Is Qdrant or Turso better?

Neither clearly leads. Qdrant starts at Free and Turso at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.

Which is cheaper, Qdrant or Turso?

Qdrant starts at Free and Turso at Free.

Does Qdrant or Turso run on more platforms?

Qdrant runs on Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), Kubernetes, Self-hosted, Edge (beta), Serverless (coming). Turso runs on Web.

What is Qdrant best used for?

Qdrant is most often used for retrieval-augmented generation (rag) backends for llm applications, semantic search across large document corpora, multimodal retrieval (text, images, video) for recommendation systems, similarity-based product or content recommendations. Of those, retrieval-augmented generation (rag) backends for llm applications and semantic search across large document corpora are not what Turso is typically brought in for.

What can Qdrant do that Turso cannot?

Turso covers Per-tenant databases, MIT licence, Embedded replicas, SQLite compatibility.

Databases · head to head

Qdrant vs Turso

Qdrant

Databases

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

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

Turso

Databases

SQLite-lineage database platform for running very large numbers of small per-tenant databases, with an MIT-licensed engine.

From: Free
Rated: -

Full review Website

The short version

Each has a real cost: Qdrant free tier extremely limited (0.5 vCPU, 1GB RAM, 4GB disk); suitable only for experiments; Turso sQLite allows one writer per database, so a single tenant's write throughput cannot be scaled horizontally and a busy tenant serialises against itself with no sharding option.
Prices and features above were last checked on 30 August 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Qdrant and Turso actually diverge.

Attributes where Qdrant and Turso differ
Attribute	Qdrant	Turso
Platforms	Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), Kubernetes, Self-hosted, Edge (beta), Serverless (coming)	Web

Identical on both: starting price (Free), pricing model (freemium), free tier (Yes), user rating (Not yet rated), category (Databases).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Qdrant

Nothing recorded that Turso does not also cover.

Only in Turso

Per-tenant databases
MIT licence
Embedded replicas
SQLite compatibility
HTTP access
Branching
Point-in-time restore
In-process engine

What people use each for

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

Qdrant

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

Turso

Multi-tenant SaaS where each customer gets their own database for real isolation, per-tenant restore and clean deletionnot Qdrant
Agent or session infrastructure that creates a throwaway database per task and destroys it afterwardsnot Qdrant
Local-first and offline-capable applications where an embedded replica serves reads at file speed and syncs when connectivity returnsnot Qdrant
Embedding a SQLite-compatible engine in a product where the public domain original's closed contribution model is a problemnot Qdrant

Where each one falls short

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

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

Turso

SQLite allows one writer per database, so a single tenant's write throughput cannot be scaled horizontally and a busy tenant serialises against itself with no sharding option.
Per-tenant databases mean per-tenant migrations, so every schema change becomes a fan-out job that must be idempotent and resumable, and multi-database schemas, the feature meant to solve this, is deprecated.
There are no cross-database queries; ATTACH is deprecated on the cloud, so any report or analytic spanning tenants must be assembled in your application or in a separate warehouse you also operate.
Data Edge, the multi-region edge replication that was Turso's original positioning, is deprecated, so a large share of the tutorials and articles describing Turso as an edge database describe behaviour you can no longer rely on.
Three engine lineages share the name, SQLite, the libSQL fork and the Rust rewrite, and the Rust engine is still maturing, so SQLite compatibility needs verifying against your specific pragmas, extensions and query patterns; the cloud already restricts journal_mode and busy_timeout and makes user_version read-only.

Pricing, plan by plan

Qdrant

Free

FreeFree
- Single-node cluster
- 0.5 vCPU
- 1GB RAM
Standard$undefined/usage-based
- Dedicated resources
- Flexible scaling
- High availability
Premium$undefined/minimum spend
- SSO and SAML
- Private VPC links
- 99.9% uptime SLA

Turso

Free

FreeFree
- 100 databases
- 5 GB storage
- 500M monthly rows read
Developer$4.99/month
- Unlimited databases
- 9 GB storage
- 2.5B monthly rows read
Scaler$24.92/month
- Unlimited databases
- 24 GB storage
- 100B monthly rows read
Pro$416.58/month
- Unlimited databases
- 50 GB storage
- 250B monthly rows read

Which should you pick?

Choose Qdrant if

You want to start without paying.
You work on Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), Kubernetes, Self-hosted, Edge (beta), Serverless (coming).

Qdrant review

Choose Turso if

You need per-tenant databases.
You want to start without paying.
You also want mit licence.

Turso review

Questions people ask

Is Qdrant or Turso better?: Neither clearly leads. Qdrant starts at Free and Turso at Free, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Qdrant or Turso?: Qdrant starts at Free and Turso at Free.
Does Qdrant or Turso run on more platforms?: Qdrant runs on Cloud (AWS, GCP, Azure), Kubernetes, Self-hosted, Edge (beta), Serverless (coming). Turso runs on Web.
Can I use Qdrant for free?: Both have a free tier, so you can try either at no cost before committing.
What is Qdrant best used for?: Qdrant is most often used for retrieval-augmented generation (rag) backends for llm applications, semantic search across large document corpora, multimodal retrieval (text, images, video) for recommendation systems, similarity-based product or content recommendations. Of those, retrieval-augmented generation (rag) backends for llm applications and semantic search across large document corpora are not what Turso is typically brought in for.
What can Qdrant do that Turso cannot?: Turso covers Per-tenant databases, MIT licence, Embedded replicas, SQLite compatibility.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

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

Turso: Is Turso just hosted SQLite?

Not exactly. It hosts databases built on the SQLite lineage: libSQL, an MIT fork of SQLite, and Turso Database, a newer Rust rewrite. The platform adds branching, backups, an HTTP API and programmatic database creation.

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

Turso: Can I really run a million databases?

That is the design goal and the platform API exists to make provisioning and deletion programmatic. The practical constraints are the ones that come with it: migrations fan out, and nothing can query across databases.

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

Turso: How do embedded replicas handle read-after-write?

Reads come from the local replica and writes go to the primary, so a read immediately after a write can return stale data unless you wait for a sync. Application code has to account for that rather than assume it.

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

Turso: What licence is it under?

libSQL and Turso Database are both MIT. Turso Cloud is a commercial managed service built on them, so the engine is genuinely open even though the platform is not.

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

Turso: Is Turso still an edge database?

No. Data Edge, the multi-region edge replication feature, is deprecated. The current positioning is per-tenant and embedded databases, and older material describing edge replication is out of date.

Qdrant vs Turso

Qdrant

Turso

The short version

Where they differ

What each one covers

Only in Qdrant

Only in Turso

What people use each for

Qdrant

Turso

Where each one falls short

Qdrant

Turso

Pricing, plan by plan

Qdrant

Turso

Which should you pick?

Choose Qdrant if

Choose Turso if

Questions people ask

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Related pages

More on Qdrant

More on Turso

Keep looking

Other head to heads