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Elasticsearch vs Vespa: catalog facts
Elasticsearch	Vespa
Freemium Free to download and self-host; Elastic sells a hosted cloud service with a free trial.	Freemium Free and open source to self-host; Vespa Cloud is a paid service with a free trial.
Windows, Self-hosted	Web, Self-hosted
Full-text, vector and hybrid search through one API Scales horizontally across a cluster	Text, vector and hybrid retrieval with ranking in one engine Runs machine-learned models at query time
Running and tuning a cluster takes operational effort Aimed at developers and operators rather than end users	Aimed at engineering teams rather than individual users Larger setup and learning effort than simpler search servers
Downloadable app, Self-hosted, Hosted service	Self-hosted, Hosted service
Open source	Open source
License not stated	License: Apache-2.0
No account needed	Not stated if an account is 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.