Elasticsearch vs Summa
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Elasticsearch
Distributed search and analytics engine
VS
Summa
Full-text search server able to run in the browser via WASM
| Feature | Elasticsearch | Summa |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Elastic-2.0 | MIT |
| Language | Java | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 2,048 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 77,808 | ★ 291 |
| First released | 2010 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Algolia, Splunk | Elasticsearch |
Why pick each one
Choose Summa if…
- Released under the MIT license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 256 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Elasticsearch or Summa better?
Neither is universally better. Elasticsearch has the larger community, while Summa is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Elasticsearch and Summa free and open-source?
Yes. Elasticsearch is licensed under Elastic-2.0 and Summa under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Elasticsearch and Summa with Docker?
Elasticsearch: yes. Summa: yes.