head to head · open source
lancedb vs VectorDBBench
lancedb has 11,841 GitHub stars, 1,150 forks, 627 open issues and last shipped yesterday. VectorDBBench has 1,200 stars, 451 forks, 184 open issues and last shipped 7 days ago. lancedb leads on adoption by 887% (11,841 vs 1,200 stars). lancedb is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; VectorDBBench is written in Python under MIT. lancedb has attracted 10% as many forks as stars, VectorDBBench 38%. lancedb was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (vector-database), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| lancedb | VectorDBBench | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 12K | ★ 1.2K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Written in | Rust | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-29 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.1K | ⑂ 451 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick lancedb if
- You weight community size — 12K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick VectorDBBench if
- You want the VectorDBBench feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and VectorDBBench fits your workflow better
About lancedb
The Multimodal AI Lakehouse How to Install ✦ Detailed Documentation ✦ Tutorials and Recipes ✦ Contributors The ultimate multimodal data platform for AI/ML applications. LanceDB is designed for fast, scalable, and production ready vector search. It is built on top of the Lance columnar format. You can store, index, and search over petabytes of multimodal data and vectors with ease. LanceDB is a central location where developers can build, train and analyze their AI workloads. Demo: Multimodal Search by Keyword, Vector or with SQL Star LanceDB to get updates! ⭐ Click here ⭐ to see how fast we're growing! Key…
read the full lancedb overview →
About VectorDBBench
VectorDBBench(VDBBench): A Benchmark Tool for VectorDB What is VDBBench VDBBench is not just an offering of benchmark results for mainstream vector databases and cloud services, it's your go to tool for the ultimate performance and cost effectiveness comparison. Designed with ease of use in mind, VDBBench is devised to help users, even non professionals, reproduce results or test new systems, making the hunt for the optimal choice amongst a plethora of cloud services and open source vector databases a breeze. Understanding the importance of user experience, we provide an intuitive visual interface. This not only…
read the full VectorDBBench overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is lancedb or VectorDBBench more popular?
lancedb has 11,841 GitHub stars and VectorDBBench has 1,200. lancedb has the larger community by that measure.
Are lancedb and VectorDBBench free?
Both are open source. lancedb is licensed under Apache-2.0 and VectorDBBench under MIT. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between lancedb and VectorDBBench?
lancedb is written in Rust and VectorDBBench in Python. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, lancedb or VectorDBBench?
Choose lancedb if you want the larger community (11,841 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose VectorDBBench if its feature set, stack or MIT licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.