The Milvus Project vs Zilliz

The Milvus Project (The open source vector database designed for AI applications) and Zilliz (Vector Database for Enterprise-grade AI and LLM applications) both appear on the Smoower Developer Ecosystem Index.

Zilliz (rank #122) holds a narrow lead over The Milvus Project (rank #237) on the overall Smoower ecosystem score (54 vs 48). The gap of 6 points reflects composite signals across code, docs, community and reach.

On education (docs, guides and learning material for developers), Zilliz is ahead of The Milvus Project. On community (issue response, PR reviews and discussion health), The Milvus Project is clearly ahead of Zilliz. On reach (how visible the ecosystem is beyond its own repos), Zilliz is slightly ahead of The Milvus Project. On momentum (release cadence and how fast the ecosystem moves), Zilliz is ahead of The Milvus Project.

The Milvus Project carries 52,043 GitHub stars across 67 public repos, with 20 repositories active in the last 90 days and 90 external contributors on record. Zilliz shows 37,860 stars across 71 public repos, 29 active in the last 90 days and 105 external contributors.

The Milvus Project is the stronger read for anyone weighting community. Zilliz looks better where momentum is the deciding factor. The table below breaks the scores down pillar by pillar; the linked profiles cover the underlying repos, docs and community signals in full.