Manticore Search vs Toshi
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Manticore Search | Toshi |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 94 · Excellent | 79 · Good |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | GPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | C++ | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 12,035 | ★ 4,256 |
| First released | 2017 | 2018 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch, Algolia | Elasticsearch |
What are Manticore Search and Toshi?
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
Toshi
Toshi is a self-hosted full-text search server that exposes an Elasticsearch-like JSON REST API on top of the Tantivy search engine. It targets developers who want a simple, fast search service in Rust.
- JSON REST API
- Tantivy-backed indexing
- Fast Rust core
- Simple to run
Manticore Search vs Toshi: key differences
Manticore Search is written in C++, while Toshi is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Manticore Search versus MIT for Toshi. Manticore Search has the considerably larger community, at 12,035 GitHub stars versus 4,256.
Why pick each one
Choose Manticore Search if…
- Lightweight and fast
- SQL-friendly
Watch out for
- Smaller community than Elasticsearch
Choose Toshi if…
- Lightweight search server
- Familiar API style
Watch out for
- Less mature than ES
- Smaller feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Manticore Search or Toshi better?
Neither is universally better. Manticore Search has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Manticore Search and Toshi free and open-source?
Yes. Manticore Search is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Toshi under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Manticore Search and Toshi with Docker?
Manticore Search: yes. Toshi: yes.