{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "lancedb", "name": "LanceDB", "vendor": "LanceDB", "vendorUrl": "https://www.lancedb.com", "kind": "sdk", "category": "vector-search", "summary": "Open-source embedded database on the Lance columnar format.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lancedb", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lancedb.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lancedb.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lancedb.json", "repo": "https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb", "license": "Apache-2.0", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "lancedb" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@lancedb/lancedb" } ], "auth": "none", "authNotes": "The open-source library needs no auth. It uses your object-store credentials when the table lives in S3, GCS or Azure. LanceDB Enterprise takes an API key in the `x-api-key` header (or OAuth credentials), plus `x-lancedb-database` when the endpoint is shared.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "The open-source library is free under Apache-2.0, and you pay only for the disk or object storage your tables sit on. LanceDB Enterprise is priced on request and the pricing page is a contact form. A LanceDB Cloud dashboard still exists at cloud.lancedb.com but the current docs only cover OSS and Enterprise, and no public rate card was found (https://lancedb.com/pricing).", "priceSummary": "Freemium", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No payment support. The library is free and Enterprise is sold by contract.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 11561, "npmWeekly": 921555, "pypiWeekly": 1944105, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.lancedb.com", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.lancedb.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "db.vector", "db.hybrid", "db.fulltext", "db.filters" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "local", "enterprise", "llms-txt", "python", "typescript", "free-tier" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-17", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 65.4, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 292, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 7, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 74, "maintenance": 93, "payments": 20, "reliability": 75, "schema": 81, "security": 44, "transparency": 79 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Embedded, no server, and tables can live directly in S3, GCS or Azure storage. No self-serve hosted API. Enterprise is sold through a contact form.", "bestFor": "Agents whose code can import a library and keep retrieval data in object storage, from notebooks to multimodal datasets.", "strengths": [ "Embedded, no server, and tables can live directly in S3, GCS or Azure storage", "Four releases since late July, v0.39.0 on 17 September 2026, with passing CI on main", "Release notes with Breaking Changes and Deprecations sections, and minor-version bumps for breaking changes", "Apache-2.0 with no telemetry module in the library", "Python, TypeScript, Rust and Java clients from one version tag" ], "weaknesses": [ "No self-serve hosted API. Enterprise is sold through a contact form", "No official MCP server, only a 3-tool reference example", "The docs' OpenAPI link for the Enterprise REST API returns 404", "Still 0.x, and Node 22 or later is now required", "No SECURITY.md in the repository" ], "agentNotes": [ "Use it through the Python or TypeScript library. There's no public endpoint an agent can call without an Enterprise deployment", "Build an FTS index before calling `query_type=\"hybrid\"`, or hybrid search has no keyword side", "Call `optimize()` after many small writes, since each write adds a new file version", "Use `select()` to drop the vector column from results unless the task needs it", "On object storage, set a read consistency interval if several processes write the same table" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 65.4 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 74, "maintenance": 93, "payments": 20, "reliability": 75, "schema": 81, "security": 44, "transparency": 75 }, "provenanceScore": 82 }, "connect": { "install": "pip install lancedb", "http": "curl -s \"$LANCEDB_URI/v1/tables\" -H \"x-api-key: $LANCEDB_API_KEY\" -H \"x-lancedb-database: $LANCEDB_DATABASE\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/db.vector", "tool": "https://letme.dev/lancedb" }, "area": "developer", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "LanceDB Systems, Inc.", "domain": "lancedb.com", "domainRegistered": "2023-03-18", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://242023405.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na2.net/hubfs/242023405/Website%20Documentation/terms.pdf", "privacy": "https://242023405.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na2.net/hubfs/242023405/Website%20Documentation/privacy.pdf", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/releases", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "Terms and privacy are PDFs on a HubSpot file host linked from the lancedb.com footer. The terms PDF names the vendor only as Company, and the privacy PDF names LanceDB Systems, Inc.", "Enterprise endpoints are per deployment, so there's no fixed API host" ], "score": 82 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lancedb.json", "live": { "slug": "lancedb", "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "lancedb/lancedb", "version": "v0.40.0", "released": "2026-10-07", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:18:18.426520878Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@lancedb/lancedb", "version": "0.40.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:18:17.540946645Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "lancedb", "version": "0.40.0", "released": "2026-10-07", "seenAt": "2026-10-08T16:18:17.42245922Z" } ], "githubStars": 11619, "npmWeekly": 686325, "pypiWeekly": 1763517, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://lancedb.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "2027-07-31T00:00:00.000Z", "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T15:38:55.898655679Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.lancedb.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T14:00:33.951405277Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "lancedb.com", "registered": "2023-03-18", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/lancedb.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-04T13:08:00.947853529Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://lancedb.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:13.224662024Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:13.224662024Z", "fingerprint": "14cd563fc10c" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-08T18:21:13.224662024Z" } }, "answer": "Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against LanceDB's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LanceDB leads on schema \u0026 documentation.", "b": { "slug": "vespa", "name": "Vespa", "vendor": "Vespa.ai AS", "vendorUrl": "https://vespa.ai", "kind": "http-api", "category": "vector-search", "summary": "Vespa is an open-source search engine from Vespa.ai AS for vector, text and hybrid retrieval with ranking, run self-hosted or on Vespa Cloud. Agents reach it through HTTP query and document APIs, the Vespa CLI and a Python client.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vespa.json", "repo": "https://github.com/vespa-engine/vespa", "license": "Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "pypi", "name": "pyvespa" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Vespa Cloud data-plane requests use mutual TLS with a client certificate placed in the application package, or a bearer token on a separate token endpoint. Each client is limited to `read`, `write` or both. Tokens are created in the console, have versions for rotation, expire (30 days by default) and can be revoked. The control plane uses a browser login through Auth0 (`vespa auth login`) or an application key pair for CI. Access is self-serve after a browser sign-up. A self-hosted Vespa has no authentication until the operator configures mTLS.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Vespa Cloud charges by the hour for allocated resources. Startup is $0.05 a vCPU-hour, $0.005 a GB-hour of memory and $0.0002 a GB-hour of disk, on dev zones with community support and no SLA. Basic starts at $0.10 a vCPU-hour, Commercial at $0.145 and Enterprise at $0.18 with a $20,000 monthly minimum. Unit prices fall with volume by up to 50 per cent. The trial has $300 of credits, needs no card and stops the application when credits run out. Self-hosting the Apache-2.0 engine is free (https://cloud.vespa.ai/price-calculator-content, checked 2026-10-09).", "priceSummary": "$0.05 / vCPU-hr", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs index, the pricing page or the price calculator (checked 2026-10-09).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": 7100, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": 180440, "asOf": "2026-10-09" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.vespa.ai/", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.vespa.ai/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "db.vector", "db.hybrid", "db.fulltext", "db.filters" ], "tags": [ "open-source", "self-hosted", "hosted", "usage-based", "free-trial", "no-card", "cli", "llms-txt", "python", "java", "status-page", "sla", "soc2", "enterprise" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 70, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 157, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 842, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 91, "payments": 40, "reliability": 80, "schema": 58, "security": 75, "transparency": 85 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-09" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "GHSA-v86h-xr9p-pgm5, moderate severity (CVSS 6.8), published 4 September 2026. Two local file inclusion flaws in the deployment API let an authorised deployer read files readable by the config server process, in versions up to 8.746.22. Patched in 8.748.3 and disclosed in public, so a small deduction (https://github.com/vespa-engine/vespa/security/advisories/GHSA-v86h-xr9p-pgm5)." ], "verdict": "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.", "bestFor": "Teams that need hybrid retrieval with custom ranking at scale and can maintain a schema and application package.", "strengths": [ "Data-plane clients use mTLS certificates or tokens, each limited to `read`, `write` or both, with token versions, expiry and revocation", "Unit prices are public, from $0.05 a vCPU-hour on Startup, and the trial gives $300 of credits with no card", "Every docs page has a Markdown twin, with `llms.txt` and `llms-full.txt` on docs.vespa.ai", "16 release tags between 12 July and 29 September 2026, and pyvespa 1.2.8 on 1 October 2026", "Sub-processor list updated 12 August 2026 with locations, and logs are kept for at most 30 days in the application's region" ], "weaknesses": [ "No OpenAPI file was found in the docs index. The APIs are described in reference pages only", "Vespa.ai states it has no official public MCP server. An MCP endpoint must be added to the user's own application", "No call works until a schema and `services.xml` are deployed as an application package", "The Service Agreement named in the DPA is not on the product terms page, which links only the privacy policy, DPA and SLA", "Advisory GHSA-v86h-xr9p-pgm5 (moderate, 4 September 2026) let authorised deployers read config server files before 8.748.3" ], "agentNotes": [ "Deploy an application package with a schema before feeding or querying. Use `vespa deploy` and wait for the endpoint to report ready", "Send a token as `Authorization: Bearer` only to the endpoint marked Token. The mTLS endpoint needs the client certificate and key", "Set `hits`, `offset` and `presentation.summary` on queries. `hits` is capped at 400 by default and the query timeout defaults to 0.5s", "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", "Use the `condition` parameter for test-and-set writes and expect 412 when it fails or the document is missing" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 70 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 80, "maintenance": 91, "payments": 40, "reliability": 80, "schema": 58, "security": 75, "transparency": 86 }, "provenanceScore": 84 }, "connect": { "install": "brew install vespa-cli", "http": "curl -H \"Authorization: Bearer $TOKEN\" $ENDPOINT" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/db.vector", "tool": "https://letme.dev/vespa" }, "area": "developer", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Startup plan, one vCPU for an hour", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.05, "note": "Memory $0.005 and disk $0.0002 a GB-hour are charged as well" }, { "item": "Commercial plan, one vCPU for an hour (initial price)", "unit": "vcpu-hour", "usd": 0.145, "note": "Memory $0.0145 and disk $0.0005 a GB-hour are charged as well. Prices fall with volume" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Vespa.ai AS", "domain": "vespa.ai", "domainRegistered": "2017-12-16", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "", "privacy": "https://vespa.ai/privacy-policy/", "statusPage": "https://status.vespa.ai", "changelog": "https://github.com/vespa-engine/vespa/tags", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-09", "notes": [ "The privacy policy names Vespa.ai AS, Prinsens gate 49, 7011 Trondheim, Norway, as controller for vespa.ai and console.vespa-cloud.com.", "No terms document is set. The product terms page links only the privacy policy, the DPA and the SLA, and the Service Agreement the DPA refers to was not found on the site.", "The DPA, last updated 18 October 2023, names Vespa.AI Norway AS as processor, a different name from the privacy policy's.", "Application endpoints answer on vespa-app.cloud and the console and control plane on vespa-cloud.com, both second domains of the vendor's.", "security.txt at vespa.ai expires on 31 December 2026 and points to a vulnerability disclosure programme on Intigriti.", "RDAP for vespa.ai gives a registration date of 2017-12-16." ], "score": 84 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.json", "live": { "slug": "vespa", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.vespa.ai", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T07:58:40.039920611Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-09T07:58:40.039920611Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "SDK + MCP", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "LanceDB", "b": "Vespa.ai AS", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "None", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Apache-2.0", "b": "Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-17", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "", "b": "no document linked", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "no date given", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "", "b": "", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "12k stars, 922k npm/wk, 1.9M PyPI/wk", "b": "7.1k stars, 180k PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against LanceDB's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LanceDB leads on schema \u0026 documentation.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, LanceDB or Vespa?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for LanceDB. No hosted endpoint is listed for Vespa.", "question": "Can an agent call LanceDB and Vespa without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "Yes. LanceDB is open source (Apache-2.0). Vespa is open source (Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service).", "question": "Are LanceDB and Vespa open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Schema \u0026 documentation, 81 against 58" ], "also": [ "No key needed to call it" ], "goodFor": "Agents whose code can import a library and keep retrieval data in object storage, from notebooks to multimodal datasets.", "slug": "lancedb", "watchFor": "No self-serve hosted API. Enterprise is sold through a contact form" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 80 against 75", "Agent ergonomics, 80 against 74", "Security \u0026 auth, 75 against 44", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 79" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better", "Free to start without a card" ], "goodFor": "Teams that need hybrid retrieval with custom ranking at scale and can maintain a schema and application package.", "slug": "vespa", "watchFor": "No OpenAPI file was found in the docs index. The APIs are described in reference pages only" } ], "job": { "capability": "db.vector", "name": "Db vector" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-lancedb.json", "title": "Chroma API + MCP vs LanceDB", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-lancedb" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Chroma API + MCP vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-lancedb.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs LanceDB", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-lancedb" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-lancedb.json", "title": "Epsilla Vector Database vs LanceDB", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-lancedb" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Epsilla Vector Database vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-milvus-zilliz.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-milvus-zilliz" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-pinecone.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Pinecone API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-pinecone" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-qdrant.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Qdrant API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-qdrant" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-typesense.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Typesense API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-typesense" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-upstash-vector.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Upstash Vector API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-upstash-vector" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-weaviate.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Weaviate API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-weaviate" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/milvus-zilliz-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/milvus-zilliz-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pinecone-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Pinecone API + MCP vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pinecone-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Qdrant API + MCP vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/typesense-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Typesense API + MCP vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/typesense-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/upstash-vector-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Upstash Vector API + MCP vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/upstash-vector-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vespa-vs-weaviate.json", "title": "Vespa vs Weaviate API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vespa-vs-weaviate" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 5, "edge": "vespa", "key": "reliability", "lancedb": 75, "name": "Reliability", "vespa": 80, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 23, "edge": "lancedb", "key": "schema", "lancedb": 81, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "vespa": 58, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "vespa", "key": "ergonomics", "lancedb": 74, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "vespa": 80, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 31, "edge": "vespa", "key": "security", "lancedb": 44, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "vespa": 75, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "vespa", "key": "payments", "lancedb": 20, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "vespa": 40, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 2, "edge": "lancedb", "key": "maintenance", "lancedb": 93, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "vespa": 91, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 6, "edge": "vespa", "key": "transparency", "lancedb": 79, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "vespa": 85, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against LanceDB's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LanceDB leads on schema \u0026 documentation. Both do db vector.", "verdicts": { "lancedb": "Embedded, no server, and tables can live directly in S3, GCS or Azure storage. No self-serve hosted API. Enterprise is sold through a contact form.", "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." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa.min.md" }, "markdown": "Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against LanceDB's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LanceDB leads on schema \u0026 documentation. Both do db vector.\n\n- LanceDB: grade B, 65.4/100, rank #292 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lancedb.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lancedb.json\n- Vespa: grade BB, 70/100, rank #157 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vespa.json\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### LanceDB (B)\n\nGood for: Agents whose code can import a library and keep retrieval data in object storage, from notebooks to multimodal datasets.\n\nAhead on:\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 81 against 58\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- No key needed to call it\n\nWatch for: No self-serve hosted API. Enterprise is sold through a contact form\n\n### Vespa (BB)\n\nGood for: Teams that need hybrid retrieval with custom ranking at scale and can maintain a schema and application package.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 80 against 75\n- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 74\n- Security \u0026 auth, 75 against 44\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 85 against 79\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n- Free to start without a card\n\nWatch for: No OpenAPI file was found in the docs index. The APIs are described in reference pages only\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | LanceDB | Vespa | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 80 | Vespa +5 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 81 | 58 | LanceDB +23 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 80 | Vespa +6 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 75 | Vespa +31 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | Vespa +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 93 | 91 | LanceDB +2 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 85 | Vespa +6 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |\n| **Total** | | **65.4 · B** | **70 · BB** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | LanceDB | Vespa |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | LanceDB | Vespa.ai AS |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | None | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-17 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Terms last updated | | no document linked |\n| Privacy policy last updated | | no date given |\n| Customer content may train models | | |\n| Terms restrict automated access | | |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | | |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | | |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | | |\n| Popularity | 12k stars, 922k npm/wk, 1.9M PyPI/wk | 7.1k stars, 180k PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**LanceDB.** Embedded, no server, and tables can live directly in S3, GCS or Azure storage. No self-serve hosted API. Enterprise is sold through a contact form.\n\n**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.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### LanceDB\n\n1. Use it through the Python or TypeScript library. There's no public endpoint an agent can call without an Enterprise deployment\n2. Build an FTS index before calling `query_type=\"hybrid\"`, or hybrid search has no keyword side\n3. Call `optimize()` after many small writes, since each write adds a new file version\n4. Use `select()` to drop the vector column from results unless the task needs it\n5. On object storage, set a read consistency interval if several processes write the same table\n\n### Vespa\n\n1. Deploy an application package with a schema before feeding or querying. Use `vespa deploy` and wait for the endpoint to report ready\n2. Send a token as `Authorization: Bearer` only to the endpoint marked Token. The mTLS endpoint needs the client certificate and key\n3. Set `hits`, `offset` and `presentation.summary` on queries. `hits` is capped at 400 by default and the query timeout defaults to 0.5s\n4. 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\n5. Use the `condition` parameter for test-and-set writes and expect 412 when it fails or the document is missing\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, LanceDB or Vespa?\n\nVespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against LanceDB's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LanceDB leads on schema \u0026 documentation.\n\n### Can an agent call LanceDB and Vespa without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for LanceDB. No hosted endpoint is listed for Vespa.\n\n### Are LanceDB and Vespa open source?\n\nYes. LanceDB is open source (Apache-2.0). Vespa is open source (Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"lancedb\", \"b\": \"vespa\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare lancedb vespa`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lancedb.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vespa.json\n\n## Other comparisons with LanceDB or Vespa\n\n- [Chroma API + MCP vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-lancedb.md)\n- [Chroma API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-lancedb.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Epsilla Vector Database vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-lancedb.md)\n- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-vespa.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-milvus-zilliz.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Pinecone API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-pinecone.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-qdrant.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-typesense.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-upstash-vector.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-weaviate.md)\n- [Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/milvus-zilliz-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Pinecone API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pinecone-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Qdrant API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Typesense API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/typesense-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Upstash Vector API + MCP vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/upstash-vector-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Vespa vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vespa-vs-weaviate.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-09", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "LanceDB vs Vespa", "url": "" } ], "description": "Vespa scores 70 (BB) on agent readiness against LanceDB's 65.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. LanceDB leads on schema \u0026 documentation. Both do db vector. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "LanceDB B 65.4", "Vespa BB 70", "scores" ], "h1": "LanceDB vs Vespa", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-lancedb-vs-vespa.png", "path": "/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "LanceDB vs Vespa for AI agents, B 65.4 vs BB 70 | Anchor Terminal", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-vespa" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2100, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }