We study two-dimensional (2D) matter-wave solitons in the mean-field models formed by electric quadrupole particles with long-range quadrupole–quadrupole interaction (QQI) in 2D free space. The existence of 2D matter-wave solitons in the free space was predicted using the 2D Gross–Pitaevskii Equation (GPE). We find that the QQI solitons have a higher mass (smaller size and higher intensity) and stronger anisotropy than the dipole–dipole interaction (DDI) solitons under the same environmental parameters. Anisotropic soliton–soliton interaction between two identical QQI solitons in 2D free space is studied. Moreover, stable anisotropic dipole solitons are observed, to our knowledge, for the first time in 2D free space under anisotropic nonlocal cubic nonlinearity.