I recently did a comparison between getting OW emerald with QR as considering switching from BAEC.

similar to you I fly largely Y in discounted seats. Currently Sapphire but will make Gold this year, couple of personal short haul J tickets to help get over the line with BAEC.

ive attached my spreadsheet for you for comparison between my flying pattern if was QR or BA. Lower tiers very similar but Emerald seems much easier on Qatar so you likely want to do a similar comparison on your own flying patterns if status your primary driver as you may find you miss it with other OW partners.

people said to me that QR harder for redemptions but I don’t find BA easy and have a shedload or Avios with them.

i would say worth you looking into your pattern but beware that certainly from BA side it’s far harder to get Emerald and QR also give you a one and two year total to count towards your status which looks even better to retain it than others.