Milvus vs Zep Memory: Pricing and Ratings Compared (2026)
Entry prices and free plans as read on each vendor's pricing page, and user ratings as published on review sites, for Milvus and Zep Memory side by side. This page compares data; it is not a hands-on review.
On the data: On the data below, Zep Memory leads on lower entry price. We do not name an overall winner for this pair.
Short on time? Here's the quick answer
Based on published vendor pricing and features and on public review data, here's who should pick what:
Milvus
Open-source vector database for AI
Best for you if:
- • You want a fully free tool (Zep Memory requires payment)
Zep Memory
Build personalized, fast, and reliable AI agents with comprehensive, evolving memory.
Best for you if:
- • You want significantly improves AI agent accuracy and personalization by providing rich, evolving context
| At a Glance | ||
|---|---|---|
Starts at | Free plan, paid from $126/mo, billed monthly Zilliz Dedicated (Standard) plan | Free plan, paid from $25/mo, billed monthly Flex plan |
Category | Vector Databases Data & Databases | Data & Databases Developer Tools |
Rating | 4.8/5 Capterra 4.8 · G2 4.7 310 reviews | n/a |
Free plan | Yes | Yes |
Watch out for | Overage fees for vCUs on Serverless tier | n/a |
Choose Milvus or Zep Memory?
Choose Milvus if
- You want a fully free tool (Zep Memory requires payment)
- You want high performance
- You want scalable
- You work in vector databases, not data & databases
Choose Zep Memory if
- You want significantly improves AI agent accuracy and personalization by providing rich, evolving context
- You want reduces inference costs and response latency by delivering token-efficient and relevant context
- Budget matters ($25/mo, billed monthly vs $126/mo, billed monthly)
- You work in data & databases, not vector databases
In-Depth Analysis
Milvus
Open-source vector database for AI
Milvus offers a very generous pricing model, especially with its robust open-source option and the Zilliz Cloud Free tier providing 5GB storage and 2.5M vCUs/month at no cost.
Watch out
Overage fees for vCUs on Serverless tier
Strengths
- Pro: High performance
- Pro: Scalable
- Pro: Open source
- Pro: Good for large scale
- Pro: Active development
Weaknesses
- Con: Complex operations
- Con: Heavy resource usage
- Con: Learning curve
- Con: Kubernetes recommended
- Con: Documentation dense
Key features
Zep Memory
Build personalized, fast, and reliable AI agents with comprehensive, evolving memory.
Zep Memory's pricing feels fair, especially with a generous Free tier offering 1,000 episodes a month.
Strengths
- Pro: Significantly improves AI agent accuracy and personalization by providing rich, evolving context.
- Pro: Reduces inference costs and response latency by delivering token-efficient and relevant context.
- Pro: Integrates diverse data sources (chat, business data, user behavior) into a single knowledge graph.
- Pro: Designed for real-time applications with extremely low retrieval latency (<200ms).
- Pro: Supports custom graph ontologies for domain-specific memory and improved relevance.
Weaknesses
- Con: No explicit free tier mentioned, suggesting it's a paid solution.
- Con: Requires integration and setup to connect various data sources.
- Con: Complexity of managing and defining custom graph ontologies might require some expertise.
Key features
Plans and prices: Milvus vs Zep Memory
| Tool | Plans and prices | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Milvus |
| zilliz.com/pricing read Oct 14, 2026 |
| Zep Memory |
| getzep.com/pricing read Oct 13, 2026 |
Prices as read on each vendor's own pricing page on the date shown. Plans are listed per tool and are not matched against the other tool's plans: a plan name or price in one column says nothing about the same row in the other. Details on Milvus pricing and Zep Memory pricing.
Key Takeaways
Milvus
- Choose if you want open-source vector database for AI
Zep Memory
- Lower entry price: $25/mo, billed monthly vs $126/mo, billed monthly
What the data shows
On the data below, Zep Memory leads on lower entry price. We do not name an overall winner for this pair.
- Only Milvus has a published user rating (4.8/5 from 310 reviews); Zep Memory has none we can show.
- Zep Memory has the lower entry price: $25/mo, billed monthly (Flex) against $126/mo, billed monthly (Zilliz Dedicated (Standard)) for Milvus.
- Both have a free plan.
Criteria: user rating (only above 20 reviews on both sides, gap of 0.2 or more), entry price (only on the same billing basis), free plan. How we rate
Frequently Asked Questions
How do Milvus and Zep Memory compare in 2026?
On the data below, Zep Memory leads on lower entry price. We do not name an overall winner for this pair. Only Milvus has a published user rating (4.8/5 from 310 reviews); Zep Memory has none we can show. Zep Memory has the lower entry price: $25/mo, billed monthly (Flex) against $126/mo, billed monthly (Zilliz Dedicated (Standard)) for Milvus. Both have a free plan.
What are Milvus and Zep Memory used for?
Milvus: Open-source vector database for AI. Zep Memory: Build personalized, fast, and reliable AI agents with comprehensive, evolving memory.
What does Milvus cost vs Zep Memory?
Milvus's cheapest paid plan is Zilliz Dedicated (Standard) at $126/mo, billed monthly. Zep Memory's cheapest paid plan is Flex at $25/mo, billed monthly; it also has a free plan. Prices read on the vendors' pricing pages, latest check Oct 14, 2026.
What's the main difference between Milvus and Zep Memory?
Milvus's main strength: high performance. Zep Memory's main strength: significantly improves AI agent accuracy and personalization by providing rich, evolving context.