Blast vs Manticore Search
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Blast | Manticore Search |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 14 · At risk | 94 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,073 | ★ 12,035 |
| First released | 2017 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch, Algolia |
What are Blast and Manticore Search?
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
Manticore Search
Manticore Search is an open-source, easy-to-use database designed for search. It offers full-text, faceted and vector search with a small memory footprint and SQL-like query syntax.
- Full-text and vector search
- SQL and HTTP query interfaces
- Low memory footprint
- Real-time indexing
Blast vs Manticore Search: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Blast's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Manticore Search is actively maintained. Blast is written in Go, while Manticore Search is built with C++. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Blast versus GPL-3.0 for Manticore Search. Manticore Search is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Blast. Manticore Search has the considerably larger community, at 12,035 GitHub stars versus 1,073.
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 Manticore Search if…
- Lightweight and fast
- SQL-friendly
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Elasticsearch
Frequently asked questions
Is Blast or Manticore Search better?
Manticore Search 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 Manticore Search free and open-source?
Yes. Blast is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Manticore Search under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Blast and Manticore Search with Docker?
Blast: yes. Manticore Search: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Blast or Manticore Search?
Manticore Search has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Blast. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.