chromavsscalar
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| chroma | scalar | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79/100 | 76/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 5 in Vector Database | #3 of 13 in API |
| GitHub stars | 29 600 | 16 336 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +231 | +147 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 46 |
| Latest release | latest · 24 Jun 2026 | release-2026-10-28-0d01943 · 28 Oct 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Easy |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Main language | Rust | Typescript |
Which one should you pick?
chroma scores 79/100 against 76/100 for scalar, so it is the safer default.
scalar ships more often: 46 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for chroma.
chroma details →scalar details →