Quickwit vs ZincSearch
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Quickwit
Cloud-native search engine for logs and traces
VS
ZincSearch
Archived
Lightweight search engine alternative to Elasticsearch
| Feature | Quickwit | ZincSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 93 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 11,670 | ★ 17,881 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Splunk, Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch, Algolia |
What are Quickwit and ZincSearch?
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
ZincSearch
ZincSearch is a lightweight, single-binary search engine that aims to be a simple, low-resource alternative to Elasticsearch. It provides a web UI and an Elasticsearch-compatible ingestion API.
- Single binary deployment
- Built-in web UI
- Elasticsearch-compatible bulk API
- Low resource requirements
Quickwit vs ZincSearch: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: ZincSearch's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Quickwit is actively maintained. Quickwit is written in Rust, while ZincSearch is built with Go. ZincSearch is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Quickwit.
Why pick each one
Choose Quickwit if…
- Very cost effective at scale
- Modern Rust codebase
Watch out for
- Focused on append-only data
Choose ZincSearch if…
- Simple to run
- Much lighter than Elasticsearch
Watch out for
- Smaller feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Quickwit or ZincSearch better?
ZincSearch is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider ZincSearch if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Quickwit and ZincSearch free and open-source?
Yes. Quickwit is licensed under Apache-2.0 and ZincSearch under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Quickwit and ZincSearch with Docker?
Quickwit: yes. ZincSearch: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Quickwit or ZincSearch?
ZincSearch 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.