Weaviate Cloud — Free Tier

Weaviate is an open-source vector database with a managed cloud offering. Its free tier is genuinely useful for long-running prototypes, letting you host up to 100,000 vector objects without a credit card.

What you get

• 100,000 objects. Free forever on a single cluster.
• 1 GB memory. Enough for many RAG and semantic search prototypes.
• No credit card required. Immediate setup.
• Managed infrastructure. Weaviate handles scaling, backups, and upgrades.
• Hybrid search. Combine vector, full-text, and keyword search in one query.

Eligibility

• One free cluster per user.
• Available to anyone signing up for Weaviate Cloud.
• Upgrade to paid tiers as you scale.

How to apply

1. Visit Weaviate pricing.
2. Sign up for a free Weaviate Cloud account.
3. Create a free sandbox cluster.
4. Connect via the Weaviate client or REST/GraphQL API.

Caveats

• SMF Clearinghouse does not administer this offer.
• Free tier capacity and retention limits apply.
• Paid tiers are required for production workloads, SLA guarantees, and higher object counts.
• Verify current limits directly with Weaviate.

Best for

• RAG prototypes and proof-of-concept projects.
• Semantic search over document collections.
• Teams that want a managed vector database without self-hosting complexity.

Verdict

Weaviate's free tier is one of the most generous in the vector database space and is a strong starting point for RAG prototypes. For production workloads, compare Pinecone, Qdrant, and self-hosted options based on scale and pricing.

Related:

• Pinecone — Vector DB Credits
• Chroma Vector Database
• Choosing a Vector Database