Qdrant: Vector Database for the next generation of AI applications | Hacker News Reader

Qdrant: Vector Database for the next generation of AI applications

github.com

29 pointsnateb202210 comments

I didn't post this, but I coincidentally tried testing numerous open source vector databases during the last week, including building them from source, testing them for my use case, etc. For my needs, and thinking longterm, I think Qdrant is the best option. Their docs are clear and it was easy to build from source using Rust (it takes about 30 minutes, but it just works) and the binaries are relatively small and portable. It was also easy to build the latest dev version, which has built in authentication (due to a bounty claimed two weeks ago). There's a new official Javascript client (for use from nodejs), which builds on "openapi" and seems to work well, if you're using nodejs as a client instead of Python.

My overall impression of Qdrant is that it's clean and uncluttered compared to other options, development is very open, and the devs are technically very capable. The docs are clear and to the point, without a bunch of extra nonsense getting in the way. It's also easy to try out for free via their hosted cloud.

Qdrant is *far* better than pinecone. There's really no comparison.

How is it compare to weaviate which is also oss?

Like this https://qdrant.tech/benchmarks/

Weaviate is part of the Go ecosystem and has more built around it, e.g., you can configure it so that it will automatically call openai to do vector embeddings for you. Qdrant is part of the Rust ecosystem, and is more focused on the core problem of being a highly efficient (both in time and space) scalable vector database, but with extensive highly integrated support for queries that combine a vector with a query about the payload (basically a JSON object). They both seem like really amazing projects to me. Both are very liberally licensed open source and have a complementary cloud hosted option.

Which is better for you might come down to Go versus Rust, and also whether you want something that feels more like a complete solution (Weaviate), or something that is more focused (Qdrant).

Are vector databases (mostly) commodities ? Do they have a winner takes all property (Pinecone seems more popular at the moment?

But is isn’t open source.

Everytime I see pinecone I'm immediately put off by it since it's so heavily focused on "use the cloud" and "make an account". I don't want another account, I don't want to have to be connected to the internet, and I don't even really want multiple files to be generated on disk.

Simple is better and offline is better, which is why SQLite and DuckDB reign supreme.

So, no Pinecone is not a very good DB from what I can tell.

I agree -- I listened to a 2022 podcast interview with the cofounder of Pinecone and he seems very dismissive of what open source can bring to vector database. I found that annoying and off putting. The open source vector database ecosystem is really impressive right now!

How is it compared to MyScale DB? It also seems to be the next-gen AI database.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com