# Pinecone vs Qdrant
URL: https://wwadd.dev/compare/pinecone-vs-qdrant
Last verified: 2026-09-28

Both store embeddings and run similarity search for RAG and semantic search. Pinecone is a fully managed proprietary service; Qdrant is open source and can be self-hosted or used as a managed cloud.

## Verdict
Also consider skipping both: if you already run Postgres, pgvector often covers early RAG workloads without a new service.

## Pick Pinecone when
- You want zero infrastructure and pay-as-you-go pricing
- The team has no appetite for operating a database

## Pick Qdrant when
- Data must stay on your own infrastructure
- You want to avoid lock-in, or run the same engine locally and in production

## Related tools
- [Pinecone](https://wwadd.dev/tools/pinecone)
- [Qdrant](https://wwadd.dev/tools/qdrant)

## What actually differs
- Deployment: Pinecone — Managed service only; Qdrant — Self-host (Docker, Kubernetes) or Qdrant Cloud
- License: Pinecone — Proprietary; Qdrant — Open source (Apache-2.0)
- Operations: Pinecone — Nothing to run; Qdrant — You run it, unless you use the cloud

## Sources
- [Pinecone docs](https://docs.pinecone.io)
- [Qdrant docs](https://qdrant.tech/documentation/)