LanceDB

license

Apache-2.0(OSI)

source

public

core features withheld

no

LanceDB's core is Apache-2.0 and public, and the repository includes the Rust engine and the Python and Node bindings. A hosted Cloud and an Enterprise tier are sold beside it, and the docs describe distributed scale as an Enterprise capability.

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lancedb/lancedb/main/Cargo.toml recorded 2026-09-30

  Workspace Cargo.toml describes the package as "Serverless, low-latency vector database for AI applications" under the license "Apache-2.0" with the Rust engine at "rust/lancedb".

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lancedb/lancedb/main/LICENSE recorded 2026-09-30

  LICENSE file is the Apache-2.0 text: "Apache License" and "Version 2.0, January 2004" and "TERMS AND CONDITIONS FOR USE, REPRODUCTION, AND DISTRIBUTION".

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lancedb/lancedb/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-30

  README lists "100% open source, runs locally or in your cloud." under Open Source & Local, with Cloud and Enterprise as a separate product line; searched the body for license key, paid tier and enterprise edition build: only the Cloud and Enterprise product line beside the open source one.

LanceDB's adoption reading comes directly from PyPI downloads of the `lancedb` package, since LanceDB runs embedded in the application process and the package is the database itself rather than a client for a separate service. That is a direct signal of use, though it counts only PyPI installs and not use through the other language bindings.

• https://pypistats.org/api/packages/lancedb/recent recorded 2026-08-18

  last_month downloads = 9,688,636 for lancedb

LanceDB combines vector, full-text and hybrid retrieval with filtering over multimodal records on object storage, embedded in-process, with GPU index builds. Vespa covers more of the same persist-index-retrieve path as a distributed system, while distributed scale for LanceDB comes with its Enterprise product.

• https://docs.lancedb.com/ recorded 2026-09-30

  Docs home says "Start locally with the embedded OSS" library, "then move to Enterprise when your team needs distributed scale".

• https://docs.lancedb.com/enterprise/architecture recorded 2026-09-30

  Enterprise architecture page says "Table data and index artifacts live in object storage" and the cluster takes "responsibility for distributed execution".

• https://raw.githubusercontent.com/lancedb/lancedb/main/README.md recorded 2026-09-30

  README describes "Search billions of vectors in milliseconds with state-of-the-art indexing." and "Support for vector similarity search, full-text search and SQL."