Pagefind vs tinysearch
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Pagefind | tinysearch |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Read-the-docs project |
| Health score | 88 · Excellent | 87 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | source, binary | binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,481 | ★ 2,972 |
| First released | 2022 | 2019 |
| Replaces | Algolia, Elasticsearch | Algolia |
What are Pagefind and tinysearch?
Pagefind
Pagefind is a fully static search library that indexes a built website and serves search entirely from the browser without a backend. It is designed to be low-bandwidth and easy to add to any static site.
- Browser-side search index
- No backend required
- Low bandwidth
- Multilingual support
tinysearch
tinysearch is a lightweight full-text search engine that compiles a static site's content into a small WebAssembly module for client-side search. It is designed for blogs and documentation where a search server would be overkill.
- WebAssembly search module
- No backend required
- Tiny index size
- Client-side full-text search
Pagefind vs tinysearch: key differences
Both projects are written in Rust. Tinysearch is the more established project (first released 2019), while Pagefind arrived in 2022.
Why pick each one
Choose Pagefind if…
- Zero server cost
- Trivial to deploy
Watch out for
- Static content only
- Index rebuild on changes
Choose tinysearch if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Frequently asked questions
Is Pagefind or tinysearch better?
Pagefind is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider tinysearch if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Pagefind and tinysearch free and open-source?
Yes. Pagefind is licensed under MIT and tinysearch under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Pagefind and tinysearch with Docker?
Pagefind: check the project docs for container support. tinysearch: check the project docs for container support.