Algolia vs. Meilisearch
Side by side, with sources. Checked Oct 3, 2026.
Algolia
Paid plans
Meilisearch
Open sourcePrice
Free plan: 10K searches a month and 50K records, no card. Grow is pay-as-you-go: US$0.50 per extra 1,000 searches and US$0.40 per extra 1,000 records.Source: algolia.com
The Community Edition is free to self-host. Meilisearch Cloud starts at US$20 a month after a 14-day free trial.from $20/monthSource: meilisearch.com
Pricing model
Paid plans · Free plan available
Open source · Free plan available
License
ProprietaryA proprietary hosted service under Algolia’s terms of service.
Open core · MIT AND BUSL-1.1The Community Edition is MIT; Enterprise Edition features such as sharding are under BUSL-1.1 and need a commercial agreement in production.
Works on
- – Windows
- – Mac
- – Linux
- ✓ Web browser
- – Your own server
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Mac
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ Web browser
- ✓ Your own server
Where your data lives
On Algolia’s servers, in the US, UK or EU West on the free and Grow plans.
On your own machine or server, or in the Meilisearch Cloud region you pick when you create a project.
Getting started
—
Difficulty: Advanced The free Community Edition is a server you start from the command line or Docker; the no-code Cloud dashboard is only free for a 14-day trial.
Our take
Quick to try with the 14-day cloud trial or a single command on your computer. Check which edition you are running before going to production.
Best for
Small to mid-size sites
Teams that want useful results without much tuning and a simple API.
Check first
Edition and licence
Enterprise Edition features need a commercial agreement in production.