# Epsilla Vector Database vs Qdrant API + MCP

> Qdrant API + MCP has a score of 75.3 (BB) against Epsilla Vector Database's 36 (F). Both do db vector. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 77 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-qdrant
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-qdrant.md (~1,550 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-qdrant.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-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: 2026-10-05

Qdrant API + MCP has a score of 75.3 (BB) against Epsilla Vector Database's 36 (F). Both do db vector. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 77 points.

- Epsilla Vector Database: grade F, 36/100, rank #439 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/epsilla.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/epsilla.json
- Qdrant API + MCP: grade BB, 75.3/100, rank #37 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qdrant.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/qdrant.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Epsilla Vector Database for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick Qdrant API + MCP for reliability (+25), schema & documentation (+51), agent ergonomics (+40), security & auth (+58), maintenance & community (+77), transparency & trust (+19).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Epsilla Vector Database | Qdrant API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 80 | Qdrant API + MCP +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 36 | 87 | Qdrant API + MCP +51 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 47 | 87 | Qdrant API + MCP +40 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 25 | 83 | Qdrant API + MCP +58 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 8 | 85 | Qdrant API + MCP +77 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 84 | Qdrant API + MCP +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **36 · F** | **75.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Epsilla Vector Database | Qdrant API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Epsilla | Qdrant |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://dispatch.epsilla.com/api/v3` | `https://api.cloud.qdrant.io` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | GPL-3.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 2 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2025-11-29 | 2026-09-16 |
| Popularity | 875 stars, 75 npm/wk, 125 PyPI/wk | 35k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 3M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | 3.6/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**Epsilla Vector Database.** GPL-3.0 server you can run from one Docker image. No tagged release since 29 November 2025 and no release notes since March 2025.

**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

### Epsilla Vector Database

1. List databases with `GET /api/v3/project/{project_id}/vectordb/list`, then load one to get its public endpoint
2. Hybrid search is assembled client-side with `as_search_engine().add_retriever(...).set_reranker(type="rrf")`
3. If you use pyepsilla against the cloud, patch or wrap it to verify TLS
4. Ask a person to create the database in the console first. The API can't

### 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

## Other comparisons with Epsilla Vector Database or Qdrant API + MCP

- [Chroma API + MCP vs Epsilla Vector Database](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-epsilla.md)
- [Chroma API + MCP vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-qdrant.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-lancedb.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-milvus-zilliz.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Pinecone API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-pinecone.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-typesense.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-upstash-vector.md)
- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-weaviate.md)
- [LanceDB vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-qdrant.md)
- [Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/milvus-zilliz-vs-qdrant.md)
- [Pinecone API + MCP vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pinecone-vs-qdrant.md)
- [Qdrant API + MCP vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-typesense.md)
- [Qdrant API + MCP vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-upstash-vector.md)
- [Qdrant API + MCP vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/qdrant-vs-weaviate.md)