Getting Started with Qdrant Cloud

You've already chosen Qdrant Managed Cloud. If you're still deciding between Cloud, Hybrid Cloud, and self-hosting, use the deployment options skill. On Cloud, every request needs an API key over TLS, new collections run in strict mode, and free clusters are suspended when idle. Some cluster choices can't be undone later.

Choosing and Creating a Cluster

Use when: creating the first cluster, or deciding between Free, Standard, and Premium.

• Use the free cluster for prototyping only: a single node with 1 GB RAM and 4 GB disk, no automatic backups, and it's suspended after 1 week without use and deleted after 4 weeks unless reactivated Free clusters
• If a node runs out of RAM, the operating system stops the Qdrant process; without high availability, expect disruption until the cluster is scaled up. If it runs out of disk, it can't store new vectors, which can also lead to disruption. Scale the cluster before either happens; on the free tier, that means upgrading to Standard Cluster alerts
• Size a Standard cluster before creating it with the sizing skill.
• For anything production-facing, enable High Availability: 3 or more nodes and replication factor 2 or more. Without it each shard has a single replica, so upgrades and vertical scaling cause downtime Production-ready cluster
• Premium is an account-wide plan with a minimum spend agreed with the Qdrant team. It adds a higher uptime SLA, 24/7 support for severe issues, Multi-AZ clusters, SSO, private network connectivity, and customer-managed encryption keys. Standard already includes scaling, high availability, and backups, so consider Premium if you need one of these Premium tier
• Decide on Multi-AZ (Premium) at creation: it can't be enabled later, and node counts must then be multiples of 3 Production-ready cluster
• Memory and disk can both be scaled down, but the cluster must still fit its data. Memory can't go below current usage. Scaling disk down replaces nodes one at a time, without downtime, but it takes a while and adds disk I/O load until it's done Vertical scaling Scaling down disk
• Paying through the AWS, GCP, or Azure Marketplace limits cluster creation to paid clusters in that provider's regions. To run clusters in other regions or on other providers, create a separate account with a different payment method Billing
• Use separate accounts to separate clusters across teams or environments, such as dev and prod: each account has its own clusters, permissions, and payment method Accounts
• Create clusters in the Cloud Console, or through the Cloud API, either by calling it directly or via the qcloud CLI, Terraform, or Pulumi. All the Cloud API options need a Cloud Management Key. Provisioning takes time; qcloud's --wait flag blocks until the cluster is healthy Console Cloud API qcloud Terraform Pulumi
• For a step-by-step walkthrough in the Console, from sign-up to a free cluster, a first collection, and a first search, see the Cloud quickstart