Vespa vs Elasticsearch
Side-by-side from the Top 11 ranking of The 11 Best Vector Databases (2026). Last verified May 31, 2026.
The short answer
Vespa ranks higher on Top 11 (#6 vs #7) for AI engineers building RAG and semantic search at scale. Extremely powerful and mature, but complex to master for hybrid search.
At a glance
| Vespa | Elasticsearch | |
|---|---|---|
| Top 11 rank | #6 / The 11 Best Vector Databases (2026) | #7 / The 11 Best Vector Databases (2026) |
| Score (out of 9.4) | 8.5 | 8.3 |
| Best for | Battle-tested big data search | Vector search for existing Elastic users |
| Pricing | $$$ (Free to custom/enterprise) | $$$ (Free to custom/enterprise) |
| HQ | Sunnyvale, USA | Mountain View, USA |
| Founded | 2017 | 2012 |
Methodology and scoring weights live at /methodology. No vendor pays for placement — see about.