Compare software

Sonic vs Meilisearch: catalog facts
Sonic	Meilisearch
Free Free and open source under the Mozilla Public License 2.0.	Freemium Core engine is free under MIT; enterprise edition features use a separate licence.
Linux, Self-hosted	Windows, macOS, Linux, Self-hosted
Very low memory use compared with Elasticsearch Schema-less, with no index mapping to define	RESTful API that is simple to call from any language Hybrid keyword and AI-based search
Returns identifiers, not stored documents, so a separate database is needed Uses its own protocol rather than a familiar HTTP API	Some enterprise features are under a non-MIT licence Aimed at developers, not end users
Self-hosted	Downloadable app, Self-hosted
Open source	Open source
License: MPL-2.0	License: MIT
No account needed	No account needed
Works offline	Not stated if it works offline
Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 1, 2026	Official website Full listing and sources Checked October 2, 2026

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