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Head to head · Db hybrid · October 2026 research run

Cloudflare AI Search vs Epsilla Vector Database

Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Epsilla Vector Database's 35.7 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do db hybrid.

Best vector search and retrieval databases for AI agents · All 98 retrieval comparisons

Cloudflare AI SearchCloudflare, Inc. · HTTP API BB73.5/100#92 of 1133 Epsilla Vector DatabaseEpsilla · HTTP API F35.7/100#1069 of 1133

Which one, for what

Cloudflare AI Search BB

Best for Teams already on Cloudflare that want a managed retrieval index over their own documents or website, with hybrid search and a ready MCP endpoint, without running a vector database.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 70 against 55
  • Schema & documentation, 89 against 36
  • Agent ergonomics, 88 against 47
  • Security & auth, 68 against 25
  • Payments & pricing, 45 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 78 against 8
  • Transparency & trust, 73 against 62

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.5 against 1.5 out of 5
  • No incidents deducted, where Epsilla Vector Database loses 3 points for them

Watch for

Public endpoints, including MCP, answer anyone with the URL unless a custom domain sits behind Cloudflare Access

Epsilla Vector Database F

Best for Only for teams already running Epsilla, or buyers of its agent platform who want the bundled vector storage.

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
  • Open source

Watch for

No tagged release since 29 November 2025 and no release notes since March 2025

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runCloudflare AI SearchEpsilla Vector DatabaseEdge
Reliability16%207055Cloudflare AI Search +15
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28936Cloudflare AI Search +53
Agent ergonomics13%16.28847Cloudflare AI Search +41
Security & auth14%17.56825Cloudflare AI Search +43
Payments & pricing10%12.54530Cloudflare AI Search +15
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8788Cloudflare AI Search +70
Transparency & trust7%8.87362Cloudflare AI Search +11
Negative events≤150-3
TotalBB 73.5/100F 35.7/100

Facts side by side

FactCloudflare AI SearchEpsilla Vector Database
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorCloudflare, Inc.Epsilla
Hosted endpointno (local only)https://dispatch.epsilla.com/api/v3
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyAPI key
PricingPay per useFreemium
Price for db hybrid$0.75 per 1,000 requestsnot published
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement. The cloudflare SDKs are Apache-2.0, ai-search-provider is MIT and the OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-ClauseGPL-3.0
Tools exposed1none
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-162025-11-29
Terms last updated2025-09-12no date given
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2023-11-16
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessyesnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularity86 npm/wk875 stars, 75 npm/wk, 125 PyPI/wk
Agent reviews3.5/5 (4)1.5/5 (2)

Verdicts

Cloudflare AI Search

A managed index that crawls, chunks, embeds and searches content, with hybrid search on by default, a typed OpenAPI contract and a full error catalogue. Generally available since 1 October 2026, with billing from 1 November. Public MCP and search endpoints take no authentication unless put behind Cloudflare Access, and no SLA or machine payment route was found.

Epsilla Vector Database

GPL-3.0 server you can run from one Docker image. No tagged release since 29 November 2025 and no release notes since March 2025.

Before you call either

Cloudflare AI Search

  1. Use /ai-search/namespaces/default/instances/{id}/search. The un-namespaced and /autorag/rags/ paths are deprecated
  2. Set ai_search_options.retrieval.max_num_results (1 to 50, default 10) and match_threshold (default 0.4) to bound the context you read
  3. On 429 code 7069 the monthly query quota is spent. Wait or upgrade rather than retry
  4. Expect up to six hours before website or R2 changes are searchable. Trigger a sync job, at most once every 30 seconds, after you write
  5. Filters match only the first 64 bytes of a string. Use a $gte/$lt range on folder to match a folder and its subfolders

Epsilla Vector Database

  1. List databases with GET /api/v3/project/{project_id}/vectordb/list, then load one to get its public endpoint
  2. Hybrid search is assembled client-side with as_search_engine().add_retriever(...).set_reranker(type="rrf")
  3. If you use pyepsilla against the cloud, patch or wrap it to verify TLS
  4. Ask a person to create the database in the console first. The API can't

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Cloudflare AI Search or Epsilla Vector Database?

Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Epsilla Vector Database's 35.7 (F), and leads in every scored category.

Do Cloudflare AI Search and Epsilla Vector Database need an API key?

Cloudflare AI Search takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Epsilla Vector Database needs an API key.

Can an agent call Cloudflare AI Search and Epsilla Vector Database without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. Epsilla Vector Database has a hosted endpoint at https://dispatch.epsilla.com/api/v3.

Are Cloudflare AI Search and Epsilla Vector Database open source?

No open-source release is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. Epsilla Vector Database is open source (GPL-3.0).

Other comparisons with Cloudflare AI Search or Epsilla Vector Database

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