Toshi vs ZincSearch
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Toshi | ZincSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 79 · Good | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Go |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 4,256 | ★ 17,881 |
| First released | 2018 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Elasticsearch, Algolia |
What are Toshi and ZincSearch?
Toshi
Toshi is a self-hosted full-text search server that exposes an Elasticsearch-like JSON REST API on top of the Tantivy search engine. It targets developers who want a simple, fast search service in Rust.
- JSON REST API
- Tantivy-backed indexing
- Fast Rust core
- Simple to run
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
Toshi vs ZincSearch: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: ZincSearch's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Toshi is actively maintained. Toshi is written in Rust, while ZincSearch is built with Go. Licensing differs — MIT for Toshi versus Apache-2.0 for ZincSearch. Toshi is the more established project (first released 2018), while ZincSearch arrived in 2021. ZincSearch has the considerably larger community, at 17,881 GitHub stars versus 4,256.
Why pick each one
Choose Toshi if…
- Lightweight search server
- Familiar API style
Watch out for
- Less mature than ES
- Smaller feature set
Choose ZincSearch if…
- Simple to run
- Much lighter than Elasticsearch
Watch out for
- Smaller feature set
Frequently asked questions
Is Toshi 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 Toshi and ZincSearch free and open-source?
Yes. Toshi is licensed under MIT and ZincSearch under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Toshi and ZincSearch with Docker?
Toshi: yes. ZincSearch: yes.