head to head · open source
Qdrant vs OpenSearch
Qdrant has 34,650 GitHub stars, 2,682 forks, 704 open issues and last shipped yesterday. OpenSearch has 13,727 stars, 2,957 forks, 3,167 open issues and last shipped today. Qdrant leads on adoption by 152% (34,650 vs 13,727 stars). Qdrant is written in Rust under Apache-2.0; OpenSearch is written in Java under Apache-2.0. Qdrant has attracted 8% as many forks as stars, OpenSearch 22%. OpenSearch was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
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Side by side
| Qdrant | OpenSearch | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 35K | ★ 14K |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Written in | Rust | Java |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-18 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 3.0K |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Qdrant if
- You weight community size — 35K stars and counting
- You want the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick OpenSearch if
- You want the OpenSearch feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the Apache-2.0 license terms
- Your stack matches Java
- You evaluated both and OpenSearch fits your workflow better
About Qdrant
Qdrant is a vector similarity search engine and database built in Rust, designed for production use in AI applications. It stores, manages, and retrieves high dimensional vectors alongside associated metadata (payloads), supporting fast nearest neighbor search with filtering. It solves the problem of efficiently performing semantic or neural based matching at scale—such as finding similar images, recommending content, or powering retrieval augmented generation (RAG)—by replacing slow or inflexible brute force or index based approaches with a purpose built engine optimized for vector operations.…
read the full Qdrant overview →
About OpenSearch
OpenSearch is an open source, distributed, and RESTful search engine, described in its README as an enterprise grade search and observability suite. It lives in the open source search and analytics ecosystem, is written in Java, and is licensed under Apache 2.0. The project states that it includes certain Apache licensed Elasticsearch code from Elasticsearch B.V., and that OpenSearch is a registered trademark of LF Projects, LLC.
read the full OpenSearch overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Qdrant or OpenSearch more popular?
Qdrant has 34,650 GitHub stars and OpenSearch has 13,727. Qdrant has the larger community by that measure.
Are Qdrant and OpenSearch free?
Both are open source. Qdrant is licensed under Apache-2.0 and OpenSearch under Apache-2.0. Neither carries a licence fee.
What is the difference between Qdrant and OpenSearch?
Qdrant is written in Rust and OpenSearch in Java. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Qdrant or OpenSearch?
Choose Qdrant if you want the larger community (34,650 stars) or its Apache-2.0 licence terms. Choose OpenSearch if its feature set, stack or Apache-2.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.