Blast vs lnx
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Blast | lnx |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 14 · At risk | 34 · At risk |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,073 | ★ 1,454 |
| First released | 2017 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch, Algolia |
What are Blast and lnx?
Blast
Blast is a full-text search and indexing server written in Go and built on the Bleve library, with support for clustering through the Raft consensus algorithm. It exposes both gRPC and HTTP APIs for indexing and searching documents.
- Distributed clustering
- Bleve-based indexing
- gRPC and HTTP APIs
- Raft consensus
lnx
lnx is an open-source search engine server built on top of the Tantivy library that exposes a simple REST API for indexing and querying documents. It aims to be a fast, easy-to-deploy alternative for full-text search.
- Built on Tantivy
- Simple REST API
- Fast full-text search
- Typo-tolerant queries
Blast vs lnx: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Blast's repository is archived and no longer developed, while lnx is actively maintained. Blast is written in Go, while lnx is built with Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Blast versus MIT for lnx. Blast is the more established project (first released 2017), while lnx arrived in 2021.
Why pick each one
Choose Blast if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Choose lnx if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.5k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
Frequently asked questions
Is Blast or lnx better?
lnx is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Blast if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Blast and lnx free and open-source?
Yes. Blast is licensed under Apache-2.0 and lnx under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Blast and lnx with Docker?
Blast: yes. lnx: yes.