# chroma vs tesserae

> Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

| | chroma | tesserae |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 79/100 ✓ | 51/100 |
| Rank in category | #2 of 5 in Vector Database | #14 of 44 in Dashboard |
| GitHub stars | 29 604 ✓ | 984 |
| Stars, last 30 days | +235 ✓ | +2 |
| Stable releases, 12 months | 7 | 78 ✓ |
| Latest release | latest · 24 Jun 2026 | v0.480.0 · 26 Oct 2026 ✓ |
| Setup | Easy ✓ | Moderate |
| Official Docker image | Yes | Yes |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Main language | Rust | Python |

## Which one should you pick?

chroma scores 79/100 against 51/100 for tesserae, so it is the safer default.

tesserae ships more often: 78 stable releases in the past year, against 7 for chroma.

If you want the quickest setup, chroma is easier to run; tesserae needs more configuration.

chroma is growing faster right now (+235 stars in 30 days).

## Details

- [chroma](https://selfhost.directory/project/chroma) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/chroma.md)
- [tesserae](https://selfhost.directory/project/tesserae) (markdown: https://selfhost.directory/project/tesserae.md)

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Source: https://selfhost.directory/compare/chroma-vs-tesserae