Elasticsearch vs Qdrant
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Elasticsearch
Distributed search and analytics engine
VS
Qdrant
High-performance open-source vector search engine
| Feature | Elasticsearch | Qdrant |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Elastic-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Java | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, helm |
| GitHub stars | ★ 77,808 | ★ 33,837 |
| First released | 2010 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Algolia, Splunk | Pinecone, Algolia |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Elasticsearch or Qdrant better?
Neither is universally better. Elasticsearch has the larger community, while Qdrant is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Elasticsearch and Qdrant free and open-source?
Yes. Elasticsearch is licensed under Elastic-2.0 and Qdrant under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Elasticsearch and Qdrant with Docker?
Elasticsearch: yes. Qdrant: yes.