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SlateIndex

Chroma

New

Open-source search infrastructure for AI

Vector DatabasesSan Francisco, CA, United States11–50 employeesFounded 2022

#6 of 30 in Vector Databases50% positive in AI answers

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Visibility score
18.6%
New vs last week
Weekly run · Nov 2

Data collected ·ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google AI Mode·coverage 100%·next run

  • Chroma ranks #6 of 30 in Vector Databases with an AI visibility score of 18.6 (SlateIndex, Nov 2, 2026).
  • Chroma is most visible on ChatGPT (22.2) and least on Perplexity (12.6).
  • AI engines name Chroma in 16 of the 29 Vector Databases buyer prompts SlateIndex tracks.
  • qdrant.tech is the source AI engines cite most in answers about Chroma, with 18 citations.

About

Company details for Chroma

Chroma is open-source search infrastructure for AI under Apache 2.0, combining vector, sparse, full-text, regex and metadata search in one query interface. Chroma Cloud runs the same codebase as a serverless managed service on object storage, and Bring Your Own Cloud deploys it inside a customer's VPC. Replit has announced it is acquiring Chroma and that Chroma Cloud winds down over 60 days, while open-source ChromaDB continues. It ranks #6 of 30 in Vector Databases on SlateIndex and has a visibility score of 18.6 in the latest weekly run.

Founded in 2022 and headquartered in San Francisco, CA, United States, the company employs 11–50 people. It has raised about $18M. Its differentiator: an open-source Apache 2.0 database whose same codebase powers Chroma Cloud, with object-storage tiering that the vendor says can be up to 10x cheaper.

Company size
11–50 employees
Headquarters
San Francisco, CA, United States
Founded
2022
Funding
Seed · $18M raised
Pricing
Free; paid from $250 / mo · usage-based
Free trial
Free plan available
Deployment
Open-source self-hosted, serverless managed Chroma Cloud, or Bring Your Own Cloud in the customer's VPC.
Platforms
AWS, GCP
Compliance
SOC 2 Type II
Support
Community support through Discord and the open-source community on the Starter plan, Slack support on the Team plan, Dedicated support and customized SLAs on the Enterprise plan
GitHub · github.com/chroma-core/chromaX · x.com/trychromaYouTube · youtube.com/@trychroma

Read from linkedin.com, atlan.com, trychroma.com, findstack.com, github.com, open-source-alternative-web.vercel.app · refreshed Nov 2, 2026.

AI visibility

Latest weekly run · Nov 2 · next run Nov 9

Visibility score
18.6%
across Vector Databases answers, weighted by position
ChatGPT22.2%
AI Mode20.9%
Perplexity12.6%
Change
New
vs last week’s run
Category rank
#6 of 30
in Vector Databases
Mentions
32
in this week’s run
Share of voice
6.8%
of AI mentions in Vector Databases

Visibility score trend

Weekly runs over the last 60 days, with up to 7 competitors. Click a name to hide or show its line.

Now18.6%
30-day change—
High · low18.6% · 18.6%
Rank#6
0%25%50%75%100%Nov 2Chroma 19%

Changes appear after the second weekly run in Vector Databases. Pinecone leads the category at 71.8%.

Media

Website and product screenshots for Chroma

All media
Home page
Pricing page

AI mentions & citations

Recent answers that name Chroma

All prompts

How much does a vector database cost per month?

ChatGPT · run of Nov 2

Is Chroma a good vector database?

Chroma is a good vector database, particularly for RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation), semantic search, and AI application development.

ChatGPT · run of Nov 2

Is there a free vector database for small teams?

ChromaDB: A lightweight, open-source embedding database designed specifically for local prototyping and small-to-medium RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) apps.

Google AI Mode · run of Nov 2

Is Chroma a good vector database?

Chroma (ChromaDB) is widely considered a great choice for specific use cases —primarily local development, lightweight prototyping, and small-to-medium-scale Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) applications.

Google AI Mode · run of Nov 2

Is Chroma a good vector database?

Yes—Chroma is a good vector database for prototyping, local RAG applications, and small-to-medium workloads, especially if you use Python and want to get started quickly.

Perplexity · run of Nov 2

What is the difference between a vector database and MLOps Platforms?

ChatGPT · run of Nov 2

What are the best Vector Databases tools in 2026?

My recommendation is to shortlist Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus, Chroma, and PostgreSQL with pgvector.

ChatGPT · run of Nov 2

Best vector database with AI features

ChatGPT · run of Nov 2

Products & features

What Chroma sells

ChromaDB

Open-source database for vector, full-text, regex and metadata search, licensed under Apache 2.0 and runnable locally or self-hosted.

Chroma Cloud

Fully managed, serverless version of Chroma built on object storage with automatic data tiering.

Chroma Sync

Serverless data ingestion that connects S3 buckets, GitHub repositories and websites, then parses, chunks and embeds them.

Strengths engines cite

  • Fast path from local notebook prototyping to serverless cloud production
  • Free and open source when self-hosted
  • Lightweight and developer-friendly for prototypes
  • Best for local development, prototyping and MVPs
  • Good for small-to-medium RAG and semantic search applications

Target market & buyers

Developers and AI teams, with enterprise customers served through Chroma Cloud and BYOC deployments.

Notable customers include Mintlify.

IndustryPrimary use case
Developer documentationPowers search and an AI assistant across tens of thousands of documentation sites for Mintlify.

Funding & recent developments

Funding

RoundYearAmount
Pre-seed2022—
Seed2023$18M
Latest known roundTotal raised
Seed$18M

Recent developments

  1. Oct 2026CompanyReplit announces acquisition of Chroma

    Replit is acquiring Chroma; deal terms were not disclosed. Chroma Cloud winds down over 60 days while open-source ChromaDB continues under Apache 2.0.

  2. May 2026SecurityPre-auth remote code execution flaw CVE-2026-45829 disclosed

    HiddenLayer publicly disclosed a pre-auth remote code execution flaw in ChromaDB, first reported to Chroma on February 17, 2026. Follow-up attempts through April got no response before disclosure.

  3. Mar 2026ProductChroma Cloud Sync

    Serverless data ingestion for Chroma Cloud.

  4. Feb 2026ProductMetadata Arrays

    Store arrays of strings, numbers, and booleans in metadata.

  5. Jan 2026ProductIndexing Status

    Monitor real-time indexing progress of collections.

Competitive landscape

How Chroma compares with its top three alternatives

All alternatives

Chroma most often appears alongside Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate in AI answers.

vsChroma vs Pinecone18.6% vs 71.8% visibility · Pinecone leadsFull comparison vsChroma vs Qdrant18.6% vs 60.5% visibility · Qdrant leadsFull comparison vsChroma vs Weaviate18.6% vs 45.2% visibility · Weaviate leadsFull comparison
BrandVisibilityShare of voicevs last weekStarting price
Chroma18.6%6.8%NewFree plan
Pinecone71.8%14%NewFree plan
Qdrant60.5%13.4%NewFree plan
Weaviate45.2%11.7%NewFree plan
PostgreSQL49%12.6%NewPricing not available

What AI answers say

Sentiment and themes from the answers that mention this brand

Reviews

Positive 50% · Neutral 28% · Mixed 22% of 32 engine answers that mention Chroma

Praised for

  • Fast path from local notebook prototyping to serverless cloud production
  • Free and open source when self-hosted
  • Lightweight and developer-friendly for prototypes
  • Best for local development, prototyping and MVPs
  • Good for small-to-medium RAG and semantic search applications

Criticised for

  • Not suited to high-scale production workloads

Pricing

Usage-based pricing with a free plan

Full pricing
Starter$0month + usage
Team$250month + usage
EnterpriseCustomcustom

Cite as: SlateIndex, “Chroma AI visibility profile”, https://slateindex.ai/brand/chroma, data of Nov 2, 2026. Licence: CC BY 4.0.