Blast vs Typesense
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Typesense
Open-source typo-tolerant search engine optimized for speed
| Feature | Blast | Typesense |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 14 · At risk | 95 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,073 | ★ 26,587 |
| First released | 2017 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Algolia, Elasticsearch |
What are Blast and Typesense?
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
Typesense
Typesense is an open-source, typo-tolerant search engine built for fast and relevant search experiences. It offers a developer-friendly API and is positioned as an Algolia and Elasticsearch alternative.
- Typo-tolerant instant search
- Built-in high availability clustering
- Geo and vector search support
- Developer-friendly API
Blast vs Typesense: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Blast's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Typesense is actively maintained. Blast is written in Go, while Typesense is built with C++. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Blast versus GPL-3.0 for Typesense. Blast is the more established project (first released 2017), while Typesense arrived in 2019. Typesense has the considerably larger community, at 26,587 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 Typesense if…
- Fast and easy to operate
- Open-source clustering
Watch out for
- Smaller plugin ecosystem
Frequently asked questions
Is Blast or Typesense better?
Typesense 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 Typesense free and open-source?
Yes. Blast is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Typesense under GPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Blast and Typesense with Docker?
Blast: yes. Typesense: yes.