head to head · open source
zvec vs infinispan
zvec has 15,972 GitHub stars, 998 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped today. infinispan has 1,352 stars, 654 forks, 336 open issues and last shipped yesterday. zvec leads on adoption by 1,081% (15,972 vs 1,352 stars). zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; infinispan is written in Java under Apache-2.0. zvec has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, infinispan 48%. zvec was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 2 topic tags (search-engine, semantic-search), 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
| zvec | infinispan | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 1.4K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-20 | 2026-09-19 |
| Forks | ⑂ 998 | ⑂ 654 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick zvec if
- You weight community size — 16K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick infinispan if
- You want the infinispan feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and infinispan fits your workflow better
About zvec
Zvec is an open source, in process vector database written in C++ and licensed under Apache 2.0, built to embed directly into applications so that vector search, full text search, and hybrid retrieval run inside the developer's own process instead of behind a separate service.
About infinispan
Infinispan is open source in memory distributed database and data grid platform for Java teams that need scalable key/value storage, caching, and search across elastic clusters.
read the full infinispan overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zvec or infinispan more popular?
zvec has 15,972 GitHub stars and infinispan has 1,352. zvec has the larger community by that measure.
Are zvec and infinispan free?
Both are open source. zvec is licensed under Apache-2.0 and infinispan under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zvec and infinispan?
zvec is written in C++ and infinispan in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, zvec or infinispan?
Choose zvec if you want the larger community (15,972 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose infinispan if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.