gRPC APIs with Python, Java, Go, C#, and Node.js clients
- Apache 2.0 license
Use cases
- Build retrieval-augmented generation applications
- Search documents, images, audio, or other embedded data
- Run semantic and hybrid search over product catalogs
- Detect near-duplicate records with MinHash search
- Prototype locally with Milvus Lite
- Serve large-scale vector search on Kubernetes