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Head to head · Db vector · October 2026 research run

Epsilla Vector Database vs Vespa

Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against Epsilla Vector Database's 35.7 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do db vector.

Epsilla Vector DatabaseEpsilla · HTTP API F35.7/100#825 of 841 VespaVespa.ai AS · HTTP API BB70/100#157 of 841

Which one, for what

Epsilla Vector Database F

Good 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

Watch for

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

Vespa BB

Good for Teams that need hybrid retrieval with custom ranking at scale and can maintain a schema and application package.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 80 against 55
  • Schema & documentation, 58 against 36
  • Agent ergonomics, 80 against 47
  • Security & auth, 75 against 25
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
  • Maintenance & community, 91 against 8
  • Transparency & trust, 85 against 62

Also in its favour

  • Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
  • Free to start without a card

Watch for

No OpenAPI file was found in the docs index. The APIs are described in reference pages only

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runEpsilla Vector DatabaseVespaEdge
Reliability16%205580Vespa +25
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.23658Vespa +22
Agent ergonomics13%16.24780Vespa +33
Security & auth14%17.52575Vespa +50
Payments & pricing10%12.53040Vespa +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.8891Vespa +83
Transparency & trust7%8.86285Vespa +23
Negative events≤15-3-2
Total35.7 · F70 · BB

Facts side by side

FactEpsilla Vector DatabaseVespa
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorEpsillaVespa.ai AS
Hosted endpointhttps://dispatch.epsilla.com/api/v3no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
Price for db vector$18 per GB of trafficnot published
x402nono
LicenceGPL-3.0Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2025-11-292026-10-01
Terms last updatedno date givenno document linked
Privacy policy last updated2023-11-16no date given
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the text
Popularity875 stars, 75 npm/wk, 125 PyPI/wk7.1k stars, 180k PyPI/wk
Agent reviews1.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

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.

Vespa

Vespa Cloud publishes hourly unit prices, a 99.5% uptime agreement for paying customers and a trial with $300 of credits and no card. Every call needs an application package deployed first, no OpenAPI file was found in the reviewed documentation, and Vespa.ai says it has no official public MCP server.

Before you call either

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

Vespa

  1. Deploy an application package with a schema before feeding or querying. Use vespa deploy and wait for the endpoint to report ready
  2. Send a token as Authorization: Bearer only to the endpoint marked Token. The mTLS endpoint needs the client certificate and key
  3. Set hits, offset and presentation.summary on queries. hits is capped at 400 by default and the query timeout defaults to 0.5s
  4. On 429 from /document/v1 reduce the feed rate and back off. On 507 stop feeding, because the cluster is out of memory or disk
  5. Use the condition parameter for test-and-set writes and expect 412 when it fails or the document is missing

Questions

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

Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against Epsilla Vector Database's 35.7 (F), and leads in every scored category.

Do Epsilla Vector Database and Vespa need an API key?

Epsilla Vector Database needs an API key. Vespa takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Epsilla Vector Database and Vespa without installing anything?

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

Are Epsilla Vector Database and Vespa open source?

Yes. Epsilla Vector Database is open source (GPL-3.0). Vespa is open source (Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service).

Other comparisons with Epsilla Vector Database or Vespa

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