Aquila is the independent guide to building private, self-hosted AI search — semantic search, RAG, and vector databases you run on your own terms. No gatekeepers.https://aquila.network/https://aquila.network/learn/how-to-evaluate-rag/https://aquila.network/learn/how-to-evaluate-rag/Evaluate RAG properly: retrieval metrics (recall@k, MRR, nDCG), generation metrics (faithfulness, relevance), golden sets, RAGAS and LLM-as-judge, self-hosted.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/open-source-perplexity-alternatives/https://aquila.network/learn/open-source-perplexity-alternatives/The best open-source, self-hosted Perplexity alternatives in 2026 — Vane (formerly Perplexica), Khoj, SurfSense and SearXNG compared, with setup and privacy notes.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/production-rag-guide/https://aquila.network/learn/production-rag-guide/Take self-hosted RAG to production: caching, observability, latency and cost control, access control, data freshness, eval in CI, and scaling the vector store.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/rag-chunking-strategies/https://aquila.network/learn/rag-chunking-strategies/A practical guide to chunking strategies for RAG: fixed-size, recursive, semantic and structure-aware splitting, overlap, parent-document retrieval and sizing.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/rag-vs-fine-tuning/https://aquila.network/learn/rag-vs-fine-tuning/A clear decision guide to RAG vs fine-tuning — what each does, the cost, latency and maintenance tradeoffs, hallucinations, and when to combine both.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/rag-vs-long-context/https://aquila.network/learn/rag-vs-long-context/Honest 2026 take on RAG vs long-context LLMs: cost, latency, accuracy, 'lost in the middle', when stuffing context wins, when retrieval wins, plus the hybrid.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/rag-reranking-guide/https://aquila.network/learn/rag-reranking-guide/Add a reranker to your RAG pipeline: why retrieve-then-rerank beats raw vector top-k, cross-encoders vs bi-encoders, self-hostable models, latency tradeoffs.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/best-local-embedding-models/https://aquila.network/learn/best-local-embedding-models/A practical comparison of local, self-hostable embedding models for RAG — nomic-embed-text, mxbai-embed-large, bge, e5, gte — with dimensions, licenses, and how to pick.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/chat-with-your-documents-self-hosted/https://aquila.network/learn/chat-with-your-documents-self-hosted/Build a private 'chat with your PDFs and docs' assistant you self-host: ingest, embed, store, retrieve and answer with a local LLM and a UI. Real commands.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/build-private-rag-on-a-vps/https://aquila.network/learn/build-private-rag-on-a-vps/A hands-on tutorial to build a private, self-hosted RAG system on a VPS: provision the box, run Ollama, stand up a vector store, build the pipeline, and ship a FastAPI.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/self-host-searxng-private-search/https://aquila.network/learn/self-host-searxng-private-search/How to self-host SearXNG for private, ad-free metasearch — Docker setup, configuration basics, privacy benefits, and when to add an Ollama LLM for AI answers.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/self-hosted-rag-vs-openai-pinecone-cost/https://aquila.network/learn/self-hosted-rag-vs-openai-pinecone-cost/An honest, itemized cost comparison of self-hosted RAG versus OpenAI embeddings plus Pinecone — compute, embeddings, storage, hidden costs, and when managed wins.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/self-hosted-rag-complete-guide/https://aquila.network/learn/self-hosted-rag-complete-guide/Build a private, self-hosted RAG system you fully own. The reference stack, embedding and vector-store choices, VPS sizing, pitfalls, and when not to self-host.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/what-are-embeddings/https://aquila.network/learn/what-are-embeddings/What embeddings are, how text and images become vectors, what dimensions and cosine similarity mean, and how they power semantic search and RAG systems.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/what-is-a-vector-database/https://aquila.network/learn/what-is-a-vector-database/What a vector database is and how it works — ANN indexes (HNSW, IVF), metadata filtering, hybrid search, and when you need one vs pgvector or FAISS.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/what-is-semantic-search/https://aquila.network/learn/what-is-semantic-search/A plain-English guide to semantic search: how it differs from keyword search, what embeddings are, how hybrid search works, and when to use each approach.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/self-host-vane-perplexica-guide/https://aquila.network/learn/self-host-vane-perplexica-guide/Step-by-step guide to self-hosting Vane (ex-Perplexica), the top open-source Perplexity alternative — Docker setup, Ollama or cloud LLMs, config, and privacy.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/learn/self-host-khoj-guide/https://aquila.network/learn/self-host-khoj-guide/A guide to self-hosting Khoj — the AGPL-3.0 open-source AI second brain with pgvector. Docker setup, connecting your docs and local LLMs, and Khoj vs Vane.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/chroma-vs-qdrant/https://aquila.network/compare/chroma-vs-qdrant/Chroma vs Qdrant for self-hosted vector search in 2026 — Chroma's pip-install local-first ergonomics vs Qdrant's production performance and hybrid search.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/elasticsearch-vs-opensearch/https://aquila.network/compare/elasticsearch-vs-opensearch/Elasticsearch vs OpenSearch in 2026 — the fork story, licensing (Apache-2.0 vs AGPL/ELv2/SSPL), vector search, self-hosting, and which to self-host.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/best-self-hosted-vector-databases/https://aquila.network/compare/best-self-hosted-vector-databases/A buyer's guide to the best open-source, self-hostable vector databases in 2026 — Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus, pgvector and Chroma compared on license, language, hybrid search, ops, and cost.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/meilisearch-vs-algolia/https://aquila.network/compare/meilisearch-vs-algolia/Meilisearch vs Algolia in 2026 — open-source, self-hosted Meilisearch against managed, proprietary Algolia. Cost, data ownership, and when each wins.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/langchain-vs-llamaindex/https://aquila.network/compare/langchain-vs-llamaindex/LangChain vs LlamaIndex for 2026 — general agent orchestration vs a data/RAG-first framework. Retrieval, agents, and when to pick which (or neither).Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/milvus-vs-qdrant/https://aquila.network/compare/milvus-vs-qdrant/Milvus vs Qdrant for self-hosting in 2026 — license, hybrid search, performance and ops compared: billion-scale distributed power vs single-image simplicity.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/ollama-vs-lm-studio/https://aquila.network/compare/ollama-vs-lm-studio/Ollama vs LM Studio for 2026 — open-source CLI/server vs a free closed-source desktop GUI. License, workflow, model discovery, and which one fits whom.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/ollama-vs-vllm/https://aquila.network/compare/ollama-vs-vllm/Ollama vs vLLM for serving local LLMs in 2026 — single-machine simplicity vs high-throughput serving with PagedAttention. Hardware, throughput, and which to pick.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/pgvector-vs-pinecone/https://aquila.network/compare/pgvector-vs-pinecone/pgvector vs Pinecone in 2026 — Postgres-native, self-hosted vector search against managed Pinecone. Cost, ops, scale ceiling, when Postgres is enough and when managed wins.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/pgvector-vs-qdrant/https://aquila.network/compare/pgvector-vs-qdrant/pgvector vs Qdrant for self-hosted vector search in 2026 — when to add vector search to the Postgres you already run, and when a dedicated engine like Qdrant is worth the extra service.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/qdrant-vs-pinecone/https://aquila.network/compare/qdrant-vs-pinecone/Qdrant vs Pinecone in 2026 — open-source, self-hosted Qdrant against managed, proprietary Pinecone. Cost, data ownership, hybrid search, and when each wins.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/qdrant-vs-weaviate/https://aquila.network/compare/qdrant-vs-weaviate/Qdrant vs Weaviate for self-hosting in 2026 — a head-to-head on license, language, hybrid search, performance claims, and operational overhead, through the you-run-it lens.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/self-hosted-algolia-alternatives/https://aquila.network/compare/self-hosted-algolia-alternatives/The best open-source, self-hostable Algolia alternatives in 2026 — Meilisearch, Typesense and Orama compared on license, latency, hybrid search and cost.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/self-hosted-pinecone-alternatives/https://aquila.network/compare/self-hosted-pinecone-alternatives/The best self-hosted Pinecone alternatives in 2026 — Qdrant, Weaviate, Milvus, pgvector and Chroma compared for teams leaving Pinecone over cost, lock-in, and data control.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/typesense-vs-meilisearch/https://aquila.network/compare/typesense-vs-meilisearch/Typesense vs Meilisearch for self-hosted site search in 2026 — two open-source Algolia alternatives compared on license, language, hybrid search, speed claims, and self-host footprint.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMThttps://aquila.network/compare/weaviate-vs-milvus/https://aquila.network/compare/weaviate-vs-milvus/Weaviate vs Milvus for self-hosting in 2026 — built-in vectorizer modules and hybrid search against distributed billion-scale, compared on license, performance, ops, and cost.Fri, 19 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMT