Chroma
Chroma (Chroma DB) is an open-source AI-native embedding database designed to make it easy to build LLM applications by providing storage, retrieval, and management for vector embeddings, full-text search, regex search, and multi-modal retrieval (text, image, audio). Distributed under the Apache 2.0 license, Chroma can be self-hosted (single-node Python or distributed Rust-based deployment) or consumed via Chroma Cloud, a managed serverless vector database service offering usage-based pricing. Chroma is the open-source data infrastructure for AI agents and RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) applications, with first-party SDKs for Python and JavaScript/TypeScript and integrations with leading embedding providers (OpenAI, Cohere, Hugging Face, sentence-transformers).
Chroma publishes 9 API contracts indexed on the APIs.io network, including System API, Authentication API, Collection API, and 6 more. Tagged areas include Artificial Intelligence, AI-native, Apache 2.0, Cloud, and Embeddings.
The Chroma catalog on APIs.io includes 1 JSON-LD context and 1 Spectral governance ruleset.
Chroma’s developer surface includes authentication, documentation, developer portal, pricing, engineering blog, and 26 more developer resources.
What this lets a business do 2
Business capabilities this provider's published APIs can perform, derived from its own contracts. Browse all capabilities →
Kin Score
Markets this provider is in provisional
The Kin Score Market layer reads a provider inside its market: its position, and how deep its integrations go. Depth is only comparable within a position. Provisional and unweighted: not part of the Kin Score or agent readiness.
| Market | Position | Depth | Registered MCP server | Declares compatibility |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Retrieval, Vector and RAG | covered | 34.0 | - | - |
| Stripe App Marketplace and Partner Ecosystem (builders on Stripe) | covered | 34.0 | - | - |
Registered MCP server and declares compatibility are report only — not weighted. Undeclared means we found nothing we can read, so there is no number: we never infer integrations.
Standards implemented 2
Standards this provider implements or carries. De facto ones are profiled and measured by the API Commons; formal ones come from the standards directory and are linked by the provider's own tags. The evidence column says how each claim was established — not that it was made.
APIs 9
Individual APIs this provider publishes, each with its own machine-readable definition.
Chroma Python Client
The Chroma Python Client is a first-party SDK for interacting with both self-hosted Chroma servers and Chroma Cloud. It provides a simple, developer-friendly interface with a co...
Chroma JavaScript Client
The Chroma JavaScript and TypeScript Client is a first-party SDK for interacting with Chroma from JavaScript or TypeScript applications. The v3 rewrite focused on reducing bundl...
Chroma System API
System-level endpoints for health checks, version information, and server diagnostics.
Chroma Authentication API
The Authentication API from Chroma — 1 operation(s) for authentication.
Chroma Collection API
The Collection API from Chroma — 7 operation(s) for collection.
Chroma Database API
The Database API from Chroma — 3 operation(s) for database.
Chroma Function API
The Function API from Chroma — 4 operation(s) for function.
Chroma Record API
The Record API from Chroma — 11 operation(s) for record.
Chroma Tenant API
The Tenant API from Chroma — 2 operation(s) for tenant.
Scroll for all 9
Postman Collections 6
Ready-to-run Postman collections for exercising this provider's APIs.
Chroma Cloud Collections API
POSTMANOpen Collections 9
Open, tool-agnostic API collections (OpenAPI-derived and Bruno).
Chroma Cloud API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Cloud Collections API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Cloud Collections Databases API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Server API (v2)
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Cloud Collections Records API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Cloud Collections Search API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Server API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Cloud Collections System API
OPEN COLLECTIONChroma Cloud Collections Tenants API
OPEN COLLECTIONScroll for all 9
MCP Servers 1
Model Context Protocol servers that expose these APIs to AI agents.
Chroma API pricing
Prices published by Chroma, read 2026-10-07 from docs.trychroma.com/cloud/pricing.
| Plan | Price |
|---|---|
| Writes | $2.50 per logical GiB written |
| Forking | $0.03 per fork request |
| Reads - queried | $0.0075 per TiB queried |
| Reads - returned | $0.09 per GiB returned |
| Storage | $0.33 per GiB per month |
| Sync - data processed | $0.04 per GiB processed |
| Sync - document page extracted | $0.01 per document page extracted |
| Sync - page scraped | $0.01 per page scraped |
All 9 plans, limits and sources →
Rate limits
- Cloud usage envelope: usage-bounded — Write / Storage / Query / Network are metered, not capped per-second varies
- Self-hosted server: no built-in rate limit — bounded by host CPU / RAM and any front-proxy throttling varies
Compiled by API Evangelist, not yet checked against Chroma's documentation. Rate-limit details →
Billed by: logical gib written · FinOps profile →
Pricing Plans 1
Published pricing tiers and plan structures.
Chroma Plans Pricing
PLANSRate Limits 1
Documented rate limits and quota policies.
Chroma Rate Limits
RATE LIMITSService Levels 1
Uptime the provider promises or reports, as SLA4OAI. Read from its own pages; APIs.io runs no monitors.
Chroma
SLAFinOps 1
Cost, billing, and metering signals for API financial operations.
Chroma Finops
FINOPSFeatures 10
Notable capabilities this provider offers.
Document and Metadata Storage
Vector Similarity Search (Dense, Sparse, Hybrid)
Full-Text and Regex Search
Metadata Filtering
Multi-Modal Retrieval (Text, Image, Audio)
Automatic Tokenization and Embedding
Collection Management
Embedding Function Plugins
Self-Hosted and Cloud Deployments
Apache 2.0 Open Source License
Scroll for all 10
Semantic Vocabularies 1
JSON-LD contexts and semantic vocabularies used across these APIs.
Chroma Context
JSON-LDSpectral Rules 1
Spectral governance rulesets for linting and validating these APIs.
Chroma — jsonschema rules
SPECTRALJSON Schema 2
Standalone JSON Schema definitions for this provider's data models.
Chroma Collection
JSON SCHEMAChroma Record
JSON SCHEMASecurity Posture 4
Authentication, domain security, vulnerability disclosure, and trust-center signals.
Agentic Access 1
Recommended x-agentic-access execution contracts for AI agents.
Use Cases 8
What developers build with this provider.
RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation)
Semantic Search
AI Agent Memory
Code Search (AST-Aware Chunking)
Recommendation Systems
Multi-Modal Search (Text + Images)
Question Answering Systems
Knowledge Base Querying
Scroll for all 8
Resources
Get Started 2
Portal, sign-up, and the first successful call
Documentation 3
Reference material describing how the API behaves
Agent Surfaces 2
MCP servers, agent skills, and machine-readable catalogs
Design & Contract 2
Pagination, idempotency, versioning, errors, and events
Build 3
SDKs, sample code, and the tooling you integrate with
Access & Security 4
Authentication, authorization, and security posture
Operate 4
Status, limits, changes, and where to get help
Commercial 6
Pricing, plans, and the legal terms of use
Company 4
The organization behind the API
Other 3
Properties that don't map to a standard resource type
Source (apis.yml)
Chroma API — frequently asked questions
Does Chroma have an API?
Yes. APIs.io lists 9 APIs from Chroma, including Chroma Python Client, Chroma JavaScript Client and Chroma System API, and 6 more.
Is there an OpenAPI specification for the Chroma API?
Yes. APIs.io indexes 7 OpenAPI specifications for Chroma, each linked for download from this page.
How do I authenticate with the Chroma API?
Chroma uses bearer-token authentication (apiKey/http · 3 schemes). The details are profiled on APIs.io as Chroma Authentication.
How much does the Chroma API cost?
Chroma publishes its prices; its Writes plan is $2.50 per logical GiB written as of 2026-10-07. APIs.io lists 9 pricing plans for Chroma, with each plan's price, limits and inclusions under Pricing on this page.
Does Chroma have an MCP server?
Yes. APIs.io lists 1 MCP server for Chroma: Remote MCP server at mcp.trychroma.com over HTTP; 3 tools listed.
Is the Chroma API ready for AI agents?
Chroma has a Kin Score of 58.5 out of 100 (strong) and an Agent Readiness score of 40.1 (agent-ready), scored by API Evangelist on 2026-11-06.
Work with this as data
Every provider here is available over the APIs.io API and to AI agents over MCP.