Overview
VecLabs is designed for seamless migration from Pinecone. The SolVec API intentionally matches Pinecone’s client interface, making migration a matter of changing 3 lines of code.88% Cost Savings
~70/month for 1M vectors
Faster Queries
1.9ms p50 vs ~8ms on Pinecone s1
Data Ownership
Encrypted with your Solana wallet key
Verifiable
On-chain Merkle root on Solana
Quick Migration
Python
The migration is three line changes. Everything else stays identical.TypeScript
API Mapping
Client Initialization
| Pinecone | SolVec | Notes |
|---|---|---|
Pinecone(api_key=...) | SolVec(wallet=...) | Replace API key with Solana wallet path |
pc.Index("name") | sv.collection("name") | Index → Collection (same concept) |
| N/A | network="devnet" | Choose Solana network (devnet/mainnet) |
Collection Operations
| Operation | Pinecone | SolVec | Compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|
| Upsert | index.upsert(vectors=[...]) | collection.upsert([...]) | ✅ 100% compatible |
| Query | index.query(vector=[...], top_k=10) | collection.query(vector=[...], top_k=10) | ✅ 100% compatible |
| Delete | index.delete(ids=[...]) | collection.delete(ids=[...]) | ✅ 100% compatible |
| Fetch | index.fetch(ids=[...]) | collection.fetch(ids=[...]) | ✅ 100% compatible |
| Stats | index.describe_index_stats() | collection.describe_index_stats() | ✅ 100% compatible |
| Verify | N/A | collection.verify() | ⭐ New feature |
Complete Example
Here’s a real-world RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) migration:Configuration Mapping
Environment Setup
Index/Collection Configuration
| Feature | Pinecone | SolVec |
|---|---|---|
| Dimensions | Set during index creation | sv.collection("name", dimensions=1536) |
| Metric | metric="cosine" | metric="cosine" (default) |
| Namespace | index.upsert(..., namespace="ns") | Use separate collections |
| Pods | pod_type="p1" | Not needed (decentralized) |
| Replicas | replicas=2 | Built-in (Solana validators) |
Key Differences
What’s Different
Authentication
Pinecone: API key
SolVec: Solana wallet keypair
SolVec: Solana wallet keypair
Infrastructure
Pinecone: Managed pods
SolVec: Decentralized Rust engine + Shadow Drive
SolVec: Decentralized Rust engine + Shadow Drive
Billing
Pinecone: Monthly subscription
SolVec: Pay-per-transaction (Solana fees)
SolVec: Pay-per-transaction (Solana fees)
Data Location
Pinecone: AWS/GCP regions
SolVec: Encrypted on Shadow Drive
SolVec: Encrypted on Shadow Drive
New Capabilities
VecLabs adds features that Pinecone cannot offer:- Pinecone requires trusting their infrastructure
- VecLabs provides cryptographic proof your data hasn’t changed
- Anyone can verify the Merkle root on Solana Explorer
Migration Checklist
Response Format Compatibility
Query responses use the exact same structure:Performance Comparison
Benchmarked on M2 MacBook, 100K vectors, 384 dimensions:| Metric | Pinecone (s1) | VecLabs |
|---|---|---|
| p50 latency | ~8ms | 1.9ms (4.2x faster) |
| p95 latency | ~15ms | 2.8ms (5.4x faster) |
| p99 latency | ~25ms | 4.3ms (5.8x faster) |
| Monthly cost (1M vectors) | $70 | $8 (88% cheaper) |
- Rust HNSW core (no garbage collector)
- In-memory graph structure
- SIMD-optimized distance calculations
Need Help?
Discord Community
Ask migration questions in #support
GitHub Examples
See full migration examples
API Reference
Complete SolVec API docs
Architecture
Understand how VecLabs works
Next Steps
Deploy to Production
Learn how to deploy your SolVec collection to Solana mainnet