# Pinecone — AI Compare Ninja

> Run vector search, embeddings, reranking, and RAG assistants as a managed service.

## Overview
- **Category:** Development & Code (Databases, vector search & SQL)
- **Status:** Active · checked - Active Starter, Builder, Standard, and Enterprise access.
- **Paid from:** $20 / Month (Builder)
- **Free access:** Free plan (2 GB, 1M reads and 2M writes/month. Illustrative example around 15,000 semantic searches/day.)
- **Website:** https://www.pinecone.io/
- **Canonical URL:** https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/pinecone

## What it does
- Serverless vector database for real-time retrieval in AI applications and RAG pipelines
- Free Starter account: 2 GB storage, 5 million vectors, unlimited queries
- Hybrid and semantic search with multi-tenant isolation
- Pinecone Assistant for RAG-backed document queries without your own stack
- Namespaces for multi-tenant isolation within an index
- EU server region selectable on demand

## In brief
Pinecone is a serverless vector database for AI applications, RAG pipelines, and real-time retrieval. Hybrid and semantic search, namespaces, Pinecone Assistant, and sparse and dense vectors are supported.

Starter is free with 2 GB, 5 million vectors, and unlimited queries. Standard charges usage-based on read units, write units, and stored vectors. CMEK and PrivateLink are available in higher tiers.


## Limits
Pinecone publishes illustrative, non-binding Starter workloads: about 44,000 recommendations/day for 50,000 products, 15,000 semantic searches/day for roughly 30,000 documents, or 130,000 category-scoped forum chats/day. These exclude inference, Assistant, and initial import. The stronger comparison units are therefore 2 GB, 1M read units, and 2M write units. Standard and Enterprise bill usage above their minimum spend.

## Pricing tiers
| Tier | Price | Period | What you get |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Starter | free | Month | Up to 2 GB storage; 2M write units and 1M read units/month; Up to 5 indexes; Assistant: 1 GB, 500,000 input and 300,000 output tokens/month; 5M embedding tokens and 500 reranking requests/month |
| Builder | $20 | Month | Flat price with no usage overages; Higher limits than Starter; Cloud and region selection; Multiple projects and users; Assistant up to 3 GB, 2M input and 1M output tokens/month |
| Standard | $50 | Month | Pay as you go above a $50 minimum; 21-day trial with $300 credits; Unlimited read/write units at usage rates; Assistant input $8 and output $15 per million tokens; RBAC, SSO, backup, and restore |
| Enterprise | $500 | Month/Contract | Pay as you go above a $500 minimum; 99.95% uptime SLA; Private endpoints and customer-managed keys; Audit logs, SCIM, and Pro support; Optional BYOC |

## Sources
All details regarding plans, limits, and features are based on official vendor documentation and the primary sources verified below.

- https://www.pinecone.io/pricing/
- https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/manage-cost/understanding-cost
- https://docs.pinecone.io/guides/assistant/pricing-and-limits

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*Source: AI Compare Ninja (2026) - https://www.aicompare.ninja/en/tool/pinecone*