ParadeDB vs Quickwit

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

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FeatureParadeDBQuickwit
CategorySearch EnginesSearch Engines
LicenseAGPL-3.0Apache-2.0
LanguageRustRust
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, sourcedocker, kubernetes, binary
GitHub stars★ 9,135★ 11,471
First released20232021
ReplacesElasticsearchSplunk, Elasticsearch

Why pick each one

Choose ParadeDB if…

  • Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
  • First-class Docker support for quick deployment
  • Mature project with 9.1k GitHub stars
  • Written in Rust
ParadeDB details

Choose Quickwit if…

  • Very cost effective at scale
  • Modern Rust codebase
Quickwit details

Frequently asked questions

Is ParadeDB or Quickwit better?

Neither is universally better. Quickwit has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are ParadeDB and Quickwit free and open-source?

Yes. ParadeDB is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Quickwit under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run ParadeDB and Quickwit with Docker?

ParadeDB: yes. Quickwit: yes.

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