Blast vs ZincSearch
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Blast | ZincSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 14 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Archived | Archived |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Go | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,073 | ★ 17,881 |
| First released | 2017 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch, Algolia |
What are Blast and ZincSearch?
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
ZincSearch
ZincSearch is a lightweight, single-binary search engine that aims to be a simple, low-resource alternative to Elasticsearch. It provides a web UI and an Elasticsearch-compatible ingestion API.
- Single binary deployment
- Built-in web UI
- Elasticsearch-compatible bulk API
- Low resource requirements
Blast vs ZincSearch: key differences
Note that both projects' repositories are archived — neither is actively developed. Both projects are written in Go. ZincSearch is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for Blast. Blast is the more established project (first released 2017), while ZincSearch arrived in 2021. ZincSearch has the considerably larger community, at 17,881 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 ZincSearch if…
- Simple to run
- Much lighter than Elasticsearch
Watch out for
- Smaller feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Blast or ZincSearch better?
ZincSearch 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 ZincSearch free and open-source?
Yes. Blast is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZincSearch under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Blast and ZincSearch with Docker?
Blast: yes. ZincSearch: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Blast or ZincSearch?
ZincSearch 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.