What AI assistants actually recommend when buyers ask about self-hosted vector databases — measured on a rolling 4-week window across 4 engines, published as open data.
Updated 2026-09-17 · 22 sampled answers · rolling 4-week window · methodology
Rankings are measured from sampled AI answers — never editorial, never paid. Orbator builds AI-visibility tooling; when Orbator itself appears in any category, it is measured by the same rules as everyone else.
Measured by Orbatormethodology owner Henrik Tellewindow ends Sep 17, 2026
Sample: 22 AI answers · Window: Aug 20, 2026 – Sep 17, 2026 (4-week rolling) · trend vs prior 4 weeks (90 answers)
Samples by engine: GEMINI 7 (last run Sep 8, 2026) · CLAUDE 7 (last run Aug 21, 2026) · PERPLEXITY 7 (last run Sep 8, 2026) · CHATGPT 1 (last run Sep 8, 2026) · GROK 0 (last run Aug 20, 2026 — stalest)
How these numbers are made: sampling design · prompt provenance · what counts as a mention · what we cannot see
On the record: This ranking is frozen as a dated snapshot every day. View this category's history to see what entered and left the ranking and when, or read what the engines actually said on a given day.
Across 22 sampled AI answers from 4 engines, Qdrant is recommended most often — appearing in 90.9% of recommendations, followed by Weaviate (81.8%) and Milvus (77.3%).
This is a measurement of share of voice across 4 AI engines — not an editorial pick. See the full ranking below.
Orbator asked Gemini, Claude, Perplexity and ChatGPT buyer questions about self-hosted vector databases and sampled 22 answers between Aug 20, 2026 and Sep 17, 2026. Recommendation share counts the answers that recommended or listed a product, so a passing mention or a warning adds nothing to it. A category publishes once it holds at least 20 independently sampled answers in the window. Read the full methodology or download this ranking as CSV.
| # | Product | Share | Trend | Engines | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | qdrant.tech | 90.9% 95% CI 72.2–97.5% 20 mentions · avg pos 3.5 first pick 35% | — | GEMINI 100%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 100%PERPLEXITY 71.4% | Claim |
| 2 | weaviate.io | 81.8% 95% CI 61.5–92.7% 18 mentions · avg pos 3.6 first pick 5.6% | — | GEMINI 100%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 85.7%PERPLEXITY 57.1% | Claim |
| 3 | milvus.io | 77.3% 95% CI 56.6–89.9% 17 mentions · avg pos 2.8 first pick 23.5% | — | GEMINI 85.7%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 85.7%PERPLEXITY 57.1% | Claim |
| 4 | pgvector.org | 59.1% 95% CI 38.7–76.7% 13 mentions · avg pos 5.8 first pick 7.7% | — | GEMINI 71.4%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 57.1%PERPLEXITY 42.9% | Claim |
| 5 | kubernetes.io | 50% 95% CI 30.7–69.3% 11 mentions · avg pos 4.3 first pick 27.3% | — | GEMINI 71.4%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 57.1%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 6 | postgresql.org | 36.4% 95% CI 19.7–57% 8 mentions · avg pos 6.6 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 71.4%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 7 | Postgres | 31.8% 95% CI 16.4–52.7% 7 mentions · avg pos 4.5 first pick 14.3% | — | CLAUDE 57.1%PERPLEXITY 42.9% | Claim |
| 8 | trychroma.com | 31.8% 95% CI 16.4–52.7% 7 mentions · avg pos 7.9 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 42.9%CLAUDE 28.6%PERPLEXITY 28.6% | Claim |
| 9 | docker.com | 27.3% 95% CI 13.2–48.2% 6 mentions · avg pos 2.5 first pick 16.7% | — | GEMINI 42.9%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 28.6% | Claim |
| 10 | redis.io | 27.3% 95% CI 13.2–48.2% 6 mentions · avg pos 8.3 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 42.9%CLAUDE 14.3%PERPLEXITY 28.6% | Claim |
| 11 | vespa.ai | 22.7% 95% CI 10.1–43.4% 5 mentions · avg pos 4 first pick 20% | — | GEMINI 14.3%CLAUDE 42.9%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 12 | HNSW | 18.2% 95% CI 7.3–38.5% 4 mentions · avg pos 3 first pick 25% | — | GEMINI 28.6%CHATGPT 100%CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
| 13 | zilliz.com | 13.6% 95% CI 4.7–33.3% 3 mentions · avg pos 5.5 first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 28.6%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 14 | faiss.ai | 13.6% 95% CI 4.7–33.3% 3 mentions · avg pos 6 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 28.6%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 15 | pinecone.io | 9.1% 95% CI 2.5–27.8% 2 mentions · avg pos 3 first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 28.6% | Claim |
| 16 | lancedb.com | 9.1% 95% CI 2.5–27.8% 2 mentions · avg pos 3.5 first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 28.6% | Claim |
| 17 | opensearch.org | 9.1% 95% CI 2.5–27.8% 2 mentions · avg pos 4.5 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 18 | sqlite.org | 9.1% 95% CI 2.5–27.8% 2 mentions · avg pos 4.5 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 19 | elastic.co | 9.1% 95% CI 2.5–27.8% 2 mentions · avg pos 14.5 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3%PERPLEXITY 14.3% | Claim |
| 20 | databricks.com | 9.1% 95% CI 2.5–27.8% 2 mentions · avg pos 15 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3%CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
| 21 | Zilliz Cloud | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 3 first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
| 22 | ChromaDB | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 4 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3% | Claim |
| 23 | pgvectorscale | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 5 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3% | Claim |
| 24 | Redis-VSS | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 8 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3% | Claim |
| 25 | azure.microsoft.com | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 22 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3% | Claim |
| 26 | microsoft.com | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 22 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3% | Claim |
| 27 | RediSearch | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions · avg pos 25 first pick 0% | — | GEMINI 14.3% | Claim |
| 28 | Kafka | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
| 29 | min.io | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
| 30 | Pulsar | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
| 31 | etcd | 4.5% 95% CI 0.8–21.8% 1 mentions first pick 0% | — | CLAUDE 14.3% | Claim |
Reading the numbers: Share is a point estimate on 22 sampled answers, so each row also shows its 95% CI — the Wilson score interval around that share. When two products' intervals overlap, the gap between them isn't statistically meaningful at this sample size. First pick is the share of a product's recommending answers where it was named first, which separates “always mentioned” from “usually the top recommendation”. Full methodology.
Independence: Orbator customers are badged for disclosure. Customer status does not affect prompts, sampling, extraction, or ranking — see the methodology. Your product on this list? Claim it to see the prompts behind your rank and track it weekly.
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Head-to-head pages for products ranked in Self-hosted vector databases. Each one sets out sourced facts side by side, plus which product AI assistants recommend more, engine by engine.
Every number on this page is measured from sampled answers, and those answers are kept. The archive holds dated excerpts of what each engine answered, never full answers. Read the answer archive for self-hosted vector databases to see the excerpts by date and engine, or view the ranking history to see what entered and left this ranking and when.
Across 22 sampled AI answers from 4 engines (Aug 20, 2026 to Sep 17, 2026), Qdrant is recommended most often for self-hosted vector databases, appearing in 90.9% of recommendations, followed by Weaviate (81.8%). This is a measurement of what AI assistants recommend, not an editorial verdict.
ChatGPT recommends Qdrant most often for self-hosted vector databases. It appears as a recommendation in 100% of ChatGPT's sampled answers in this window (Aug 20, 2026 to Sep 17, 2026). Other engines answer differently. The per-engine breakdown in the ranking shows each one.
Orbator samples AI answers to buyer questions across 4 engines and counts how often each product is recommended. No product pays for placement. The self-hosted vector databases ranking is based on 22 answers in the current 4-week window (Aug 20, 2026 to Sep 17, 2026). Full methodology is published at https://www.orbator.io/ai-index/methodology.
Verified facts for the most-recommended products — each sourced and dated. No editorial scoring, just the data side by side.
| Kuberneteskubernetes.io | PostgreSQLpostgresql.org | Dockerdocker.com | Microsoftmicrosoft.com | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | — | — | Pro: $11 a month, $9 a year (free tier available) ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 | — |
| Features | IPv4/IPv6 dual-stack ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 | object-relational database system ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 | Docker Debug ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 | real-time collaboration ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 |
| Platforms | — | — | Linux ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 | XBOX console ↗ sourceverified Sep 5, 2026 |
What AI recommends in adjacent categories — same method, fresh weekly.
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