nowfound

AI · alternatives · 2026

24 alternatives to I "built" Sana, a vector DB on object storage

Disclaimer it is a heavily AI assisted project. The goal was not to be the most performative but the kind that's easier to learn from. I wanted to share this in case there are people who had the same idea or wanted to see something like this.

Below are 24 products that do a similar job, ranked by how close each is in meaning and then by launch-day votes.

  1. 1

    The open source backend for AI applications

    2023 · supabase.com · its alternatives →

  2. 2

    The portable vector database for AI agents beyond the cloud

    Apr 2026 · actian.com · its alternatives →

  3. 3

    Hey HN! I built a proof-of-concept for AI memory using Git instead of vector databases. The insight: Git already solved versioned document management. Why are we building complex vector stores when we could just use markdown files with Git's built-in diff/blame/history? How it works: Memories stored as markdown files in a Git repo Each conversation = one commit git diff shows how understanding evolves over time BM25 for search (no embeddings needed) LLMs generate search queries from conversation context Example: Ask "how has my project evolved?" and it uses git diff to show actual…

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  4. 4

    I've been exploring the (not so=) amazing potential of AI in coding and have compiled a list of tools. From AI-powered IDEs to code generators, this resource is my contribution to the community. I'm still on the fence about including txt2sql projects, as their functionality seems too basic to me. And I'm personally maintaining this, so your feedback is wellcome.

    2025 · aicode.danvoronov.com · its alternatives →

  5. 5
    SemaDB▲109

    No fuss vector database for AI

    2023 · semafind.com · its alternatives →

  6. 6

    Everything that would be here is in the README. I hope this gets big, it has tons of potential.

    2013 · github.com · its alternatives →

  7. 7VA

    Hey HN, At Mintplex Labs are building developer tools for AI applications. One area we encountered frustration was the use of Vector Databases like Pinecone, Chroma, QDrant, or Weaviate to "unlock" long-term memory and contextual answers. It is nearly impossible to manage this data when in use for production. The craziest thing was how you cannot atomically CRUD any vectors in most of these vector databases. Let alone easily copy, clone, or migrate data or entire indexes without paying for re-embedding - among other things. With VectorAdmin you get a database level UI with the ability to…

    2023 · vectoradmin.com · its alternatives →

  8. 8

    My partner Matt and I have been working on soj.ooO. It has only been up for a few weeks and has gained a lot of traction. Our goal was to fight the memory hole to ensure that algorithms do not control human discussions (eg auto decay on other sites) and generally bring natural law back into the discussion and relevance equation. Hope you like it!

    2025 · hw.glich.co · its alternatives →

  9. 9

    Extremely memory-efficient vector database. Contribute to D-Star-AI/minDB development by creating an account on GitHub.

    2024 · github.com · its alternatives →

  10. 10

    Hi there, I've created this side project to make it easier to find interesting repositories using AI. There's still a lot of work to be done to improve it, so any suggestions for enhancements would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!

    2024 · awesome-repositories.com · its alternatives →

  11. 11

    Hey HN! I built a thing and I'm really excited to share it. EDIT: I meant to link to the github, not the website: https://github.com/max-hq/max Like many of us here, I've been commonly reaching for a pattern of "pull data into db; give it to claude" for a while, whilst doing data spelunking or building tooling - for the same reasons mentioned by thellimist over here [1] and a few other recent "CLI vs MCP" posts. To that end, about a month ago I started building a project called `max` - its goal is to cut the middleman and schematise any data source for you. Essentially,…

    Mar 2026 · max.cloud · its alternatives →

  12. 12

    Hi, this has been a labor of love over the last few days =) Can't wait to hear you feedback and of course AMA!

    2023 · blog.airsequel.com · its alternatives →

  13. 13OA

    A friend and I are launching an alpha first thing in 2011. We're trying to gain some momentum and whatnot, so we're opening early registration as of tonight. We're planning to develop a Bayesian network to derive suggestions. If you're interested in seeing our progress, check it out. Edit: Any and all suggestions, criticism, advice, etc is highly appreciated!

    2010 · osmoar.com · its alternatives →

  14. 14

    An agent that remembers across sessions can keep its memory as curated markdown files, as an auto-mined structured store, or as trained experience.

    Aug 2026 · pinglin.tw · its alternatives →

  15. 15PS

    I didn't want to buy a standalone computer or repurpose a laptop to run constantly so I could maintain a system to sync my LLMs, so I built this. It's a simple overview of my system, laid out in a way easy to unpack and replicate for yourself. The project is meant to be configured individually, and uniquely, since one solution might not be what's best for another. If anything, maybe it gives you some ideas on how to implement things for your own project. Best wishes, Ryan.

    Aug 2026 · pacslate.com · its alternatives →

  16. 16

    Hi everyone, We have been developing a platform to enable professionals to build AI assistants to help them through their work. After a few months, we realized people are trying to sell basic functionalities that can be built from scratch in a couple of hours. Due to this, individuals who are not familiar with the current SOTA are misinformed about the potential of generative models. So, we decided to open up some of our most popular templates as standalone tools for free to empower individuals and set a solid standard for what people should expect. We believe the barrier to accessing…

    2024 · join.modularmind.app · its alternatives →

  17. 17
    Athena▲5

    Hi HN, I spent the last 14 months pairing with my own AI agent for everything from coding to life admin (1,000+ logged sessions). I got tired of the "Subscription Cycle" (paying $20/mo for a wrapper that forgets context next week), so I built a sovereign framework: "Project Athena". It is a local-first system that lets you build an AI agent with persistent memory, protocols, and knowledge graphs that live on your machine, not in a siloed cloud account. *Key Features:* - *Local-First Memory*: Markdown files + local vector store. You own the data. - *Protocol Library*: 69+ decision…

    Jan 2026 · github.com · its alternatives →

  18. 18AL

    Hello Hacker News! For the past few months I've been developing Superego: an open-source _personal_ database where you can store everything you want about your life. Literally. Whatever data you have, you can put it in the app. On top of the database, Superego gives you: 1. An AI assistant that you can use to collect and explore your data. 2. A platform to build small personal applications that use that data. -- Try it https://demo.superego.dev/ No login required; runs entirely in your browser¹. Same deal when you download the app (macOS-only for now): everything is local, no…

    Oct 2025 · superego.dev · its alternatives →

  19. 19YA

    Hey folks! I'm a founding engineer at Yorph AI, an agentic data platform, built using ADK, that helps users (starting with product managers and analysts) join data from different sources (upload or sync), build version-controlled and reliable data workflows, and clean, analyze, and visualize data — all in one place. We're also releasing semantic layer creation later this week. The beta is live at yorph.ai/login — would love to hear your thoughts and feedback! (FYI: We're still waiting on Google app verification — you'll see a warning for a few days. Dropbox shows a similar one since…

    Nov 2025 · yorph.ai · its alternatives →

  20. 20

    Fully leaned into vibe coding this time around. Started on v0, at some point ejected into running locally (getting v0's exported folder to run locally was a challenge), then iterated with Cursor over the course of a few hours. Really neat how much can be accomplished just conversationally these days.

    2025 · macrodata-refinement.arjit.me · its alternatives →

  21. 21

    A Vector Store written in Go - Supports hybrid retrieval over BM25, Flat, HNSW, IVF, PQ and IVFPQ Index with Quantization, Metadata Filtering, Reranking, Reciprocal Rank Fusion, Soft Deletes, Index Rebuilds and much much more - 0xnyn/comet

    2025 · github.com · its alternatives →

  22. 22AA

    Hey folks, I'm Yuval. I run a tiny startup called Glitter AI. It's just me full-time here, with a couple of freelances to help here and there. A couple of months ago, I went from managing zero requests to hundreds -- overnight (won Product of the day on Product Hunt). As someone who gets VERY easily distracted (maybe you relate), I had to find some sort of way of handling all the chaos if I didn't want to burn out. I came up with a pretty cool automation flow that I thought folks on HN here may be interested in reading about :) So here goes: Most of my interactions come through Intercom.…

    2024 · its alternatives →

  23. 23

    Smart Object Storage - S3 with intelligence

    2017 · chaossumo.io · its alternatives →

  24. 24YA

    I must say I was encouraged to post my project here when I saw the positive response to this post: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3780731 Before you make any comments, please keep in mind that the project is written for fun. I'm not forcing anyone to use it. In fact, nobody should use the current unstable version in a serious project. Here is the link: http://github.com/bsg/libserv Please share your thoughts. All criticisms are welcome, even the harsh ones. p.s. The project is still a work-in-progress.

    2012 · its alternatives →

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Ranked by how close each launch is in meaning, then by votes. Prices were read from each product’s own site when checked and can change. Refine with your own description →