Qdrant alternative. Vector search without the RAM tax.

Evaluating Qdrant? LanceDB scales on object storage with compute-storage separation. No HNSW parameter tuning. No segment optimization. No shard management.

Why teams switch

Compute-storage separation

Complete database on object storage. No DIY persistence layer. Up to 100x savings at scale.

One table, not six systems

Raw data, embeddings, and features together. No custom serialization, no external metadata store.

Schema evolution without rebuilds

New embedding model? Add a column. No index rebuild, no custom migration code.

Full-text + hybrid search, native

Native full-text search integrated with vector search. Qdrant requires external sparse vectorization for text search.

Comparison

	Qdrant	LanceDB
Cost	RAM-heavy architecture with full shard replication. $3-5/GB/month.	Object storage at $0.02/GB/month with compute-storage separation. Up to 100x savings.
Scale	Requires shard management, segment rebalancing, storage amplification.	Stateless scaling. No sharding decisions, no rebalancing. 20 PB largest table.
Search	Vector only. No native full-text search. Requires external sparse vectorization.	Native vector, full-text, and SQL hybrid search in one query.
Metadata	Metadata in RocksDB. Must be fully indexed in RAM.	Arrow-native columnar format. Efficient WHERE filtering and analytics.
Operations	Continuous tuning - segment sizes, HNSW params (ef, m), optimizer thresholds.	Zero tuning. Asynchronous indexing handles balance automatically.
Best for	When tuning for peak single-query latency is everything.	Cost-efficient scale with zero operational complexity.

The Power of the Lance Format

Vector Search

Fast scans and random access from the same table — no tradeoff
Zero-copy access for high throughput without serialization overhead

Multi-Modal

Raw data, embeddings, and metadata in one table — not pointers to blob storage
No separate metadata store to keep in sync

Enterprise-Grade Requirements

Security

Granular RBAC, SSO integration, and VPC deployment options.

Governance

Data versioning and time-travel capabilities for auditability.

Support

Dedicated technical account management and guaranteed SLAs.