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hnswlib Pricing

open sourceopen source · Apache-2.0last verified August 26, 2026official site ↗
PlanPriceNotes
Open Source (Apache-2.0)official source ↗$0checked 2026-08-26Header-only C++ library with Python bindings for fast approximate nearest neighbor search based on HNSW graphs.

structured from cited official pricing sources: “hnswlib is a fast, header-only C++ approximate nearest neighbor search library with Python bindings, fully open-source under the Apache-2.0 license at zero cost.”

Self-hosting cost

hnswlib is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Self-hosting does not add a software license fee, but you still pay for infrastructure, operations, and any external model or API usage.

Free & cheaper Vector Databases

same category, free plan or open-source license

UpstashFreemium serverless data platform (Redis, Kafka, Vector, QStash). Free tier includes daily command/request quotas (10k commands/day for Redis/Kafka/Vector, 500 messages/day for QStash at $0/mo). Pay-as-you-go charges per request ($0.20-$0.40 per 100k requests) and storage ($0.25/GB/mo) with scale-to-zero idle compute. Pro fixed plans start at $280/mo with dedicated throughput and 99.99% SLA, and Enterprise plans provide dedicated VPC peering and custom compliance.TurboVecopen sourceFree and open source under the MIT License. Distributed as a Rust crate and Python package with zero software licensing fees.Neonopen sourceNeon provides a serverless PostgreSQL database with scale-to-zero capabilities. The Free tier includes 100 Compute Unit (CU) hours and 0.5 GB storage per month across up to 100 projects. Paid usage is consumption-based with no minimum monthly platform fee: Launch bills at $0.106/CU-hour and Scale at $0.222/CU-hour with $0.35/GB-month storage.SPTAGopen sourceFree and open source under the MIT License. Users provide their own hardware and compute infrastructure for distributed serving and index compilation.
hnswlib overview →alternatives →

FAQ

How much does hnswlib cost?

hnswlib is a fast, header-only C++ approximate nearest neighbor search library with Python bindings, fully open-source under the Apache-2.0 license at zero cost.

Does hnswlib have a free plan?

Yes — hnswlib is open source and free to use.

Can you self-host hnswlib for free?

hnswlib is open source under the Apache-2.0 license. Self-hosting does not add a software license fee, but you still pay for infrastructure, operations, and any external model or API usage.

What are free or cheaper hnswlib alternatives?

Upstash, TurboVec, Neon are in the same category with a free plan or open-source license.

pricing is editorial catalog data (last verified August 26, 2026) — vendors change plans; confirm on the official site before you buy. Reuse this data under CC-BY 4.0 via /data.