Blast vs Pagefind
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Blast | Pagefind |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 14 · At risk | 88 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Go | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,073 | ★ 5,481 |
| First released | 2017 | 2022 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Algolia, Elasticsearch |
What are Blast and Pagefind?
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
Pagefind
Pagefind is a fully static search library that indexes a built website and serves search entirely from the browser without a backend. It is designed to be low-bandwidth and easy to add to any static site.
- Browser-side search index
- No backend required
- Low bandwidth
- Multilingual support
Blast vs Pagefind: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Blast's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Pagefind is actively maintained. Blast is written in Go, while Pagefind is built with Rust. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Blast versus MIT for Pagefind. Pagefind is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Blast. Blast is the more established project (first released 2017), while Pagefind arrived in 2022. Pagefind has the considerably larger community, at 5,481 GitHub stars versus 1,073. Blast lists first-class Docker deployment; Pagefind does not.
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 Pagefind if…
- Zero server cost
- Trivial to deploy
Watch out for
- Static content only
- Index rebuild on changes
Frequently asked questions
Is Blast or Pagefind better?
Pagefind is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Blast if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Blast and Pagefind free and open-source?
Yes. Blast is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Pagefind under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Blast and Pagefind with Docker?
Blast: yes. Pagefind: check the project docs for container support.
Which is lighter on resources, Blast or Pagefind?
Pagefind has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for Blast. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.