tinysearch vs Vespa
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | tinysearch | Vespa |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Read-the-docs project | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 87 · Excellent | 91 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 64 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | binary, source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,972 | ★ 7,109 |
| First released | 2019 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Algolia | Elasticsearch, Algolia |
What are tinysearch and Vespa?
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
Vespa
Vespa is an open-source platform for low-latency computation over large data sets, powering search, recommendation and AI applications. It combines storing, searching, ranking and organizing data.
- Combined search and ML ranking
- Vector and tensor computation
- Real-time indexing at scale
- Used for large recommendation systems
tinysearch vs Vespa: key differences
Tinysearch is written in Rust, while Vespa is built with Java. Licensing differs — MIT for tinysearch versus Apache-2.0 for Vespa. Tinysearch is the lighter option, starting around 64 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Vespa. Vespa is the more established project (first released 2017), while tinysearch arrived in 2019. Vespa has the considerably larger community, at 7,109 GitHub stars versus 2,972. Vespa lists first-class Docker deployment; tinysearch does not.
Why pick each one
Choose tinysearch if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Active community (3k GitHub stars)
- Written in Rust
- Tiny footprint — runs in 64 MB RAM
Choose Vespa if…
- Extremely powerful and scalable
- Built-in ML ranking
Watch out for
- Steep learning curve
- Heavy resource needs
Frequently asked questions
Is tinysearch or Vespa better?
Neither is universally better. Vespa has the larger community, while tinysearch is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are tinysearch and Vespa free and open-source?
Yes. tinysearch is licensed under MIT and Vespa under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run tinysearch and Vespa with Docker?
tinysearch: check the project docs for container support. Vespa: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, tinysearch or Vespa?
tinysearch has the smaller minimum footprint at 64 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Vespa. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.