Meilisearch

B tier on Search DatabasesScore 7.3 · #5 of 29

Android app: Not listed
Free plan: Yes
Paid plans from: $20/mo
Runs on: api, Linux, Mac, self-hosted, Web, Windows

meilisearch.com

Summary

Meilisearch is a search engine that developers can add to a website or application, either by self-hosting or using its cloud service. Its full-text search provides automatic typo tolerance and relevance ranking; hybrid search combines keyword precision with semantic understanding. It also provides retrieval infrastructure for RAG with hybrid retrieval and LangChain support. Other capabilities include faceted, federated, multimodal, personalized, and conversational search. Meilisearch supports more than 30 languages, with automatic language detection and smart tokenization, and offers SDKs, plugins, and integrations for programming languages and frameworks including JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Rust, Java, .NET, Swift, and Dart. The company says results return in under 50 milliseconds for typical workloads. Self-hosting costs 0.00 USD per free under the MIT license, with infrastructure, updates, backups, and scaling left to the user. Cloud starts at 20.00 USD per month and has a 14-day free trial, usage- or resource-based billing, and email support. Enterprise pricing is custom; its listed benefits include dedicated resources and Slack support.

Who it is for

Meilisearch may suit developers adding search to websites or applications who want full-text, hybrid, or other listed search options. Self-hosting fits teams prepared to manage their own infrastructure, while cloud includes email support.

What is good

Self-hosted plan has no usage limits.
Cloud offers a 14-day free trial.
Supports more than 30 languages.
Provides SDKs and integrations across major programming languages.

What to know first

Self-hosting users manage updates, backups, and scaling.
Cloud starts at 20.00 USD per month.
Enterprise pricing is custom and not listed.

Verdict

Meilisearch offers both self-hosted and cloud deployment, with a wide set of search modes and developer integrations. Choose between managing infrastructure yourself and paying for cloud service starting at 20.00 USD per month.

Meilisearch plans and pricing

All plans

Self-hosted Free Free (infra costs) MIT license · deploy on your own infrastructure · no usage limits · you manage updates, backups, and scaling meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026

Cloud $20/mo Starting at $20/month 14-day free trial · no credit card required · usage-based or resource-based billing · email support included meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026

Enterprise Not published Custom custom infrastructure · dedicated resources · up to 99.999% uptime SLA · dedicated Slack support · SSO SAML · SOC 2 compliance meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026

Compared on search databases

Free plan: Yesmeilisearch.com
Paid from: $20/momeilisearch.com
Primary search mode: full-textmeilisearch.com
Vector search: Yesmeilisearch.com
Faceted search: Yesmeilisearch.com
Deployment: bothmeilisearch.com
Query interface: RESTmeilisearch.com

Facts

What it does: Meilisearch is a flexible, powerful user-focused search engine that can be added to any website or application.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Full-text search: Full-text search provides automatic typo tolerance and relevance ranking.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Hybrid search: Hybrid search combines keyword precision with semantic understanding.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
AI retrieval: Meilisearch provides RAG infrastructure with hybrid retrieval and LangChain support.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Search capabilities: The product lineup includes faceted, federated, multimodal, personalization, and conversational search.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Performance: Meilisearch returns search results in under 50 milliseconds for typical workloads.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Languages: Meilisearch works in 30+ languages with automatic language detection and smart tokenization.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Integrations: Official SDKs, plugins, and integrations cover major programming languages and frameworks, including JavaScript, Python, PHP, Ruby, Go, Rust, Java, .NET, Swift, and Dart.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Cloud and self-hosting: Meilisearch is available for self-hosting or through its cloud-based SaaS solution.trust.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Security: The Trust Center states that Meilisearch uses encryption, continuous monitoring, regular assessments, and compliance measures including GDPR and SOC 2 Type 2.trust.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Cloud support: Cloud includes email support, while Enterprise includes a dedicated Slack support channel.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Operating systems: Official binaries support Windows Server 2022 and later, macOS 12 and later, and Linux distributions using amd64/x86_64 or aarch64/arm64 with glibc 2.35 or later.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026
Target users: Meilisearch says it powers search experiences from startups to enterprises across e-commerce, SaaS applications, media and streaming, knowledge bases, and enterprise use cases.meilisearch.com · 30 Sept 2026