---
title: "What is a feature store?"
description: "A feature store serves consistent numeric or categorical features to training and to inference, usually for tabular models."
url: "https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-a-feature-store"
updated: "2026-09-29"
vertical: "Evaluation"
doc: "https://docs.pixeltable.com/datastore/computed-columns"
---

# What is a feature store?

A feature store serves consistent numeric or categorical features to training and to inference, usually for tabular models.

Updated: 2026-09-29


## On this page

- [How it works](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-a-feature-store#how-it-works)
- [What it is not](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-a-feature-store#what-it-is-not)
- [Comparison](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-a-feature-store#comparison)
- [Where Pixeltable fits](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-a-feature-store#where-pixeltable-fits)
- [Questions](https://pixeltable.com/learn/what-is-a-feature-store#questions)

## How it works {#how-it-works}


- Features are defined once.
- Training and serving read the same definitions.
- The values are typically scalars, not frames.

## What it is not {#what-it-is-not}

It is not computed columns on images and video, and it is not an embedding index.

## feature store: this, and the thing it is confused with {#comparison}

|  | This | Not this |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Values | Scalars and categories | Frames and documents |
| Point | Train/serve consistency | Media pipelines |
| Overlap | Both cache derived values | They are the same product |

## Where Pixeltable fits {#where-pixeltable-fits}

Pixeltable computed columns can feed features, including from media. A feature store such as Feast or Tecton is the tabular product. They answer different queries.

## Questions {#questions}

### How does feature store work? {#faq-1}

Features are defined once. Training and serving read the same definitions. The values are typically scalars, not frames.

### What is feature store often confused with? {#faq-2}

It is not computed columns on images and video, and it is not an embedding index.

## In the blog

- [Pixeltable vs Feature Stores: Why Multimodal AI Needs a Different Approach](https://pixeltable.com/blog/pixeltable-vs-feature-stores-comparison)
- [Unified Multimodal AI Infrastructure: Escape Data Plumbing with Pixeltable](https://pixeltable.com/blog/unified-multimodal-ai-infrastructure-pixeltable)

## Related

- [Documentation](https://docs.pixeltable.com/datastore/computed-columns)
- [Pixeltable vs Feature Stores: Why Multimodal AI Needs a Different Approach](https://pixeltable.com/blog/pixeltable-vs-feature-stores-comparison)
- [Stop Rebuilding Training Datasets: How Training Engineers Cut Model Development Time by 90%](https://pixeltable.com/blog/training-engineer-model-development-pytorch-integration)