diff --git a/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types.go b/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types.go
index e5301dc..0c7ab3a 100644
--- a/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types.go
+++ b/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types.go
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@ func GetQdrantClusterCrdForHash(qc QdrantCluster) QdrantCluster {
 	cloned.Resources.Storage = ""
 	cloned.RestartAllPodsConcurrently = false
 	cloned.Service = nil
-	cloned.ServicePerNode = false
+	cloned.ServicePerNode = nil
 	cloned.Size = 1
 	if v := cloned.StatefulSet; v != nil {
 		v.Annotations = nil
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ type QdrantClusterSpec struct {
 	// ServicePerNode specifies whether the cluster should start a dedicated service for each node.
 	// +kubebuilder:default=true
 	// +optional
-	ServicePerNode bool `json:"servicePerNode"`
+	ServicePerNode *bool `json:"servicePerNode,omitempty"`
 	// ClusterManager specifies whether to use the cluster manager for this cluster.
 	// The Python-operator will deploy a dedicated cluster manager instance.
 	// The Go-operator will use a shared instance.
diff --git a/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types_test.go b/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types_test.go
index 8abe5ba..f50b932 100644
--- a/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types_test.go
+++ b/api/v1/qdrantcluster_types_test.go
@@ -1,8 +1,12 @@
 package v1
 
 import (
+	"crypto/sha256"
+	"encoding/json"
+	"fmt"
 	"testing"
 
+	"github.com/stretchr/testify/assert"
 	"github.com/stretchr/testify/require"
 )
 
@@ -17,3 +21,51 @@ func TestValidate(t *testing.T) {
 	require.Error(t, err)
 	require.ErrorContains(t, err, "Spec.Resources.CPU error: quantities must match the regular expression '^([+-]?[0-9.]+)([eEinumkKMGTP]*[-+]?[0-9]*)$'")
 }
+
+func TestGetQdrantClusterCrdForHash(t *testing.T) {
+	qc := QdrantCluster{}
+	hash, err := getQdrantClusterCrdHash(qc)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "523a8cb", hash)
+
+	falseVal := false
+	qc.Spec.ServicePerNode = &falseVal
+	hash, err = getQdrantClusterCrdHash(qc)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "523a8cb", hash)
+
+	trueVal := true
+	qc.Spec.ServicePerNode = &trueVal
+	hash, err = getQdrantClusterCrdHash(qc)
+	require.NoError(t, err)
+	assert.Equal(t, "523a8cb", hash)
+}
+
+// getQdrantClusterCrdHash created a hash for the provided QdrantCluster,
+// however a subset only, see GetQdrantClusterCrdForHash for details.
+func getQdrantClusterCrdHash(qc QdrantCluster) (string, error) {
+	inspect := GetQdrantClusterCrdForHash(qc)
+	// Get the hash, so we can diff later
+	hash, err := getHash(inspect)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("failed to get hash for QdrantCluster: %w", err)
+	}
+	return hash, err
+}
+
+// Get hash of provided value.
+// Returns the first 7 characters of the hash (like GitHub).
+func getHash(v any) (string, error) {
+	json, err := json.Marshal(v)
+	if err != nil {
+		return "", fmt.Errorf("marshal failed: %w", err)
+	}
+	// Initialize hash
+	hash := sha256.New()
+	// add the serialized content
+	hash.Write(json)
+	// close hash
+	sum := hash.Sum(nil)
+	// Return first 7 characters
+	return fmt.Sprintf("%x", sum)[:7], nil
+}
diff --git a/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go b/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
index b6795bd..0bb6817 100644
--- a/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
+++ b/api/v1/zz_generated.deepcopy.go
@@ -807,6 +807,11 @@ func (in *QdrantClusterSnapshotStatus) DeepCopy() *QdrantClusterSnapshotStatus {
 // DeepCopyInto is an autogenerated deepcopy function, copying the receiver, writing into out. in must be non-nil.
 func (in *QdrantClusterSpec) DeepCopyInto(out *QdrantClusterSpec) {
 	*out = *in
+	if in.ServicePerNode != nil {
+		in, out := &in.ServicePerNode, &out.ServicePerNode
+		*out = new(bool)
+		**out = **in
+	}
 	if in.ClusterManager != nil {
 		in, out := &in.ClusterManager, &out.ClusterManager
 		*out = new(bool)