head to head · open source
PageIndex vs zvec
PageIndex has 39,973 GitHub stars, 3,442 forks, 103 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. zvec has 16,181 stars, 1,017 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. PageIndex leads on adoption by 147% (39,973 vs 16,181 stars). PageIndex is written in Python under MIT; zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0. PageIndex has attracted 9% as many forks as stars, zvec 6%. zvec was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 1 topic tag (rag), 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
| PageIndex | zvec | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 40K | ★ 16K |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Python | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-11-03 | 2026-11-03 |
| Forks | ⑂ 3.4K | ⑂ 1.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick PageIndex if
- You weight community size — 40K stars and counting
- You want the MIT license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick zvec if
- You want the zvec feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and zvec fits your workflow better
About PageIndex
PageIndex: Vectorless, Reasoning based RAG Reasoning based RAG ◦ No Vector DB, No Chunking ◦ Context Aware Retrieval ◦ Reads Like a Human 🌐 Website • ☁️ Cloud • 📖 Docs • 📝 Blog • ✉️ Contact Updates [Aug '26] 🔥 PageIndex SDK : pip install U pageindex now ships local mode : index, retrieve, and chat entirely on your machine with your own LLM key, or point the same client at PageIndex Cloud with an API key. [Aug '26] ⚡ PageIndex Flash : fast tree index generation for text based PDFs, now the default indexing method in PageIndex SDK local mode. Scale PageIndex to Millions of Documents: PageIndex File System is a…
read the full PageIndex overview →
About zvec
English 中文 🚀 Quickstart 🏠 Home 📚 Docs 📊 Benchmarks 🔎 DeepWiki 🎮 Discord 🐦 X (Twitter) Zvec is an open source, in process vector database — lightweight, lightning fast, and designed to embed directly into applications. Battle tested within Alibaba Group, it delivers production grade, low latency and scalable similarity search with minimal setup. [!Important] 🚀 v0.7.0 (August 24, 2026) zvec grep ( zg ) : Local first workspace search that unifies ripgrep, BM25, and vector search behind one CLI — built for humans and AI agents. ReMe integration : zvec is now a file store backend in ReMe, the memory…
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Frequently asked questions
Is PageIndex or zvec more popular?
PageIndex has 39,973 GitHub stars and zvec has 16,181. PageIndex has the larger community by that measure.
Are PageIndex and zvec free?
Both are open source. PageIndex is licensed under MIT and zvec under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between PageIndex and zvec?
PageIndex is written in Python and zvec in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, PageIndex or zvec?
Choose PageIndex if you want the larger community (39,973 stars) or its MIT licence terms. Choose zvec if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.