Table of contents
vector database comparison: FAISS vs Milvus
This page contains a detailed comparison of the FAISS and Milvus vector databases.
You can also check out my detailed breakdown of the most popular vector databases here.
Deployment Options
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Local Deployment | ✅ | ✅ |
Cloud Deployment | ❌ | ✅ |
On - Premises Deployment | ✅ | ✅ |
Scalability
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Horizontal Scaling | ❌ | ✅ |
Vertical Scaling | ✅ | ❌ |
Distributed Architecture | ❌ | ✅ |
Data Management
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Data Import | ✅ | ✅ |
Data Update / Deletion | ✅ | ✅ |
Data Backup / Restore | ❌ | ✅ |
Security
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Authentication | ❌ | ✅ |
Data Encryption | ❌ | ❌ |
Access Control | ❌ | ✅ |
Vector Similarity Search
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Distance Metrics | Euclidean, Inner Product | Euclidean, Cosine, Jaccard |
ANN Algorithms | IVF, HNSW, Flat | IVF, HNSW, Flat |
Filtering | ❌ | ✅ |
Post-Processing | ❌ | ✅ |
Integration and API
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Language SDKs | Python | Python, Java, Go |
REST API | ❌ | ✅ |
GraphQL API | ❌ | ❌ |
GRPC API | ❌ | ❌ |
Community and Ecosystem
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Open-Source | ✅ | ✅ |
Community Support | ✅ | ✅ |
Integration with Frameworks | ✅ | ✅ |
Pricing
Feature | FAISS | Milvus |
---|
Free Tier | ✅ | ✅ |
Pay-as-you-go | ❌ | ❌ |
Enterprise Plans | ❌ | ✅ |