VexDB-Lite is an MIT-licensed vector similarity-search extension that plugs into PostgreSQL, DuckDB and SQLite instead of requiring a separate vector service. The three backends share the project's graph-index algorithm, SIMD distance dispatch and PQ/RaBitQ quantization kernels while exposing database-native index and query surfaces. PostgreSQL uses vexdb_graph indexes; DuckDB provides GRAPH_INDEX with metadata columns and filtered ANN search; SQLite uses GRAPH_INDEX virtual tables with shadow-table persistence, transactional updates and reopen recovery. Current v0.0.17 packages cover PostgreSQL 16-19 and DuckDB 1.5.2 on Linux x86_64/AArch64, plus SQLite builds for Linux, macOS, iOS, Android and WASM; Windows prebuilt packages are not included in that release. Persistence and recovery semantics vary by backend, so operators should validate their selected database, architecture, compact-mode quantizer requirements and failure-recovery path before production use. This record covers only the open-source VexDB-Lite extension. The separate VexDB Developer Edition uses a free one-year temporary license with community support, while VexDB Commercial Edition is contact-led and adds fuller relational features, SLA coverage and professional enterprise support.


VexDB-Lite
One vector-search extension across PostgreSQL, DuckDB and SQLite
MIT-licensed vector-search extension for PostgreSQL, DuckDB and SQLite that shares one graph-index core with PQ/RaBitQ quantization, persistent indexes and metadata filtering; SQLite packages cover Linux, macOS, iOS, Android and WASM, so it runs inside existing databases instead of as a separate vector service.
Pricing
VexDB-Lite is free and open source under the MIT License. VexDB also offers a separate Developer Edition as a free one-year trial with community support; contact VexDB for Commercial Edition pricing, SLA coverage and professional enterprise support.
Platforms
Extensions for PostgreSQL 16-19 and DuckDB 1.5.2 on Linux x86_64/AArch64, plus SQLite packages for Linux, macOS, iOS, Android and WASM. Shared graph-index, SIMD and PQ/RaBitQ code; current verified release: v0.0.17.
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Alternatives
All VexDB-Lite alternatives →pgvector
Vector similarity search for PostgreSQL
pgvector is an open-source PostgreSQL extension with 22K+ GitHub stars adding vector similarity search to your existing Postgres database. Store embeddings alongside relational data, perform exact and approximate nearest neighbor search using L2, inner product, cosine, and L1 metrics. Supports HNSW and IVFFlat indexes for fast similarity queries at scale. Eliminates the need for a separate vector database by bringing vector capabilities into existing PostgreSQL infrastructure.
sqlite-vec
Vector search extension for SQLite that runs anywhere
sqlite-vec is a lightweight vector search extension for SQLite written in pure C with zero dependencies. It brings nearest-neighbor search capabilities directly into SQLite databases, enabling AI applications to store and query embeddings without running a separate vector database. The extension works everywhere SQLite runs including Linux, macOS, Windows, WebAssembly in browsers, and even Raspberry Pi devices. Sponsored by Mozilla Builders, Fly.io, and Turso.
LanceDB
Embedded vector database for multimodal AI with petabyte scale
LanceDB is an open-source embedded vector database built on the Lance columnar format for multimodal AI. It delivers near in-memory performance from disk with zero-copy architecture, supporting vector search, full-text search, and SQL. Native SDKs for Python, TypeScript, and Rust integrate with LangChain, LlamaIndex, and DuckDB. Backed by a $30M Series A, used by Harvey AI and Runway, with 18,000+ GitHub stars.
USearch
Fast embeddable vector search engine
USearch is a high-performance vector search engine implementing HNSW algorithms for approximate nearest neighbor queries across C++, Python, JavaScript, Rust, Java, Go, and more. It supports user-defined distance metrics, memory-mapped persistence for datasets larger than RAM, and filtered search with predicates. Used by YugabyteDB and ScyllaDB as their production vector indexing backend.
Related Tools
computed discovery: shared active categories · kept separate from editor-verified Alternatives
Cloudflare Vectorize
Edge-native vector database for Workers and AI applications
Cloudflare Vectorize is Cloudflare’s managed vector database for Workers and edge AI applications. It is distinct from the existing Cloudflare Workers tool page: Workers is the compute runtime, while Vectorize is the embedding index and vector-query layer used to add semantic retrieval to Cloudflare-hosted apps.
Upstash Vector
Serverless vector database with pay-as-you-go API pricing
Upstash Vector is a managed serverless vector database for RAG, semantic search, and embedding lookup. It is separate from the existing Upstash platform record in the aicoolies catalog: this slug covers the Vector product line, not the broader Redis, Kafka, or QStash platform.
OpenSearch
Open-source search engine with vector and hybrid retrieval
OpenSearch is an Apache-2.0 distributed search engine with native vector-search support for teams that want BM25, filters, aggregations, and k-NN retrieval in the same search stack. It is distinct from Elasticsearch in the aicoolies catalog: OpenSearch is the AWS-backed open fork with its own docs, plugin path, and serverless deployment options.
Deep Lake
AI data runtime for multimodal datasets and vector search
Deep Lake is an open-source AI data runtime from Activeloop for storing, versioning, and querying multimodal data and embeddings. It fits teams building RAG, training, evaluation, or dataset-heavy agent workflows that need a bridge between vector search, structured metadata, and large image, text, audio, or video collections.
SeekDB
AI-native state store with hybrid vector and full-text search
SeekDB is an open-source AI-native state store from the OceanBase ecosystem that combines MySQL-compatible data access with hybrid vector and full-text retrieval. It targets agent and AI application teams that need embedded or server deployment, copy-on-write style sandboxes, and searchable state without gluing together several separate storage layers.
pgvectorscale
DiskANN-powered vector search extension for PostgreSQL
pgvectorscale is an open-source PostgreSQL extension from Timescale that complements pgvector with DiskANN-based approximate vector search. It is useful for teams that want faster embedding retrieval while keeping vectors, filters, and application data inside the Postgres ecosystem instead of adopting a separate hosted vector database.
FAQ
What is VexDB-Lite?
MIT-licensed vector-search extension for PostgreSQL, DuckDB and SQLite that shares one graph-index core with PQ/RaBitQ quantization, persistent indexes and metadata filtering; SQLite packages cover Linux, macOS, iOS, Android and WASM, so it runs inside existing databases instead of as a separate vector service.
Is VexDB-Lite free?
Yes — VexDB-Lite is open source and free to use. VexDB-Lite is free and open source under the MIT License. VexDB also offers a separate Developer Edition as a free one-year trial with community support; contact VexDB for Commercial Edition pricing, SLA coverage and professional enterprise support.
Is VexDB-Lite open source?
Yes — VexDB-Lite is open source.
What are the best VexDB-Lite alternatives?
The top editor-verified VexDB-Lite alternatives are pgvector, sqlite-vec, LanceDB, and more.