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Qdrant vs Zilliz Cloud

Qdrant: Rust vector search engine with rich payload filtering, quantization and a managed cloud. Zilliz Cloud: Fully managed Milvus from its creators, with serverless, dedicated and BYOC deployments.

key differences

  • Licensing: Qdrant is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Zilliz Cloud is proprietary (Proprietary SaaS).
  • Zilliz Cloud is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Qdrant (≤ 1 PB).
  • Only Qdrant has geospatial.
  • Only Zilliz Cloud has ttl / expiry, encryption at rest, online schema changes, streaming ingest.
  • Zilliz Cloud has a serverless option; Qdrant does not.

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

choose zilliz-cloud for

  • +Production RAG without running Milvus
  • +Large-scale semantic and image search
  • +Multi-tenant AI SaaS backends

best at · Vector search, RAG, Search

QdrantRust vector search engine with rich payload filtering, quantization and a managed cloud.
Zilliz CloudFully managed Milvus from its creators, with serverless, dedicated and BYOC deployments.
overview
Primary model
Vector
Vector
Also supports
Document
Search Engine
Type
Database engine
Managed service
Status
Active
Active
Developer
Qdrant Solutions GmbH
Zilliz
First release
2021
2022
Latest version
1.20.0 (Oct 22, 2026)
–
License
Open source (permissive)Apache License 2.0
ProprietaryProprietary SaaS
Free tier
✓
✓
popularity
WhichDB Score
35.9
0.4
Rank
#55
#656
GitHub stars
35.3K
–
Stack Overflow questions
60
–
scale & guarantees
Comfortable data size
Large (≤ 1 PB)
Massive (Multi-PB)
Horizontal scaling
Native
Native
Multi-region
None
None
ACID
None
None
Consistency
Tunable, Eventual
Tunable, Strong, Eventual
Schema
Schemaless
Strict
Architecture
Distributed, Client server
Distributed, Serverless, Shared storage
deployment
Self-hosted
✓
—
Vendor-managed cloud
✓
✓
Serverless
—
✓
Embedded
—
—
Edge
—
—
Clouds
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
AWS, Google Cloud, Azure
capabilities
Transactions
—
—
Joins
—
—
Secondary indexes
✓
✓
Full-text search
✓
✓
Vector search
✓
✓
Geospatial
✓
—
JSON
✓
✓
Change data capture
—
—
Triggers
—
—
Stored procedures
—
—
Materialized views
—
—
TTL / expiry
—
✓
Pub/Sub
—
—
Columnar storage
—
—
In-memory
—
—
Durable persistence
✓
✓
Compression
✓
✓
Encryption at rest
—
✓
Role-based access
✓
✓
Time travel
—
—
Branching
—
—
Online schema changes
—
✓
Streaming ingest
—
✓
Offline sync
—
—
Runs in WebAssembly
—
—
interfaces
Query languages
Qdrant Query API (JSON filters)
Milvus API (boolean filter expressions)
Client languages
Python, JavaScript, Rust, Go, Java, .NET
Python, Java, Go, Node.js, C#
Best for
Vector search, RAG
Vector search, RAG, Search
Add more to this comparisonNot sure either fits? Try smart match

Qdrant vs Zilliz Cloud: FAQ

What is the difference between Qdrant and Zilliz Cloud?

Qdrant: Rust vector search engine with rich payload filtering, quantization and a managed cloud. Zilliz Cloud: Fully managed Milvus from its creators, with serverless, dedicated and BYOC deployments. Licensing: Qdrant is open source (permissive) (Apache License 2.0); Zilliz Cloud is proprietary (Proprietary SaaS). Zilliz Cloud is built for larger datasets (Multi-PB) than Qdrant (≤ 1 PB). Only Qdrant has geospatial.

When should I choose Qdrant over Zilliz Cloud?

Choose Qdrant for RAG retrieval with metadata filtering; recommendation and similarity search; and image and multimodal search. Choose Zilliz Cloud for production RAG without running Milvus; large-scale semantic and image search; and multi-tenant AI SaaS backends.

Is Qdrant or Zilliz Cloud more popular?

Qdrant ranks #55 on the WhichDB Score (35.9/100) and Zilliz Cloud ranks #656 (0.4/100). Popularity is not fit: check the requirements that matter for your project.

Are Qdrant and Zilliz Cloud open source?

Yes. Qdrant is open source. License: Apache License 2.0. No. Zilliz Cloud is proprietary, closed-source software.