/qdrant-managed-cloud-quickstart

name: qdrant-managed-cloud-quickstart
description: "Getting a first Qdrant Managed Cloud cluster running and connected safely: Free, Standard, and Premium tiers, choices that can't be changed later, creating clusters from the Console or the qcloud CLI, Database API keys, ports and TLS, strict mode on new collections, Cloud Inference, and what to set before relying on a cluster. Use when someone says 'getting started with Qdrant Cloud', 'create a Qdrant Cloud cluster', 'is the free tier enough', 'do I need the Premium tier', 'create a cluster with qcloud', 'my free cluster was suspended', 'can't connect to Qdrant Cloud', 'which API key do I use', 'filter works locally but fails on Cloud', or 'Cloud Inference'."

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](../qdrant-deployment-options/SKILL.md). 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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/create-cluster/?s=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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/cluster-monitoring/?s=alerts)
• Size a Standard cluster before creating it with the [sizing skill](../qdrant-sizing/SKILL.md).
• 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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/create-cluster/?s=creating-a-production-ready-cluster)
• Premium is an account-wide plan with a minimum spend agreed with the [Qdrant team](https://qdrant.tech/contact-us/). 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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-premium/)
• 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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/create-cluster/?s=creating-a-production-ready-cluster)
• Disk can't be scaled down. Memory can be, but not below current usage [Vertical scaling](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/cluster-scaling/?s=vertical-scaling)
• 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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-pricing-payments/)
• 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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-account-setup/?s=creating-additional-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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/create-cluster/?s=create-a-cluster) [Cloud API](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-api/) [qcloud](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-cli/?s=quick-start) [Terraform](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-tools/terraform/) [Pulumi](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-tools/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](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-quickstart/)

Can't Connect or Authenticate

Use when: the first request to the cluster fails, or an SDK reports an authentication or TLS error.

• Send a Database API key with every REST and gRPC request, as the `api-key` header or `Authorization: Bearer`. Each key works only on the cluster it was created in. It is shown once at creation; if it's lost, create a new one [Authentication](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/authentication/) [Database API keys](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/production-operations/access-control/?s=database-api-keys)
• Don't use a Cloud Management Key here. Those authorize the Cloud platform API for managing clusters and backups, not the database [Cloud API](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud-api/?s=authentication)
• Connect over HTTPS to the cluster endpoint: port 6333 or 443 for REST, 6334 for gRPC. For working connection code in each language, use the [clients-sdk skill](../qdrant-clients-sdk/SKILL.md) snippet search [Cluster access](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documentation/cloud/cluster-access/)
• Test access with a single request to the cluster root URL with the key in the header [Test cluster access](https://skills.qdrant.tech/md/documenta