Qdrant

Qdrant is an open-source vector search engine plus a managed Cloud, not an unpriced modeling tool. Rechecked 2026-08-17: qdrant.tech/pricing sells Cloud Free, Standard usage-based, and Premium with a minimum spend, plus Hybrid and Private Cloud contact rows. github.com/qdrant/qdrant had 34,018 stars, license Apache-2.0, homepage qdrant.tech. Drop leftover website qdrant.io and any copy that never printed a Cloud tier.

Compare Pinecone if you wanted a fully managed vector service with public $20/$50/$500 rows, Milvus if you wanted another OSS engine, and Supabase if you wanted Postgres instead.

Key Features

• OSS plus Cloud: Self-host the Apache-2.0 engine, or run Free / Standard / Premium on Qdrant Cloud. Hybrid Cloud and Private Cloud stay on your infrastructure.
• Free Cloud is a small node: FAQ says Free includes 1 GB RAM and 4 GB disk (page also lists 0.5 vCPU / 1 GB RAM / 4 GB disk). Exceed that and upgrade to Standard.
• Standard is usage-based: Dedicated resources, HA, backups, 99.5% SLA. Premium needs a minimum spend and adds SSO, private VPC links, 99.9% SLA.
• Serverless is coming soon: The nav still says Qdrant Serverless (Coming soon). Do not sell it as shipped.

Use Cases

• People who will stay on OSS or Cloud Free for prototypes.
• People who will pay Standard for a dedicated cluster.
• Enterprises that will talk to sales for Premium / Hybrid / Private.

Limitation: We did not invent a Standard dollar-per-hour. Use the live pricing calculator.

Pricing

qdrant.tech/pricing on 2026-08-17.

If a leftover blog still points at qdrant.io with no Cloud tiers, treat this table as the source.

Getting Started

1. Open qdrant.tech/pricing and start on Free or OSS.
2. Recheck the calculator before you assume Standard is a $20 seat.
3. Recheck Pinecone if you wanted a public $20 Builder row.
4. Do not sell Serverless as GA.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is the engine free?

Yes. OSS is Apache-2.0. Cloud also has a free forever node.

What is the official site?

qdrant.tech. GitHub homepage matches that.

Same as Pinecone?

No. Pinecone's public rows are Free / $20 / $50 min / $500 min. Qdrant Standard is usage-based.

Alternatives

• Pinecone: Managed vector DB with a $20 Builder row.
• Milvus: Another open vector database.
• Supabase: Postgres BaaS, not a dedicated vector engine.

Tips

1. Quote OSS $0 / Cloud Free / Standard usage-based / Premium min spend.
2. Point website at qdrant.tech.
3. Recheck the calculator before you invent a Standard dollar.

Conclusion

Qdrant is an Apache-2.0 vector engine with a priced Cloud (Free, usage-based Standard, Premium min spend), not an unpriced modeling tool. Start at qdrant.tech/pricing, then decide whether Pinecone already covers the managed seat you need.