Infrastructure / Storage & Retrieval

LanceDB

LanceDB is an embedded retrieval database for multimodal data, storing vectors, full text and the underlying records together on top of the Lance columnar format. It runs in the application process with no separate server, indexes on GPU as well as CPU, and reads and writes directly against object storage. Python, TypeScript, Java and Rust bindings ship from the same repository.

Verified 2026-08-18 via the GitHub API and the LICENSE body.

Openness

5 high confidence

5.0

license: Apache-2.0(OSI)
source: public
core-gated: ungated

Apache-2.0 license body confirmed. The repository is public and unarchived and builds the whole product, and the README describes no paid tier, enterprise edition or license-gated build beside it, so source is public and the core ungated. A hosted Cloud and Enterprise tier is sold beside the Apache-2.0 core; the repository carries the Rust engine and all four language bindings, so nothing is withheld from the published source.

https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/blob/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-08-18
LICENSE file is the verbatim Apache-2.0 text
https://api.github.com/repos/lancedb/lancedb recorded 2026-08-18
Repo metadata - license spdx_id Apache-2.0, private false, archived false, default branch main - for lancedb/lancedb.
https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/blob/main/README.md recorded 2026-08-18
README describes a multimodal AI lakehouse for production vector search built on the Lance columnar format, running locally or in the user's cloud with GPU index building, and a separate Cloud and Enterprise tier described as products beside the open source one, with no paid tier, enterprise edition or license-key-gated build beside it.

Adoption

4 high confidence

4.0

9,688,636 PyPI downloads of `lancedb` in the trailing 30 days, which lands in the 1M-10M band of the software usage scale, level 4.

https://pypistats.org/api/packages/lancedb/recent recorded 2026-08-18
last_month downloads = 9,688,636 for lancedb

Capability

4 medium confidence

4.0

Banded on the category feature matrix as complete retrieval system, distributed or cluster-capable. Placed one band below the vespa anchor, on a matrix that bands on how much of the persist-index-retrieve path a product provides itself, at what scale and over how many retrieval modes.

https://github.com/lancedb/lancedb/blob/main/README.md recorded 2026-08-18
README still documents a multimodal AI lakehouse for production vector search built on the Lance columnar format, running locally or in the user's cloud with GPU index building, and a separate Cloud and Enterprise tier described as products beside the open source one.

Verified 2026-08-18