# Elasticsearch vs Qdrant API + MCP (slim)

> 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.md (~2,400 tokens) · this version ~780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.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: B 67.7, rank #224 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.min.md
- Qdrant API + MCP: BB 75.3, rank #50 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qdrant.min.md
- Elasticsearch, 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.
- Qdrant API + MCP, 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 Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; Runs on your own machine.

| Category | Elasticsearch | Qdrant API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 62 | 80 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 88 | 87 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 77 | 87 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 72 | 83 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 35 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 83 | 85 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 71 | 83 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Elasticsearch | Qdrant API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 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 |
| 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 |
| 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) |