Chroma

Chroma is an open-source embedding database aimed at developers building AI applications. It is developed by Chroma, under the chroma-core organisation on GitHub, where the repository was created in 2022, and it is licensed under Apache-2.0, an open-source licence. It can be run self-managed, embedded inside an application for local use, or as the hosted service Chroma Cloud. The latest release is 1.5.9, dated 5 May 2026. Chroma Cloud uses usage-based billing. The Starter plan is free to begin with and includes $5 in credits, the Team plan costs $250 a month plus usage, and the Enterprise plan is priced on request. Usage charges are $2.50 per GiB written and $0.33 per GiB of storage each month. The open-source software is free to run yourself, so cost then depends only on the infrastructure. Chroma suits developers who want to start locally with an embedded database and later move to a hosted service. The latest release is some months old, which buyers may wish to weigh against how actively they need the project to be maintained.