Milvus vs Recoll
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?
Milvus
Open-source vector database built for scalable similarity search
VS
Recoll
Full-text desktop and server search for your documents
| Feature | Milvus | Recoll |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Go | C++ |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, helm | bare-metal, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 45,556 | ★ 300 |
| First released | 2019 | 2005 |
| Replaces | Pinecone, Elasticsearch | Google Desktop |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is Milvus or Recoll better?
Neither is universally better. Milvus has the larger community, while Recoll is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Milvus and Recoll free and open-source?
Yes. Milvus is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Recoll under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Milvus and Recoll with Docker?
Milvus: yes. Recoll: check the project docs for container support.