Freedom251 › AWS Marketplace Software
Pinecone
by Pinecone
What Pinecone is
Pinecone is a fully managed vector database for AI workloads, available through web and API access. Its stated use cases include semantic search, recommendations and retrieval-augmented generation. The database supports dense, sparse and full-text indexes, metadata filters and namespaces; Pinecone says indexing is automatic and new writes become searchable within seconds. Listed integrations include LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI, Cohere, Databricks, Snowflake and Airbyte. The free Starter plan lists limits of one project, up to two users and five indexes, alongside storage, read, write and egress limits. Builder costs $20 a month. Standard costs a $50 a month minimum applied to usage, with additional usage billed pay-as-you-go; Enterprise has a $500 a month minimum on the same basis. Pinecone says it encrypts data at rest and in transit using AES-256 and supports API-key roles and RBAC. It lists SOC 2 Type II certification, HIPAA compliance with a BAA available on request, GDPR readiness and a 99.95% uptime SLA. Its TypeScript SDK is intended for server-side use because browser use can expose API keys.
Who it suits
Pinecone is for developers and teams building semantic search, recommendation or retrieval-augmented generation systems. Its API, integrations and index options suit AI workloads that need a managed vector database.
What it does well
- Free Starter plan is available.
- Supports dense, sparse and full-text indexes.
- Automatic indexing makes writes searchable within seconds.
- Lists integrations with LangChain and OpenAI.
- AES-256 encryption at rest and in transit.
What to know first
- Starter allows up to two users.
- Standard has a 50.00 USD monthly minimum.
- TypeScript SDK is intended for server-side use.
- Additional usage on Standard is pay-as-you-go.
Limits
Starter allows one project, up to two users, five indexes, 100 namespaces per index, up to 2 GB storage, 2M write units and 1M read units per month, and 1 GB egress. Standard costs $50 a month minimum applied to usage, with additional usage charged pay-as-you-go.
Plans
| Plan | Billed and limits | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | flat monthly · Everything in Starter · increased usage limits · selectable cloud and region · multiple projects/users · Prometheus and Datadog monitoring · free support | $20 a month |
| Standard | minimum monthly usage, then pay-as-you-go; 3-week trial includes $300 credits · Everything in Builder · selectable cloud and region · dedicated read nodes · object-storage import · backup/restore · RBAC · SAML SSO · HIPAA add-on · free support | $50 a month |
| Enterprise | minimum monthly usage, then pay-as-you-go · Everything in Standard · 99.95% uptime SLA · BYOC · private endpoints · customer-managed encryption keys · audit logs · service accounts · SAML roles · SCIM · HIPAA compliance · Pro support | $500 a month |
| Starter | Dense, sparse and full-text indexes · console metrics · community Discord support · up to 5 indexes · 100 namespaces/index · 2 GB storage · 2M write units/month · 1M read units/month | Free |
| Bring your own cloud (BYOC) | Contact Pinecone for pricing · Runs in your cloud account and VPC · Pro support included | On request |
As pinecone.io lists them, read 15 Oct 2026. The maker's own page has the final word.
Getting started
- Visit the Pinecone website.
- Choose web or API access.
- Start with the free Starter plan or review paid plans.
- Use the 21-day trial available with the Standard plan.
- Use the TypeScript SDK on the server side.
Verdict
Pinecone combines managed vector search capabilities with multiple index types, integrations and stated security controls. Consider Starter limits and the usage-based minimums on Standard and Enterprise when choosing a plan.
Questions
Is Pinecone free?
Yes. The Starter plan is free and has limits on projects, users, indexes, namespaces, storage, read and write units, and egress.
What do the paid plans cost?
Builder is $20 a month. Standard is $50 a month minimum applied to usage, and Enterprise is $500 a month minimum applied to usage; usage above either minimum is pay-as-you-go.
Which platforms does Pinecone support?
Pinecone lists web and API platforms.
Does Pinecone offer a free trial?
Yes. Pinecone lists a 21-day trial. The Standard plan includes a three-week trial with $300 credits.
Which integrations does Pinecone list?
Integrations include LangChain, LlamaIndex, OpenAI, Cohere, Databricks, Snowflake, and Airbyte.
Can the TypeScript SDK run in a browser?
Pinecone's documentation says the TypeScript SDK is intended for server-side use because browser use can expose API keys.
Facts from Pinecone's own pages
- API
- Pinecone exposes REST and gRPC APIs for index administration and vector or document operations. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Browser SDK limitation
- Pinecone's TypeScript SDK documentation says the SDK is intended for server-side use only because browser use can expose API keys. · sdk.pinecone.io, 30 Sept 2026
- BYOC deployment
- BYOC runs Pinecone in a customer's cloud account and VPC using outbound-only operations and private connectivity options. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- CLI installation
- The Pinecone CLI can be installed on macOS or Linux with an install script or Homebrew cask. · github.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Company founded
- Pinecone was founded in 2019 by Edo Liberty. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Company headquarters
- LinkedIn lists New York, New York as headquarters and the company size as 51–200 employees. · linkedin.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Company legal name
- The registered company name is Pinecone Systems, Inc. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Company profile
- Crunchbase classifies Pinecone as a private New York AI infrastructure and database company with 101–250 employees. · crunchbase.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Compliance
- Pinecone states that it is SOC 2 Type II certified, HIPAA compliant with a BAA available on request, and GDPR-ready. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Documentation depth
- Documentation includes conceptual guides, API references, SDK references, production checklists, import guidance and release notes. · docs.pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Founded
- 2019 · pinecone.io, 28 Sept 2026
- Free plan
- Yes · pinecone.io, 22 Sept 2026
- Full-text search
- Full-text search adds BM25 ranking, Lucene syntax, fuzzy matching and text-match filters, with tokenization and stemming for 18 languages. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Headquarters
- New York City, New York, United States · pinecone.io, 28 Sept 2026
- Hybrid search
- Pinecone supports combined dense semantic and sparse keyword retrieval in the same database. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Indexing
- Pinecone says indexing is automatic and writes become searchable within seconds. · pinecone.io, 30 Sept 2026
- Integrations
- The partner ecosystem covers AI and machine-learning tools, search, cloud infrastructure and services integrations. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Licence
- The database platform is proprietary closed-source hosted software rather than an open-source product. · pinecone.io, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: cost visibility
- G2 reviewers say pricing becomes difficult to predict as vectors, storage and query volume grow and request clearer usage estimates. · g2.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: data residency
- GitShowcase lists the lack of an on-premises option as a problem for some data-residency cases. · gitshowcase.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: deployment constraints
- G2 feedback identifies lack of local or fully on-premises deployment, eventual consistency and metadata constraints as trade-offs. · g2.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: learning curve
- G2 reviewers report that embeddings, dimensions, indexes, namespaces and similarity-search concepts take time for newcomers to learn. · g2.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Limit: scale cost
- GitShowcase reviewers report that costs can rise sharply at hundreds of millions of vectors compared with self-hosting. · gitshowcase.com, 15 Oct 2026
- Marketplace capabilities
- Microsoft Marketplace highlights filtering, live index updates, hybrid keyword boosting, APIs, SDKs and Pinecone Assistant. · marketplace.microsoft.com, 15 Oct 2026
Where Pinecone stands on Freedom251
- AWS Marketplace Software#5 of 31
- AI Search and Discovery Platforms Software#6 of 28
- Ai Databases#13 of 40
- Vector Databases#9 of 27
- Search Databases#13 of 30
- Database Software#59 of 74