chroma vs zvec-grep
chroma is much bigger: 29.4k stars against 3.9k. Over the days we have tracked them chroma moved +2.6% and zvec-grep +170.9%, so zvec-grep is growing faster right now.
zvec-grep leads on context depth. chroma does not take any axis by a clear margin.
Stars and commit dates come from our own daily tracking. The six axes are read off each project's documentation by our review pipeline, so they describe what a project says about itself, not what we measured in its code.
Where they stand today
Provides a minimal, 4-function client API for fast in-memory prototyping plus an optional hosted Chroma Cloud for production-ready vector search.
- Stars
- 29.4k
- Tracked growth
- +2.6%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 13h ago
- Language
- Rust
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Free to self-host; optional Chroma Cloud hosted service
Unifies ripgrep, BM25, and vector search into a local-first search layer that serves both humans and AI agents.
- Stars
- 3.9k
- Tracked growth
- +170.9%
- Maturity
- ●●●●●
- Last commit
- 22h ago
- Language
- Rust
- License
- Apache-2.0
- Cost to run
- Free local use; external models may require your API key.
Six axes, head to head
Each axis runs 0 to 5. The label under a score is what that project's own docs claim, not a category average.
| Axis | chroma | zvec-grep |
|---|---|---|
Context depth How much of your codebase it sees before it answers: the open diff, the diff plus related files, or the whole repository. | ●●●●● No repo context | ●●●●● Whole-repo index |
Noise control How it keeps output volume down — severity thresholds, deduplication, incremental runs over new commits only. | ●●●●● Basic filters | ●●●●● Ranked + filters |
Customization How far it bends to your team: custom rules, prompts, style guides, per-path config. | ●●●●● Configurable API | ●●●●● Configurable options |
Privacy Whether your code stays on your own infrastructure: fully local, self-hostable, or cloud API only. | ●●●●● Runs locally | ●●●●● Fully local |
Model freedom Whether you can point it at any provider, or it is wired to one. | ●●●●● Bring-your-own models | ●●●●● Bring-your-own-key |
Setup ease What it takes to get a first useful run out of it. | ●●●●● Quick start | ●●●●● One-command start |
Which one to pick
Pick chroma if…
Easy setup — pip install chromadb and use a simple 4-function API to run an in-memory vector DB for rapid prototyping, with an optional hosted cloud when you need it.
Pick zvec-grep if…
Privacy-first — local-by-default indexing and search that works for both CLI users and agent integrations with a single install.
- Context depth: Whole-repo index (5/5 against 1/5)
What people want from each one
chroma-core/chroma
Hacker News: Chroma: Ubisoft's internal tool used to simulate color-blindness drew 231 points and 86 comments.
zvec-ai/zvec-grep
Questions people ask
Is chroma better than zvec-grep?
zvec-grep leads on context depth. chroma does not take any axis by a clear margin. chroma is worth picking when easy setup — pip install chromadb and use a simple 4-function API to run an in-memory vector DB for rapid prototyping, with an optional hosted cloud when you need it.
Which of chroma and zvec-grep keeps my code private?
chroma: Runs locally (5/5). zvec-grep: Fully local (5/5).
What does each one cost to run?
chroma: Free to self-host; optional Chroma Cloud hosted service. zvec-grep: Free local use; external models may require your API key..
Full profiles: chroma-core/chroma and zvec-ai/zvec-grep. Everything else in RAG & retrieval.