--- title: "milvus vs vald" type: "comparison" canonical_url: "https://www.graphcanon.com/compare/milvus-io-milvus-vs-vdaas-vald" tools: ["milvus-io-milvus", "vdaas-vald"] --- # milvus vs vald *GraphCanon updated Sep 20, 2026* ## Verdict Pick milvus if milvus is a high-performance, cloud-native vector database for scalable vector ANN search, supporting various indexing techniques and built for cloud-native environments; pick vald if vald is a distributed vector search engine written in Go, optimized for high performance and scalability, making it suitable for applications such as image search and similarity search. [milvus](https://milvus.io) reports 46k GitHub stars, 4.3k forks, and 1.5k open issues, last pushed Sep 18, 2026. [vald](https://vald.vdaas.org) has 1.7k stars, 95 forks, and 147 open issues, last pushed Sep 16, 2026. Figures are from public GitHub metadata via [milvus's repository](https://github.com/milvus-io/milvus) and [vald's repository](https://github.com/vdaas/vald). | | [milvus](/tools/milvus-io-milvus.md) | [vald](/tools/vdaas-vald.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Tagline | Milvus is a high-performance, cloud-native vector database for scalable vector ANN search | A Highly Scalable Distributed Vector Search Engine | | Stars | 46,152 | 1,728 | | Forks | 4,257 | 95 | | Open issues | 1,459 | 147 | | Language | Go | Go | | Adopt for | Milvus is a high-performance, cloud-native vector database for scalable vector ANN search, supporting various indexing techniques and built for cloud-native environments. | Vald is a distributed vector search engine written in Go, optimized for high performance and scalability, making it suitable for applications such as image search and similarity search. | | Persona | - | - | | Runtime | - | - | | License | Milvus is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license. | Apache-2.0 | | Categories | Data & Retrieval, Vector Databases | Data & Retrieval, Vector Databases | ## Trust and health _Sourced signals - not a safety guarantee. No winner column._ | | [milvus](/tools/milvus-io-milvus.md) | [vald](/tools/vdaas-vald.md) | | --- | --- | --- | | Days since push | 0d | 2d | | Open issues (now) | 1.5k | 147 | | Stars delta | +750 (30d) | +14 (30d) | | Open issues delta | +303 (30d) | +1 (30d) | | Full report | [trust report](/tools/milvus-io-milvus/trust.md) | [trust report](/tools/vdaas-vald/trust.md) | ## Decision facts: milvus - **Hosting:** self hosted - Milvus is designed to be self-hosted and can be deployed in a cloud-native environment. - **Pricing:** freemium - Milvus is free to use under the Apache-2.0 license, but additional services or support may come at a cost. - **Requirements:** Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Third-party dependencies must be installed before using Milvus.; Milvus is built with Go and requires a Go environment to run. - **Adopt for:** Milvus is a high-performance, cloud-native vector database for scalable vector ANN search, supporting various indexing techniques and built for cloud-native environments. - **License detail:** Milvus is licensed under the Apache-2.0 license. ## Decision facts: vald - **Requirements:** Requires Kubernetes 1.19 or newer.; Hardware must support AVX2 instructions for optimal performance. - **Adopt for:** Vald is a distributed vector search engine written in Go, optimized for high performance and scalability, making it suitable for applications such as image search and similarity search. ## Choose when ### Choose milvus if… - Milvus is designed to be self-hosted and can be deployed in a cloud-native environment. - Pricing: Milvus is free to use under the Apache-2.0 license, but additional services or support may come at a cost.. - Requirements: Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Third-party dependencies must be installed before using Milvus.; Milvus is built with Go and requires a Go environment to run.. - Tags unique to milvus: anns, diskann, distributed, embedding-database. - milvus ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment. - When you need a high-performance vector database that supports scalable approximate nearest neighbor search. ### Choose vald if… - Requirements: Requires Kubernetes 1.19 or newer.; Hardware must support AVX2 instructions for optimal performance.. - Tags unique to vald: anng, approximate-nearest-neighbor-search, distributed-systems, golang. - When you need a scalable solution for high-dimensional data search, Vald can handle large volumes of data efficiently. ## When NOT to use milvus - If your project does not require vector similarity search or approximate nearest neighbor search capabilities. - When the project is not cloud-native and does not benefit from cloud-native optimizations. - If the project's requirements are better met by a non-vector database or a different type of database. - When the specific indexing techniques and performance characteristics of Milvus do not align with your project's needs. ## When NOT to use vald - Avoid Vald if your infrastructure does not support Kubernetes 1.19 or newer, as it is a requirement for Vald's operation. - Do not use Vald if your hardware does not support AVX2 instructions, as this will limit the performance of the Vald Agent NGT component. - If your project requires a non-distributed solution, Vald's distributed architecture might introduce unnecessary complexity. ## Common questions ### What is the difference between milvus and vald? milvus: Milvus is a high-performance, cloud-native vector database for scalable vector ANN search. vald: A Highly Scalable Distributed Vector Search Engine. See the comparison table for live GitHub stats and shared categories. ### When should I choose milvus over vald? Choose milvus over vald when Milvus is designed to be self-hosted and can be deployed in a cloud-native environment; Pricing: Milvus is free to use under the Apache-2.0 license, but additional services or support may come at a cost.; Requirements: Min 4 GB RAM; Requires Docker; Third-party dependencies must be installed before using Milvus.; Milvus is built with Go and requires a Go environment to run.; Tags unique to milvus: anns, diskann, distributed, embedding-database; milvus ships Docker support for self-hosted deployment; When you need a high-performance vector database that supports scalable approximate nearest neighbor search. ### When should I choose vald over milvus? Choose vald over milvus when Requirements: Requires Kubernetes 1.19 or newer.; Hardware must support AVX2 instructions for optimal performance.; Tags unique to vald: anng, approximate-nearest-neighbor-search, distributed-systems, golang; When you need a scalable solution for high-dimensional data search, Vald can handle large volumes of data efficiently. ### When should I avoid milvus? If your project does not require vector similarity search or approximate nearest neighbor search capabilities. When the project is not cloud-native and does not benefit from cloud-native optimizations. If the project's requirements are better met by a non-vector database or a different type of database. When the specific indexing techniques and performance characteristics of Milvus do not align with your project's needs. ### When should I avoid vald? Avoid Vald if your infrastructure does not support Kubernetes 1.19 or newer, as it is a requirement for Vald's operation. Do not use Vald if your hardware does not support AVX2 instructions, as this will limit the performance of the Vald Agent NGT component. If your project requires a non-distributed solution, Vald's distributed architecture might introduce unnecessary complexity. ### Is milvus or vald more popular on GitHub? milvus has more GitHub stars (46,152 vs 1,728). Stars measure visibility, not whether either tool fits your constraints. ### Are milvus and vald open source? Yes - both are open-source projects on GitHub (milvus: Apache-2.0, vald: Apache-2.0). ### Where can I find alternatives to milvus or vald? GraphCanon lists graph-backed alternatives at [milvus alternatives](/tools/milvus-io-milvus/alternatives) and [vald alternatives](/tools/vdaas-vald/alternatives) ([milvus markdown twin](/tools/milvus-io-milvus/alternatives.md), [vald markdown twin](/tools/vdaas-vald/alternatives.md)), ranked by typed relationship edges rather than popularity votes. ### Is there a machine-readable version of this comparison? Yes. The markdown twin at [this comparison](/compare/milvus-io-milvus-vs-vdaas-vald.md) mirrors this page for agents and LLM crawlers, with the same stats table and FAQ answers. ### Which is better maintained, milvus or vald? milvus: Very active. vald: Very active. Compare maintenance labels, days since push, and release cadence in the trust section below - stars alone do not measure maintenance. ### Where are the full trust reports for milvus and vald? GraphCanon publishes per-repo trust reports with dated maintenance, provenance, and scan summaries: [milvus trust report](/tools/milvus-io-milvus/trust); [vald trust report](/tools/vdaas-vald/trust). --- **Machine-readable endpoints** - JSON: [`/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=milvus-io-milvus`](/api/graphcanon/graph?tool=milvus-io-milvus) - LLM index: [/llms.txt](/llms.txt) - Full corpus: [/llms-full.txt](/llms-full.txt) _GraphCanon - The knowledge graph for AI development. https://www.graphcanon.com/_