Qdrant Search Speed Optimization

# Diagnose a problem

There the multiple possible reasons for search performance degradation. The most common ones are:

* Memory pressure: if the working set exceeds available RAM
* Complex requests (e.g. high `hnsw_ef`, complex filters without payload index)
* Competing background processes (e.g. optimizer still running after bulk upload)
* Problem with the cluster (e.g. network issues, hardware degradation)


## Single Query Too Slow (Latency)

Use when: individual queries take too long regardless of load.

### Diagnostic steps:

- Check if second run of the same request is significantly faster (indicates memory pressure)
- Try the same query with `with_payload: false` and `with_vectors: false` to see if payload retrieval is the bottleneck
- If request uses filters, try to remove them one by one to identify if a specific filter condition is the bottleneck

### Common fixes:

- Tune HNSW parameters: [Fine-tuning search](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/ops-optimization/optimize/?s=fine-tuning-search-parameters)
- Enable in-memory quantization: [Scalar quantization](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/manage-data/quantization/?s=scalar-quantization)
- Reduce Vector Dimensionality with Matryoshka Models: [Matryoshka Models](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/inference/?s=reduce-vector-dimensionality-with-matryoshka-models)
- Use oversampling + rescore for high-dimensional vectors [Search with quantization](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/manage-data/quantization/?s=searching-with-quantization)
- Enable io_uring for disk-heavy workloads on Linux [io_uring](https://qdrant.tech/articles/io_uring/)


## Can't Handle Enough QPS (Throughput)

Use when: system can't serve enough queries per second under load.

- Reduce segment count (`default_segment_number` to 2) [Maximizing throughput](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/ops-optimization/optimize/?s=maximizing-throughput)
- Use batch search API instead of single queries [Batch search](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/search/search/?s=batch-search-api)
- Enable quantization to reduce CPU cost [Scalar quantization](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/manage-data/quantization/?s=scalar-quantization)
- Add replicas to distribute read load [Replication](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/distributed_deployment/?s=replication)


## Filtered Search Is Slow

Use when: filtered search is significantly slower than unfiltered. Most common SA complaint after memory.

- Create payload index on the filtered field [Payload index](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/manage-data/indexing/?s=payload-index)
- Use `is_tenant=true` for primary filtering condition: [Tenant index](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/manage-data/indexing/?s=tenant-index)
- Try ACORN algorithm for complex filters: [ACORN](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/search/search/?s=acorn-search-algorithm)
- Avoid using `nested` filtering conditions as a primary filter. It might force qdrant to read raw payload values instead of using index.
- If payload index was added after HNSW build, trigger re-index to create filterable subgraph links


## Optimize search performance with parallel updates

### Diagnostic steps

- Try to run the same query with `indexed_only=true` parameter, if the query is significantly faster, it means that the optimizer is still running and has not yet indexed all segments.
- If CPU or IO usage is high even with no queries, it also indicates that the optimizer is still running.

### Recommended configuration changes

- reduce `optimizer_cpu_budget` to reserve more CPU for queries
- Use `prevent_unoptimized=true` to prevent creating segments with a large amount of unindexed data for searches. Instead, once a segment reaches the so called indexing_threshold, all additional points will be added in ‘deferred state’. 

Learn more [here](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/search/low-latency-search/?s=query-indexed-data-only)


## What NOT to Do

- Set `always_ram=false` on quantization (disk thrashing on every search)
- Put HNSW on disk for latency-sensitive production (only for cold storage)
- Increase segment count for throughput (opposite: fewer = better)
- Create payload indexes on every field (wastes memory)
- Blame Qdrant before checking optimizer status