pgvector vs Qdrant
pgvector: The standard Postgres extension for vector similarity search with HNSW and IVFFlat indexes. Qdrant: Rust vector search engine with rich payload filtering, quantization and a managed cloud.
key differences
- Qdrant is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than pgvector (≤ 10 TB).
- Horizontal scaling is addon in pgvector and native in Qdrant.
- Transactions: pgvector offers full ACID; Qdrant offers none.
- Only pgvector has transactions, joins, change data capture, triggers, stored procedures.
- Only Qdrant has geospatial.
choose pgvector for
- +Adding semantic search to an existing Postgres app
- +RAG with permission filtering via SQL joins
- +Recommendations next to product data
- +Deduplication and similarity lookups
best at · Vector search, RAG, OLTP
choose qdrant for
- +RAG retrieval with metadata filtering
- +Recommendation and similarity search
- +Image and multimodal search
- +Multi-tenant semantic search
best at · Vector search, RAG
pgvector vs Qdrant: FAQ
What is the difference between pgvector and Qdrant?
pgvector: The standard Postgres extension for vector similarity search with HNSW and IVFFlat indexes. Qdrant: Rust vector search engine with rich payload filtering, quantization and a managed cloud. Qdrant is built for larger datasets (≤ 1 PB) than pgvector (≤ 10 TB). Horizontal scaling is addon in pgvector and native in Qdrant. Transactions: pgvector offers full ACID; Qdrant offers none.
When should I choose pgvector over Qdrant?
Choose pgvector for adding semantic search to an existing Postgres app, RAG with permission filtering via SQL joins and recommendations next to product data. Choose Qdrant for RAG retrieval with metadata filtering; recommendation and similarity search; and image and multimodal search.
Is pgvector or Qdrant more popular?
pgvector ranks #44 on the WhichDB Score (40.0/100) and Qdrant ranks #55 (35.9/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.
Are pgvector and Qdrant open source?
Yes. pgvector is open source. License: PostgreSQL License. Yes. Qdrant is open source. License: Apache License 2.0.