What is a payload in Qdrant and how is it used?

A payload is arbitrary JSON data attached to each point in a Qdrant collection, used for metadata like document source, timestamps, tags, user identifiers, or any domain-specific fields. Payloads support filtering during vector search, so queries can restrict results to subsets like specific date ranges or tenants. Payload fields can be indexed individually for faster filtering, and Qdrant supports nested fields, arrays, geo coordinates, and full-text search within payload strings. Payloads replace the need for a separate metadata database in many architectures.