ChromaDB pricing guide details
Pricing Overview
Chroma Cloud uses usage-based pricing. The Starter plan is $0 per month plus usage and includes $5 in free credits. Its published usage rates are $2.50 per GiB written, $0.33 per GiB stored per month, $0.0075 per TiB queried, and $0.09 per GiB returned over the network. The plan includes 10 databases, up to 10 team members, and Community Slack access.
For production use cases, the Team plan is $250 per month plus usage and includes $100 in credits, 100 databases, up to 30 team members, Slack support, SOC II, and volume-based discounts. The included Team-plan usage credits do not roll over. Enterprise has custom pricing and includes unlimited databases and team members, dedicated support, single-tenant clusters, BYOC clusters, and SLAs. The supplied evidence does not list a public Enterprise price or specify a sales-contact or quote-request process for that plan.
Plan Comparison
Chroma Cloud lists Starter, Team, and Enterprise plans. Starter and Team combine a monthly plan charge or credit allowance with usage-based charges, while Enterprise is listed as Custom pricing.
| Feature | Starter | Team | Enterprise |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly plan price | $0 per month + usage | $250 per month + usage | Custom pricing |
| Credits | $5 in free credits | $100 credits | — |
| Databases | 10 | 100 | Unlimited |
| Team members | 10 | 30 | Unlimited |
| Support | Community Slack | Slack support | Dedicated support |
| SOC II | — | Yes | — |
| Volume-based discounts | — | Yes | — |
| Single-tenant clusters | — | — | Yes |
| BYOC clusters | — | — | Yes |
| SLAs | — | — | Yes |
Across the plans, the listed usage rates are $2.50 per GiB written, $0.33 per GiB per month of storage, $0.0075 per TiB queried, and $0.09 per GiB returned. Starter is positioned for getting up and running quickly, while Team is positioned for production use cases. For Enterprise, confirm the custom pricing terms and the deployment, support, and SLA details that apply to the intended purchase.
Hidden Costs and Considerations
Chroma Cloud uses usage-based pricing. Storage is charged at $0.33 per GiB per month; writes are $2.50 per GiB written, queries are $0.0075 per TiB queried, and network usage is $0.09 per GiB returned.
The Starter plan is $0 per month plus usage and includes $5 in free credits. The Team plan is $250 per month plus usage and includes $100 in credits; its included $100 of usage does not roll over. The supplied pricing information lists Enterprise as Custom pricing and includes single-tenant clusters, BYOC clusters, SLAs, unlimited databases, unlimited team members, and dedicated support.
Buyers should estimate stored data, writes, queries, and returned network data using the stated usage units. For Enterprise, confirm the custom commercial terms and the applicability of the listed deployment and support features; the supplied evidence provides no dollar amount for that plan.
Cost Estimates by Team Size
Chroma Cloud uses usage-based pricing rather than published team-size estimates. The supplied pricing evidence lists Starter at $0 per month plus $5 in free credits, and Team at $250 per month plus usage with $100 credits. Enterprise is listed as custom pricing.
| Plan | Published monthly plan price | Included credits | Published limits and details |
|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $0 + usage | $5 in free credits | 10 databases, 10 team members, and Community Slack |
| Team | $250 + usage | $100 credits | 100 databases, 30 team members, Slack support, SOC II, and volume-based discounts |
| Enterprise | Custom | Set by contract | Unlimited databases and team members, dedicated support, single-tenant clusters, BYOC clusters, and SLAs |
Usage is billed by activity: writes are $2.50 per GiB written, storage is $0.33 per GiB per month, queries are $0.0075 per TiB queried, and network is $0.09 per GiB returned. The supplied evidence does not provide costs by team size, vector count, workload profile, or a public Enterprise price, so a buyer should estimate the expected write, storage, query, and network usage and confirm the needed database, team-member, support, security, and deployment requirements for the relevant plan.
How ChromaDB Pricing Compares
ChromaDB competes in the vector database market alongside Pinecone, Qdrant, and Weaviate. Each takes a different approach to pricing and deployment flexibility.
| Feature | ChromaDB | Pinecone | Qdrant | Weaviate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing Model | Usage-Based | Usage-Based | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free Tier | $0/mo (Cloud + Open Source) | Free tier available | Free tier + $1 entry | 14-day sandbox |
| Paid Starting Price | $19/mo | $0.15/hr (4 cores) | $1 | $45/mo (Flex) |
| Open Source Option | Yes (Apache 2.0) | No | Yes (Apache 2.0) | Yes (BSD-3) |
| Serverless | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes ($0.055/1M dimensions) |
| Enterprise Tier | BYOC custom pricing | Custom | Custom | $400/mo (Premium) |
ChromaDB stands out with its combination of a fully open-source codebase and a managed cloud offering that starts free. Pinecone charges $0.15 per hour for 4 cores on paid plans, making it a sizable expense for focused workloads, though it offers strong managed infrastructure and dedicated read nodes for high-throughput scenarios. Weaviate's Flex tier begins at $45/mo with serverless pricing from $0.055 per 1M dimensions, while Qdrant offers a low $1 entry point with a freemium model. ChromaDB's object-storage-first architecture delivers up to 10x reduced storage costs compared to memory-based competitors, a significant advantage for teams managing large vector collections. For teams prioritizing open-source flexibility with a clear path to managed cloud, ChromaDB provides the most gradual cost ramp from $0 to production-scale usage-based billing.