Searchplex ID Retrieval terminology registry

Method

HNSW

Canonical ID https://id.searchplex.net/hnsw/

A graph-based approximate nearest neighbor search method using hierarchical navigable small-world graphs.

Also called

  • Hierarchical Navigable Small World

Scope

HNSW is commonly used as a vector-search index method in production systems. It is one ANN method, not a synonym for vector search, dense retrieval, or nearest neighbor search generally.

Used for

Not equivalent to

  • HNSW is not Approximate Nearest Neighbor Search. HNSW is one graph-based approximate nearest neighbor method; ANN search is the broader method family.
  • HNSW is not Dense Retrieval. HNSW can serve dense retrieval systems, but dense retrieval is the retrieval approach using dense representations.
  • HNSW is not Vector Search. HNSW is an indexing and search method often used for vector search; vector search is the broader retrieval mechanism and product term.

Learn more

ID