# Embedded vector database

**Source:** https://promtable.com/glossary/embedded-vector-db

> An embedded vector database runs in-process with your app — no separate server — using local disk for persistence. Chroma, LanceDB, sqlite-vss, DuckDB-VSS are 2026 embedded options for RAG without operating a dedicated DB.

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An embedded vector database runs in-process with your app — no separate server — using local disk for persistence. Chroma, LanceDB, sqlite-vss, DuckDB-VSS are 2026 embedded options for RAG without operating a dedicated DB.

Dedicated vector DBs (Pinecone, Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus) run as separate services — pay for hosting, manage uptime, network latency on every query. Embedded vector DBs flip this: the vector store lives inside your app process, queries hit local disk in microseconds, no server to operate. Trade-offs: no horizontal scale beyond one node, weaker concurrency story, manual sharding. The sweet spot is < 10M vectors per node for Chroma, < 1B for LanceDB. Production patterns: embedded for desktop apps (LM Studio, Claude Desktop with personal RAG), edge inference, single-tenant SaaS where each tenant has their own vector store. For multi-tenant cloud at scale, dedicated vector DBs still win.

## When to use

- Desktop / edge / single-tenant RAG.
- Prototypes and < 10M-vector apps.

## Common mistakes

- Using embedded mode for multi-instance horizontally-scaled web apps — every replica sees different data without external sync.

## Related terms

- [vector-database](https://promtable.com/glossary/vector-database)
- [pgvector](https://promtable.com/glossary/pgvector)
- [ann-index](https://promtable.com/glossary/ann-index)

*Last updated: 2026-06-01*
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Original page: https://promtable.com/glossary/embedded-vector-db
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