Meilisearch vs. OpenSearch
Side by side, with sources. Checked Oct 3, 2026.
Meilisearch
Open source
OpenSearch
Open sourcePrice
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
Free and open source under Apache-2.0. Managed hosting is sold by third-party providers at their own prices.Source: opensearch.org
Pricing model
Open source · Free plan available
Open source · Free plan available
License
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.
Open source · Apache-2.0All software in the OpenSearch project is released under Apache-2.0.
Works on
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Mac
- ✓ Linux
- ✓ Web browser
- ✓ Your own server
- ✓ Windows
- ✓ Mac
- ✓ Linux
- – Web browser
- ✓ Your own server
Where your data lives
On your own machine or server, or in the Meilisearch Cloud region you pick when you create a project.
On servers you run yourself, or with the managed provider you choose.
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.
Difficulty: Advanced You run and secure a Java-based server from the command line (Docker, Linux packages or the Windows zip), or pay a managed provider.
Hosted version
Meilisearch Cloud14-day free trial with no card, then from US$20 a month.
NoneThe project has no hosted version of its own; opensearch.org lists third-party managed providers such as Amazon OpenSearch Service.