Qiskit Runtime overview¶
Overview¶
Qiskit Runtime is a quantum computing service and programming model that allows users to optimize workloads and efficiently execute them on quantum systems at scale. The programming model extends the existing interface in Qiskit with a set of new primitive programs.

Key Concepts¶
Primitives
Primitives are core functions that provide a simplified interface for defining near-time quantum-classical workloads required to efficiently build and customize applications. The initial release of Qiskit Runtime includes two primitives: Estimator and Sampler. They perform foundational quantum computing tasks and act as an entry point to the Qiskit Runtime service.
Estimator
The estimator primitive allows users to efficiently calculate and interpret expectation values of quantum operators required for many algorithms. Users specify a list of circuits and observables, then tell the program how to selectively group between the lists to efficiently evaluate expectation values and variances for a given parameter input.
Sampler
This primitive takes a user circuit as an input and generates an error-mitigated readout of quasiprobabilities. This provides users a way to better evaluate shot results using error mitigation and enables them to more efficiently evaluate the possibility of multiple relevant data points in the context of destructive interference.