Summa vs Weaviate
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Summa
Full-text search server able to run in the browser via WASM
VS
Weaviate
Open-source vector database for semantic and AI search
| Feature | Summa | Weaviate |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | BSD-3-Clause |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 291 | ★ 16,704 |
| First released | 2021 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Pinecone, Algolia |
Why pick each one
Choose Summa if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Summa or Weaviate better?
Neither is universally better. Weaviate has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Summa and Weaviate free and open-source?
Yes. Summa is licensed under MIT and Weaviate under BSD-3-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Summa and Weaviate with Docker?
Summa: yes. Weaviate: yes.