# Elasticsearch vs Qdrant API + MCP

> Qdrant API + MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on payments & pricing. Both do db vector. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

Qdrant API + MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on payments & pricing. Both do db vector.

- Elasticsearch: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #224 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json
- Qdrant API + MCP: grade BB, 75.3/100, rank #50 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qdrant.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qdrant.json

## Which one, for what

### Elasticsearch (B)

Good for: Retrieval that needs keyword relevance, filters and vectors in one query, and teams already running Elastic for logs or security.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 30

Watch for: More than 20 status notices marked major between 10 July and 8 October 2026, three of them regional service incidents

### Qdrant API + MCP (BB)

Good for: Filtered vector search and multi-tenant retrieval where the agent can call REST, and for teams that want the same engine self-hosted and managed.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 62
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 77
- Security & auth, 83 against 72
- Transparency & trust, 83 against 71

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: The MCP server has 2 tools, can't manage collections or run filtered queries, and last released on 10 December 2025


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Elasticsearch | Qdrant API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 62 | 80 | Qdrant API + MCP +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 87 | Elasticsearch +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 87 | Qdrant API + MCP +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 83 | Qdrant API + MCP +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 30 | Elasticsearch +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 85 | Qdrant API + MCP +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 83 | Qdrant API + MCP +12 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **67.7 · B** | **75.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Elasticsearch | Qdrant API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Elastic | Qdrant |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.cloud.qdrant.io` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 2 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-09-16 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2021-12-10 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-07 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 3.1M npm/wk, 7.8M PyPI/wk | 35k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 3M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.6/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**Elasticsearch.** Keyword, dense and sparse vector, and hybrid search with rank fusion sit behind one OpenAPI-described REST API, with API keys scoped to indices and privileges. The status page lists more than 20 incidents marked major since July 2026, and Elasticsearch 9.5.0 returned incorrect results for some queries without raising an error.

**Qdrant API + MCP.** Database keys can be read-only, limited to chosen collections and expire after 90 days by default. The MCP server has 2 tools, can't manage collections or run filtered queries, and last released on 10 December 2025.

## Before you call either

### Elasticsearch

1. Send `Authorization: ApiKey <key>` to the project's Elasticsearch URL. The MCP server is on the Kibana URL at `/api/agent_builder/mcp`
2. Create the MCP key with `feature_agentBuilder.read` and only the index patterns needed, or the endpoint answers 403
3. On 429, wait and retry with exponential backoff. Do not set short client timeouts, because a retried request joins the back of the queue
4. Page past 10,000 hits with `search_after`, not `from` and `size`
5. Tool calls made directly through the Tools API skip Agent Builder's confirmation prompts, so restrict the key instead

### Qdrant API + MCP

1. Create payload indexes on the fields you filter on, or filtered search slows on large collections
2. Use `/points/query` with `prefetch` to fuse dense and BM25 results
3. Pass `wait=true` on upserts when the next step reads its own writes
4. On 429, wait for the `Retry-After` seconds before retrying
5. Set `with_vector=false` unless the task needs vectors, since they dominate response size

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Elasticsearch or Qdrant API + MCP?

Qdrant API + MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Elasticsearch and Qdrant API + MCP need an API key?

Elasticsearch takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Qdrant API + MCP needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Elasticsearch and Qdrant API + MCP without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Elasticsearch. Qdrant API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.cloud.qdrant.io.

### Are Elasticsearch and Qdrant API + MCP open source?

Yes. Elasticsearch is open source (AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms). Qdrant API + MCP is open source (Apache-2.0).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "elasticsearch", "b": "qdrant"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare elasticsearch qdrant`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qdrant.json

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