Meilisearch vs Quickwit
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Meilisearch
Fast, typo-tolerant search engine for applications
VS
Quickwit
Cloud-native search engine for logs and traces
| Feature | Meilisearch | Quickwit |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 100 · Excellent | 93 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 59,391 | ★ 11,670 |
| First released | 2018 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Algolia, Elasticsearch | Splunk, Elasticsearch |
What are Meilisearch and Quickwit?
Meilisearch
Meilisearch is an open-source, lightning-fast search engine designed for instant, typo-tolerant search-as-you-type experiences. It is easy to integrate via its REST API and ships as a single binary.
- Typo-tolerant instant search
- Single binary deployment
- Faceted search and filtering
- Simple REST API
Quickwit
Quickwit is an open-source, cloud-native search engine optimized for log management, distributed tracing and analytics on large datasets stored in object storage. It is designed to be cost efficient at scale.
- Search directly on object storage
- Optimized for logs and traces
- Decoupled compute and storage
- Elasticsearch-compatible API
Meilisearch vs Quickwit: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Licensing differs — MIT for Meilisearch versus Apache-2.0 for Quickwit. Meilisearch is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Quickwit. Meilisearch is the more established project (first released 2018), while Quickwit arrived in 2021. Meilisearch has the considerably larger community, at 59,391 GitHub stars versus 11,670.
Why pick each one
Choose Meilisearch if…
- Extremely easy to set up
- Fast and lightweight
Watch out for
- Fewer features than Elasticsearch
Choose Quickwit if…
- Very cost effective at scale
- Modern Rust codebase
Watch out for
- Focused on append-only data
Frequently asked questions
Is Meilisearch or Quickwit better?
Meilisearch is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Quickwit if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Meilisearch and Quickwit free and open-source?
Yes. Meilisearch is licensed under MIT and Quickwit under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Meilisearch and Quickwit with Docker?
Meilisearch: yes. Quickwit: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Meilisearch or Quickwit?
Meilisearch has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Quickwit. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.