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Developer Tools · head to head

Harness vs Qdrant

Harness logo

Harness

Developer Tools

Software delivery platform across CI, CD, security testing and cost management

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit HarnessFull review
Qdrant logo

Qdrant

Databases

High-performance vector database for similarity search and embedding-based retrieval

From
Free
Free plan
Yes
Visit QdrantFull review

The short version

  • Qdrant is an open-source vector search engine.
  • Both are free.
  • Where Harness falls short: essentials and Enterprise pricing requires sales contact; no published rates.
  • Where Qdrant falls short: free tier extremely limited (0.5 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB disk); suitable only for experiments.
  • Prices and features on this page were last checked on 13 November 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Harness and Qdrant actually diverge.

Attributes where Harness and Qdrant differ
AttributeHarnessQdrant
PlatformsWebWeb, Self-hosted, Browser extension, Serverless (coming)
CategoryDeveloper ToolsDatabases

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (Freemium), free tier (Yes).

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Harness

  • Deploying apps to AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud with rollbacksnot Qdrant
  • Integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before productionnot Qdrant
  • Automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expensesnot Qdrant
  • Enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecksnot Qdrant
  • Assessing deployment frequency and lead time productivity metricsnot Qdrant

Qdrant

  • Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) backends for LLM applicationsnot Harness
  • Semantic search across large document corporanot Harness
  • Multimodal retrieval (text, images, video) for recommendation systemsnot Harness
  • Similarity-based product or content recommendationsnot Harness
  • Real-time vector indexing for streaming embedding datanot Harness

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Harness

  • Essentials and Enterprise pricing requires sales contact; no published rates
  • DevOps Essentials has no on-premises deployment option
  • Internal Developer Portal requires minimum 20 developer licenses
  • Pipeline execution history retention 6 months (Essentials) vs 25 months as add-on (Enterprise)

Qdrant

  • Free tier extremely limited (0.5 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB disk); suitable only for experiments
  • Standard and Premium pricing usage-based; specific costs not published; requires calculator or quote
  • Requires understanding of embeddings and vector search concepts; not suitable for SQL-only teams
  • Early-stage serverless offering (coming soon) suggests maturity gaps in that deployment model

Pricing, plan by plan

Harness

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Starter platform for software delivery lifecycle
    • Open source options available (Harness Open Source, Litmus Chaos)
  • EssentialsOn request
    • Growing organizations with small to mid-size teams
    • Packaged DevOps Essentials bundle
    • Continuous software delivery capabilities
  • EnterpriseOn request
    • Large-scale organizations
    • Pick any modules based on needs
    • Advanced features

Qdrant

Free
  • FreeFree
    • Single-node cluster
    • 0.5 vCPU
    • 1GB RAM
  • StandardOn request
    • Dedicated resources
    • Flexible scaling
    • High availability
  • PremiumOn request
    • SSO and SAML
    • Private VPC links
    • 99.9% uptime SLA

Which should you pick?

Choose Harness if

  • You want to start without paying.
Harness review

Choose Qdrant if

  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on Web, Self-hosted, Browser extension, Serverless (coming).
Qdrant review

Questions people ask

Is Harness or Qdrant better?
Neither clearly leads. Harness starts at Free and Qdrant at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Harness or Qdrant?
Harness starts at Free and Qdrant at Free.
Does Harness or Qdrant run on more platforms?
Harness runs on Web. Qdrant runs on Web, Self-hosted, Browser extension, Serverless (coming).
Can I use Harness for free?
Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Harness best used for?
Harness is most often used for deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks, integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production, automating cloud cost reduction and tracking unit-level expenses, enabling developers to provision infrastructure without operations bottlenecks. Of those, deploying apps to aws, azure, and google cloud with rollbacks and integrating security scanners throughout build pipelines before production are not what Qdrant is typically brought in for.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Harness: Is there a free Harness plan?

Yes, Harness offers a free plan for individual developers and small teams with open source options including Harness Open Source and Litmus Chaos.

Source
Qdrant: Can I use Qdrant for free?

Yes, Qdrant offers a free tier that provides a single node cluster with 0.5 vCPU, 1GB RAM, and 4GB disk space. It includes free cloud inference with selected models and is described as free forever for testing and prototypes.

Source
Harness: What are Harness's paid pricing tiers?

Harness offers Essentials for growing teams and Enterprise for large-scale organizations. Both require contacting sales for custom pricing. Pricing is based on modules and features selected.

Source
Qdrant: How is Qdrant Cloud billing calculated?

Billing is calculated based on actual resource usage during each billing period. You are charged hourly for compute (vCPU), memory (GB), storage (GB), backups, and any paid inference tokens used.

Source
Harness: Can Harness be deployed on-premises?

Enterprise plans include self-managed platform deployment option. DevOps Essentials bundle does not offer on-premises deployment.

Source
Qdrant: What happens if I scale beyond the free tier?

The Standard Tier uses the same usage-based billing model as the free tier but adds features like dedicated resources with flexible scaling, highly available setups with backup and disaster recovery, and a 99.5% uptime SLA.

Source
Qdrant: What SLA does Qdrant offer?

The Standard Tier provides 99.5% uptime SLA. The Premium Tier, which requires a minimum spend for enterprises, offers 99.9% uptime SLA along with single sign-on and private VPC links.

Source
Qdrant: Are there dedicated cloud infrastructure options?

Yes, Qdrant offers Hybrid Cloud (runs on your infrastructure) and Private Cloud (complete isolation) options, both with custom pricing that requires contacting the sales team.

Source
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