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Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch: catalog facts
Elasticsearch	Meilisearch
Freemium Free to download and self-host; Elastic sells a hosted cloud service with a free trial.	Freemium Core engine is free under MIT; enterprise edition features use a separate licence.
Windows, Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted
Full-text, vector and hybrid search through one API Scales horizontally across a cluster	RESTful API that is simple to call from any language Hybrid keyword and AI-based search
Running and tuning a cluster takes operational effort Aimed at developers and operators rather than end users	Some enterprise features are under a non-MIT licence Aimed at developers, not end users
Downloadable app, Self-hosted, Hosted service	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Not stated if it works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

Catalog facts only. Anything “not stated” is unconfirmed. Check full listings for details.