head to head · open source
zvec vs vearch
zvec has 16,186 GitHub stars, 1,018 forks, 56 open issues and last shipped yesterday. vearch has 2,333 stars, 366 forks, 170 open issues and last shipped 3 months ago. zvec leads on adoption by 594% (16,186 vs 2,333 stars). zvec is written in C++ under Apache-2.0; vearch is written in Python under Apache-2.0. zvec has attracted 6% as many forks as stars, vearch 16%. 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
| zvec | vearch | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 16K | ★ 2.3K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | C++ | Python |
| Last push | 2026-11-04 | 2026-07-27 |
| Forks | ⑂ 1.0K | ⑂ 366 |
| 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 vearch if
- You want the vearch feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Python
- You evaluated both and vearch fits your workflow better
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…
About vearch
简体中文 English Overview Vearch is a cloud native distributed vector database for efficient similarity search of embedding vectors in your AI applications. Key features Hybrid search : Both vector search and scalar filtering. Performance : Fast vector retrieval search from millions of objects in milliseconds. Scalability & Reliability : Replication and elastic scaling out. Document Restful APIs Tutorial 参考文档 OpenAPIs API Documentation SDK Usage Cases Use Vearch as a Memory Backend Vearch integrates with popular AI frameworks: Real world Demos VisualSearch : Vearch can be leveraged to build a complete visual search…
read the full vearch overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is zvec or vearch more popular?
zvec has 16,186 GitHub stars and vearch has 2,333. zvec has the larger community by that measure.
Are zvec and vearch free?
Both are open source. zvec is licensed under Apache-2.0 and vearch under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between zvec and vearch?
zvec is written in C++ and vearch 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, zvec or vearch?
Choose zvec if you want the larger community (16,186 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose vearch if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.