Chroma vs Stytch
Open-source vector DB designed for AI apps — embeddings-first, dev-friendly
vs. Authentication platform for B2C and B2B
Pricing tiers
Chroma
Cloud — Free
$5 free credits. Great for trying it out.
Free
Cloud — Pro
$100 credits included, then usage-based. Dedicated resources, SOC2, priority support.
$0 base (usage-based)
Self-Host (OSS)
MIT-licensed. Embedded or Docker. Free forever.
$0 base (usage-based)
Cloud — Enterprise
Custom. VPC, compliance, dedicated support.
Custom
Stytch
Free
10,000 MAU. Unlimited orgs. 5 SSO/SCIM connections. 1,000 M2M tokens. 10,000 fraud fingerprints. Full auth suite.
Free
Pay as you go
Usage-based after free allowances. Volume discounts for high MAU.
$0 base (usage-based)
Enterprise
Custom. 99.99% SLA, private Slack, migration assistance, HIPAA/BAA.
Custom
Free-tier quotas head-to-head
Comparing cloud-free on Chroma vs free on Stytch.
| Metric | Chroma | Stytch |
|---|---|---|
| fraud fingerprints included | — | 10000 fingerprints/month |
| m2m tokens included | — | 1000 tokens |
| mau included | — | 10000 users/month |
| organizations | — | unlimited orgs |
| sso connections included | — | 5 conns |
Features
Chroma · 11 features
- Client-Server Mode — Run Chroma via Docker; clients connect over HTTP.
- Collections — Named groups of embeddings + metadata.
- Distributed (Cloud) — Horizontal scaling on Chroma Cloud.
- Embedded Mode — In-process Python — chromadb.Client() and go. Zero setup.
- Embedding Functions — Plug-in embedders (OpenAI, Cohere, SentenceTransformers, HF).
- Full-Text Search — BM25 + vector hybrid.
- Metadata Filters — Where-clause query language.
- Migration Tools — Import from Pinecone + other stores.
- Multi-Modal — Text + image embeddings (CLIP, etc.).
- Python + JS APIs — Same API shape across both SDKs.
- Serverless Cloud — Pay for storage + queries, auto-scale.
Stytch · 15 features
- B2B Auth — Multi-tenant auth: organizations, roles, JIT provisioning, enterprise SSO, SCIM.
- B2C Auth — Consumer auth: passwordless (magic links, OTP), passwords, OAuth, passkeys, WebA…
- Device Fingerprinting — Fingerprint devices at signup/login. Block bots, credential stuffing, and ATO at…
- Device-Fingerprint Risk API — Real-time risk scoring API usable even without full auth.
- Enterprise SSO (OIDC) — OIDC SSO per organization.
- Enterprise SSO (SAML) — SAML 2.0 SSO per organization. Self-serve admin portal.
- JIT Provisioning — Auto-create users in an org on first SSO sign-in.
- Machine-to-Machine — Client-credentials OAuth for service-to-service.
- OAuth / Social — Google, Apple, Microsoft, GitHub, Slack, Discord, Facebook, LinkedIn, Amazon, Bi…
- Organizations — Multi-tenant primitive with policies per org.
- Passkeys (WebAuthn) — FIDO2 passkey enrollment and authentication.
- Passwordless — Magic links (email) + OTP (email/SMS/WhatsApp) + embeddable magic links.
- RBAC — Roles and permissions per organization (B2B).
- SCIM Provisioning — Directory user/group provisioning from Okta, Azure, Google Workspace.
- Sessions — JWT or opaque session tokens. Configurable lifetime.
Developer interfaces
| Kind | Chroma | Stytch |
|---|---|---|
| SDK | chromadb (JS/TS), chromadb (Python) | Android SDK, Go backend SDK, iOS SDK, Java backend SDK, JavaScript SDK, Next.js SDK, Node backend SDK, Python backend SDK, React SDK, Ruby backend SDK |
| REST | Chroma HTTP API | B2B API, B2C API |
| MCP | Chroma MCP | — |
| OTHER | Docker Server, Embedded Mode (in-process Python) | — |
Staxly is an independent catalog of developer platforms. Outbound links to Chroma and Stytch are plain references to their official websites. Pricing is verified against vendor pages at publication time — reconfirm before buying.
Want this comparison in your AI agent's context? Install the free Staxly MCP server.