chromavsshm
Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.
| chroma | shm | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79/100 | 45/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 5 in Vector Database | #77 of 104 in Monitoring & observability |
| GitHub stars | 29 600 | 165 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +231 | +0 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 9 |
| Latest release | latest · 24 Jun 2026 | v1.2.7 · 29 Jul 2026 |
| Setup | Easy | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Rust | Go |
Which one should you pick?
chroma scores 79/100 against 45/100 for shm, so it is the safer default.
shm ships more often: 9 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for chroma.
If you want the quickest setup, chroma is easier to run; shm needs more configuration.
chroma is growing faster right now (+231 stars in 30 days).