Vespa Cloud Pricing &
Managed Service Cost Analysis
Get an independent Vespa TCO analysis. Compare Vespa Cloud pricing, self-hosted, and hybrid models. Searchplex engineers deliver data-driven architecture and cost modeling. We audit your workload and model the true cost—Cloud, hybrid, or self-hosted—so you can make an evidence-based decision.
Independent TCO analysis to help you choose the right deployment model
Understanding Your Vespa Deployment Options
Vespa—the open-source AI search engine by Yahoo (not the scooter)—offers two main deployment models: self-hosted and managed. Each has different trade-offs for control, cost, and operational complexity.
| Dimension | Self-Hosted (OSS) | Vespa Cloud (Managed) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | Enclave Mode | ||
| Overview | Lower raw infrastructure costs but higher operational overhead. | Part of the AWS ecosystem with Graviton-based optimization. | Runs inside your AWS account and VPC (or GCP project). |
| Infrastructure | Self-managed | Fully managed by Vespa team | Managed inside client's VPC |
| Upgrades | Manual | Automated / no downtime | Managed via Enclave pipeline |
| Security | Must be implemented | Enforced (MTLS, RBAC, etc.) | Enforced within private VPC |
| CI/CD Integration | Custom setup | Built-in pipeline with safe rollouts | Cloud tools + VPC controls |
| Tuning | DIY | Includes Tune-Up Program | Shared review model |
| Support | Community only | Direct from Vespa engineers | Combined (Vespa + client SRE) |
| Ideal For | Custom ops requirements | Scalable, cloud-native apps | Regulated or data-sovereign workloads |
Enclave Mode runs inside your AWS account and VPC (or GCP project), combining managed service benefits with enterprise control. Learn more about Vespa Cloud Enclave.
For official Vespa Cloud pricing, visit cloud.vespa.ai/pricing.
Our Role: Your Long-Term Engineering Partner
Searchplex is an official Vespa.ai Project & Implementation Partner with verified experience designing and operating Vespa at enterprise scale.
Our business model relies on long-term engineering partnerships. This is why we use an Audit-First approach: we measure success by your system's long-term efficiency, not short-term migration goals. Choosing a deployment model is an architectural and financial decision, not a sales choice. We commit to ensuring the architecture we recommend—Cloud, Self-Hosted, or Hybrid—delivers measurable, optimal outcomes for your business. See verified results from our audit work on Clutch.co.
The Process: Audit First, Decide Second
We replace the "Should I migrate?" question with a more fundamental one: What is the optimal architecture for my workload? Our independent TCO analysis helps you understand the true total cost—including hidden operational overhead—when comparing these options.
Architecture & Workload Audit
Benchmark your current cluster, including schema design, query/feed mix, scaling behavior, and operational load.
Objective TCO Modeling
Compare Cloud, optimized self-hosted, and hybrid/enclave setups, factoring in hidden costs like SRE time and upgrade toil.
Data-Backed Roadmap
Receive a plan outlining technical and financial optimization steps.
Execute & Validate
If data supports migration, we execute with 1:1 parity for rank profiles, pipelines, and SLOs.
How We Identify True TCO & Efficiency
Vespa's performance model is consistent—but operational overhead rarely is. Our audits reveal invisible costs: manual scaling, over-provisioning, reactive incident handling, and SRE time.
| Cost Driver | Affects | What Searchplex Optimizes |
|---|---|---|
| Node sizing | Throughput, latency, failover | Right-size replicas, tune resource groups |
| Vector footprint | Memory / storage per document | Prune embeddings, reduce dimensions |
| Hybrid ranking | CPU overhead during re-rank | Rank-profile tuning, ANN pre-filtering |
| Replication & resilience | Redundancy vs. cost | Replica policies by tier |
| Traffic pattern | Autoscaling behavior | Load shaping, burst planning |
| Retention & backups | Storage cost | Tiered retention, TTL policies |
| GPU / model serving | Inference cost | Offload embedding services |
We focus on right-sizing, rank-profile efficiency, and embedding optimization before TCO modeling, ensuring Cloud vs. Self-Host comparisons rest on a fair baseline.
The Verdict: When Vespa Cloud Makes Sense
Across production workloads, Vespa Cloud can achieve a competitive TCO once operational effort, uptime requirements, and scaling costs are included.
Vespa Cloud Fits Best When:
- Query traffic is variable or bursty, where autoscaling avoids over-provisioning.
- SRE capacity is limited, and managing a stateful search stack adds risk.
- You require compliance and 24/7 support with managed SLAs.
Self-Hosted Fits Best When:
- Workload is predictable and supported by an experienced SRE team.
- You rely on custom hardware or isolated regions.
- Your team already manages Vespa OSS at scale.
Our audits quantify both. We don't favor Cloud—we favor correctness.
How to Engage Searchplex
Vespa Architecture & TCO Audit
Fixed-scope assessment of architecture, cost, and latency drivers.
Optimization & Migration Plan
Detailed technical + financial roadmap; migration only if data supports it.
Continuous Optimization
Ongoing tuning, cost monitoring, and performance reviews post-deployment.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about Vespa Cloud pricing and deployment options