Meilisearch vs Tantivy
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?
Meilisearch
Fast, typo-tolerant search engine for applications
VS
Tantivy
Full-text search engine library written in Rust
| Feature | Meilisearch | Tantivy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | source, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 58,904 | ★ 15,656 |
| First released | 2018 | 2016 |
| Replaces | Algolia, Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Meilisearch or Tantivy better?
Meilisearch is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Tantivy if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Meilisearch and Tantivy free and open-source?
Yes. Meilisearch is licensed under MIT and Tantivy under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Meilisearch and Tantivy with Docker?
Meilisearch: yes. Tantivy: check the project docs for container support.