{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "cloudflare-ai-search", "name": "Cloudflare AI Search", "vendor": "Cloudflare, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://www.cloudflare.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "vector-search", "summary": "Cloudflare's managed retrieval service, formerly AutoRAG, indexes websites, R2 buckets and uploaded files and answers natural-language queries with vector, keyword or hybrid search, through a REST API, a Workers binding or a per-instance MCP endpoint.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-search", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.json", "license": "Proprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement. The `cloudflare` SDKs are Apache-2.0, `ai-search-provider` is MIT and the OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-Clause", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "cloudflare" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "cloudflare" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "ai-search-provider" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "A Cloudflare API token as a Bearer header, created by a person in the dashboard, with the AI Search permission at Read, Run or Edit on an account. The search guide asks for Edit and Run. Tokens take an expiry and an IP address filter, and the OpenAPI also accepts the legacy global API key with an email. Public endpoints (`/search`, `/chat/completions`, `/mcp`) take no authentication unless the owner puts a custom domain behind Cloudflare Access, which then needs a service token in two headers. Inside a Worker the binding needs no token.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Billing starts on 1 November 2026. Each month every account gets 5 million ingestion tokens, 10 GB-month of storage, 1,000 semantic and 1,000 full-text queries. Beyond that, $0.75 per million ingestion tokens (plus $0.50 for images and OCR), $2.00 per GB-month, $0.75 per 1,000 semantic or hybrid queries and $0.10 per 1,000 full-text queries. Generation and query rewriting bill through Workers AI or AI Gateway (https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/platform/limits-pricing/, checked 2026-10-17).", "priceSummary": "$0.75 / 1k req", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "The AI Search docs, pricing page and OpenAPI operations mention no x402, MPP or L402. AI Gateway Machine Payments covers only POST /ai/run for four open models (https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/platform/limits-pricing/, checked 2026-10-17).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 1, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 86, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-17" }, "docsUrl": "https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/", "llmsTxt": "https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/cloudflare/api-schemas/main/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "db.hybrid", "db.vector", "db.fulltext", "db.filters", "db.serverless", "knowledge.search" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage-based", "free-tier", "openapi", "llms-txt", "mcp", "openai-compatible", "streaming", "typescript", "python", "cli", "status-page", "bug-bounty" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-16", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 73.5, "grade": "BB", "agentReady": true, "rank": 92, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1133, "categoryRank": 4, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 88, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 45, "reliability": 70, "schema": 89, "security": 68, "transparency": 73 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-17" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "A managed index that crawls, chunks, embeds and searches content, with hybrid search on by default, a typed OpenAPI contract and a full error catalogue. Generally available since 1 October 2026, with billing from 1 November. Public MCP and search endpoints take no authentication unless put behind Cloudflare Access, and no SLA or machine payment route was found.", "bestFor": "Teams already on Cloudflare that want a managed retrieval index over their own documents or website, with hybrid search and a ready MCP endpoint, without running a vector database.", "strengths": [ "Hybrid vector and BM25 search on by default, with metadata filters applied before retrieval", "Error catalogue with code, HTTP status and recommended action for every documented failure", "Public OpenAPI with enums and bounds on retrieval options, plus llms.txt and Markdown pages", "Every account gets 1,000 semantic and 1,000 full-text queries and 10 GB-month of storage free each month", "Files uploaded to built-in storage are indexed on upload, with no sync job" ], "weaknesses": [ "Public endpoints, including MCP, answer anyone with the URL unless a custom domain sits behind Cloudflare Access", "No SLA for AI Search found", "No x402 or other machine payment route. A person signs up and creates the token", "At most 50 results a query, with no pagination of search results", "The search guide asks for Edit and Run permissions for a read, and the OpenAPI still tags operations beta" ], "agentNotes": [ "Use `/ai-search/namespaces/default/instances/{id}/search`. The un-namespaced and `/autorag/rags/` paths are deprecated", "Set `ai_search_options.retrieval.max_num_results` (1 to 50, default 10) and `match_threshold` (default 0.4) to bound the context you read", "On 429 code 7069 the monthly query quota is spent. Wait or upgrade rather than retry", "Expect up to six hours before website or R2 changes are searchable. Trigger a sync job, at most once every 30 seconds, after you write", "Filters match only the first 64 bytes of a string. Use a `$gte`/`$lt` range on `folder` to match a folder and its subfolders" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "BB", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 73.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 88, "maintenance": 78, "payments": 45, "reliability": 70, "schema": 89, "security": 68, "transparency": 51 }, "provenanceScore": 95 }, "connect": { "install": "npx wrangler ai-search create docs-search --type builtin", "http": "curl -X POST \"https://api.cloudflare.com/client/v4/accounts/\u003cACCOUNT_ID\u003e/ai-search/namespaces/default/instances/\u003cINSTANCE_NAME\u003e/search\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer \u003cAPI_TOKEN\u003e\" \\\n -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d '{\n \"messages\": [\n {\n \"content\": \"What is Cloudflare?\",\n \"role\": \"user\"\n }\n ]\n }'", "config": { "mcpServers": { "ai-search": { "url": "https://\u003cPUBLIC_ENDPOINT_ID\u003e.search.ai.cloudflare.com/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/db.hybrid", "tool": "https://letme.dev/cloudflare-ai-search" }, "sameCompany": [ "cloudflare-ai-gateway", "cloudflare-workers-ai", "cloudflare-sandbox-sdk", "cloudflare-web-search", "cloudflare-cli", "cloudflare-mcp", "cloudflare-email-service", "cloudflare-r2", "cloudflare-clef" ], "area": "developer", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Semantic, vector or hybrid queries beyond 1,000 a month", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 0.75 }, { "item": "Full-text queries beyond 1,000 a month", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 0.1 }, { "item": "Ingestion beyond 5 million tokens a month", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.75 }, { "item": "Image processing and OCR, on top of ingestion", "unit": "1m-tokens", "usd": 0.5 }, { "item": "Storage beyond 10 GB-month", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 2 } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Cloudflare, Inc.", "domain": "cloudflare.com", "domainRegistered": "2009-02-17", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.cloudflare.com/terms/", "privacy": "https://www.cloudflare.com/privacypolicy/", "statusPage": "https://www.cloudflarestatus.com", "changelog": "https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/platform/release-note/", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-17", "notes": [ "Legal entity, domain date, terms and privacy follow the Workers AI listing's check of 9 October 2026. We didn't re-read them for this listing.", "www.cloudflare.com/.well-known/security.txt, read on 17 October 2026, names HackerOne and a disclosure policy and has no Expires field. It is recorded as valid to match the other Cloudflare listings.", "The service-specific terms of 28 September 2026 have no AI Search section. Vectorize, R2 and Workers fall under the Developer Platform section.", "The REST endpoints are on api.cloudflare.com and public endpoints on search.ai.cloudflare.com.", "The status page lists AI Search as its own component, operational on 17 October 2026." ], "score": 95 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.json", "live": { "slug": "cloudflare-ai-search", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://www.cloudflarestatus.com", "indicator": "major", "summary": "Partial System Outage", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18T00:08:18.743113772Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/platform/release-note/", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T22:59:22.507495336Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b6f792cd538f" }, { "url": "https://developers.cloudflare.com/ai-search/platform/limits-pricing/", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T22:59:20.518509532Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "8f0bdb38f9de" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-18T00:08:18.743113772Z" } }, "answer": "Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on maintenance \u0026 community.", "b": { "slug": "elasticsearch", "name": "Elasticsearch", "vendor": "Elastic", "vendorUrl": "https://www.elastic.co", "kind": "http-api", "category": "vector-search", "summary": "Elasticsearch is Elastic's search engine and vector database, with keyword, vector and hybrid search over a REST API. Agents reach it through that API or the Agent Builder MCP server on Elastic Cloud and Elastic Stack 9.2 or later.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json", "repo": "https://github.com/elastic/elasticsearch", "license": "AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@elastic/elasticsearch" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "elasticsearch" } ], "auth": "mixed", "authNotes": "Self-serve. The REST API takes `Authorization: ApiKey \u003ckey\u003e`, with keys created in Kibana or by `POST /_security/api_key` and limited by role descriptors and an expiry. The Agent Builder MCP server takes the same kind of key, which needs the `feature_agentBuilder.read` Kibana privilege, or OAuth 2.1 on Serverless projects, where a registered client and a browser consent give each user a revocable connection.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Serverless bills by use, with search from $0.09 a VCU-hour, ingest from $0.14, storage from $0.047 a GB a month and egress from $0.05 a GB. Agent Builder has 1,000 free executions a month, then from $0.025 each. A 14-day Elastic Cloud trial needs no credit card. Self-managed Elasticsearch is free to run under its source licences (https://www.elastic.co/pricing/serverless-search, checked 2026-10-08).", "priceSummary": "$0.09 / unit", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs index, the Serverless OpenAPI file or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-08).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 3136798, "pypiWeekly": 7755257, "asOf": "2026-10-08" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/solutions/search", "llmsTxt": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/api/doc/elasticsearch-serverless.json", "capabilities": [ "db.vector", "db.hybrid", "db.fulltext", "db.filters", "db.serverless" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage", "free-trial", "no-card", "open-source", "self-hosted", "mcp", "oauth", "openapi", "llms-txt", "typescript", "python", "status-page", "bug-bounty", "soc2", "sla" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-06", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 67.7, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 262, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1133, "categoryRank": 10, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 35, "reliability": 62, "schema": 88, "security": 72, "transparency": 71 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-08" }, "negative": -2, "negativeNotes": [ "Sixteen Elasticsearch security advisories were posted between 25 September and 6 October 2026. The one we read, ESA-2026-199 (CVE-2026-103009, CVSS 7.1), is an authorisation bypass in cross-cluster search on self-managed clusters, fixed in 8.19.23, 9.4.8 and 9.5.5, and Elastic says Serverless is not affected. Fixed and disclosed, so a small deduction (https://discuss.elastic.co/c/announcements/security-announcements/31)." ], "verdict": "Keyword, dense and sparse vector, and hybrid search with rank fusion sit behind one OpenAPI-described REST API, with API keys scoped to indices and privileges. The status page lists more than 20 incidents marked major since July 2026, and Elasticsearch 9.5.0 returned incorrect results for some queries without raising an error.", "bestFor": "Retrieval that needs keyword relevance, filters and vectors in one query, and teams already running Elastic for logs or security.", "strengths": [ "OpenAPI 3.0.3 file for the Serverless API with 311 operations, plus llms.txt and a Markdown twin of every docs page", "API keys take role descriptors that limit indices and privileges, with an expiry, and the MCP server accepts OAuth 2.1 on Serverless", "Agent Builder MCP server is generally available on Serverless and on Elastic Stack 9.3 and later", "14-day Elastic Cloud trial with no credit card, and unit prices published for Serverless", "Public bug bounty on HackerOne, CVE Numbering Authority status and dated security advisories" ], "weaknesses": [ "More than 20 status notices marked major between 10 July and 8 October 2026, three of them regional service incidents", "Elasticsearch 9.5.0 (29 July 2026) returned incorrect results for some `must_not` queries with no error, fixed in 9.5.1 and 9.5.2", "No request rate limit with numbers was found in the reviewed documentation", "The 99.95 per cent Serverless SLA applies only at Platinum or Enterprise subscription level", "The monthly terms forbid use of the cloud service for benchmarking, competitive or comparative purposes", "Search compute on Serverless does not scale to zero, so an idle project is still billed a baseline" ], "agentNotes": [ "Send `Authorization: ApiKey \u003ckey\u003e` to the project's Elasticsearch URL. The MCP server is on the Kibana URL at `/api/agent_builder/mcp`", "Create the MCP key with `feature_agentBuilder.read` and only the index patterns needed, or the endpoint answers 403", "On 429, wait and retry with exponential backoff. Do not set short client timeouts, because a retried request joins the back of the queue", "Page past 10,000 hits with `search_after`, not `from` and `size`", "Tool calls made directly through the Tools API skip Agent Builder's confirmation prompts, so restrict the key instead" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 4, "avgRating": 3.3, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 67.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 77, "maintenance": 83, "payments": 35, "reliability": 62, "schema": 88, "security": 72, "transparency": 70 }, "provenanceScore": 71 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install @elastic/elasticsearch", "http": "curl -X GET \"${ES_URL}/_cat/indices?v=true\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: ApiKey ${API_KEY}\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "elastic-agent-builder": { "args": [ "mcp-remote", "${KIBANA_URL}/api/agent_builder/mcp", "--header", "Authorization:${AUTH_HEADER}" ], "command": "npx", "env": { "AUTH_HEADER": "ApiKey ${API_KEY}", "KIBANA_URL": "${KIBANA_URL}" } } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/db.vector", "tool": "https://letme.dev/elasticsearch" }, "area": "developer", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Serverless search compute, VCU-hour", "unit": "compute-unit", "usd": 0.09, "note": "Quoted as a floor on the pricing page" }, { "item": "Serverless ingest compute, VCU-hour", "unit": "compute-unit", "usd": 0.14, "note": "Quoted as a floor on the pricing page" }, { "item": "Serverless storage", "unit": "gb-month", "usd": 0.047, "note": "Quoted as a floor on the pricing page" }, { "item": "Serverless egress", "unit": "gb", "usd": 0.05, "note": "Quoted as a floor on the pricing page" }, { "item": "Agent Builder execution", "unit": "call", "usd": 0.025, "note": "After 1,000 free executions a month, quoted as a floor" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Elasticsearch B.V.", "domain": "elastic.co", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://www.elastic.co/agreements/cloud-monthly", "privacy": "https://www.elastic.co/legal/product-privacy-statement", "statusPage": "https://status.elastic.co", "changelog": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/release-notes/elasticsearch", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-08", "notes": [ "The Cloud Monthly Terms of Service (effective 12 September 2025) name the contracting entity by customer location, Elasticsearch, Inc. for the United States and Elasticsearch B.V. or Elastic International B.V. elsewhere. The page is a cover that links the PDF.", "Customers with an order form are under the Elastic Cloud Service Subscription Agreement of 5 March 2026 at https://www.elastic.co/agreements/global/cloud-services.", "The Product Privacy Statement (7 September 2026) is issued by Elastic N.V. and its subsidiaries and covers Elastic Cloud Hosted, Serverless and self-managed software. The General Privacy Statement covers only websites and events.", "www.elastic.co/.well-known/security.txt returned 404. Reports go to HackerOne or security@elastic.co.", "No RDAP service answered for elastic.co, so the registration date is not recorded.", "Project endpoints are on Elastic Cloud hostnames that we did not call. `endpointOnVendorDomain` rests on the docs, not on a request." ], "score": 71 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.json", "live": { "slug": "elasticsearch", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.elastic.co", "indicator": "major", "summary": "Partial System Outage", "checkedAt": "2026-10-18T00:08:34.264513043Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "elastic/elasticsearch", "version": "v9.5.5", "released": "2026-10-06", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T01:46:26.099047827Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@elastic/elasticsearch", "version": "9.5.1", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T01:46:23.622921492Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "elasticsearch", "version": "9.5.1", "released": "2026-09-09", "seenAt": "2026-10-17T01:46:25.669958269Z" } ], "githubStars": 78293, "npmWeekly": 2526434, "pypiWeekly": 8016836, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://elastic.co/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T15:52:18.239170503Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T14:22:02.094806643Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "elastic.co", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:23:36.063082922Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/release-notes/elasticsearch", "kind": "changelog", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:15:26.875416367Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:27:38.970734403Z", "fingerprint": "874301042fb7" }, { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/pricing/serverless-search", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:15:31.561049585Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-14T21:12:24.935599297Z", "fingerprint": "ad4fda122ef6" }, { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/legal/product-privacy-statement", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:15:29.355944102Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-14T21:12:22.851347901Z", "fingerprint": "5be3adcbce52" }, { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/agreements/cloud-monthly", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-17T23:15:20.533958844Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-14T21:12:15.699949892Z", "fingerprint": "27f034002200" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-18T00:08:34.264513043Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Cloudflare, Inc.", "b": "Elastic", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "OAuth or key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "$0.75 per 1,000 requests", "b": "not published", "name": "Price for db hybrid" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement. The `cloudflare` SDKs are Apache-2.0, `ai-search-provider` is MIT and the OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-Clause", "b": "AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "1", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-16", "b": "2026-10-06", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2025-09-12", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2026-09-07", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "couldn't be read", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "86 npm/wk", "b": "3.1M npm/wk, 7.8M PyPI/wk", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3.5/5 (4)", "b": "3.3/5 (4)", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on maintenance \u0026 community.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Cloudflare AI Search or Elasticsearch?" }, { "answer": "Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Cloudflare AI Search and Elasticsearch need an API key?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. No hosted endpoint is listed for Elasticsearch.", "question": "Can an agent call Cloudflare AI Search and Elasticsearch without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "No open-source release is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. Elasticsearch is open source (AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms).", "question": "Are Cloudflare AI Search and Elasticsearch open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 70 against 62", "Agent ergonomics, 88 against 77", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 45 against 35" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "goodFor": "Teams already on Cloudflare that want a managed retrieval index over their own documents or website, with hybrid search and a ready MCP endpoint, without running a vector database.", "slug": "cloudflare-ai-search", "watchFor": "Public endpoints, including MCP, answer anyone with the URL unless a custom domain sits behind Cloudflare Access" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 78" ], "also": [ "Free to start without a card", "Open source" ], "goodFor": "Retrieval that needs keyword relevance, filters and vectors in one query, and teams already running Elastic for logs or security.", "slug": "elasticsearch", "watchFor": "More than 20 status notices marked major between 10 July and 8 October 2026, three of them regional service incidents" } ], "job": { "capability": "db.hybrid", "name": "Db hybrid" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-cloudflare-ai-search.json", "title": "Chroma API + MCP vs Cloudflare AI Search", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-cloudflare-ai-search" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-elasticsearch.json", "title": "Chroma API + MCP vs Elasticsearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-elasticsearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-epsilla.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Epsilla Vector Database", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-epsilla" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-lancedb.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs LanceDB", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-lancedb" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-milvus-zilliz.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-milvus-zilliz" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-opensearch.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs OpenSearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-opensearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-pinecone.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Pinecone API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-pinecone" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Qdrant API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-typesense.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Typesense API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-typesense" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-upstash-vector.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Upstash Vector API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-upstash-vector" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-weaviate.json", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Weaviate API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-weaviate" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-epsilla.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Epsilla Vector Database", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-epsilla" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-lancedb.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs LanceDB", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-lancedb" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-meilisearch.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Meilisearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-meilisearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-milvus-zilliz.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-milvus-zilliz" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-opensearch.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs OpenSearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-opensearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-pinecone.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Pinecone API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-pinecone" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-qdrant.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Qdrant API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-qdrant" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-typesense.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Typesense API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-typesense" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-upstash-vector.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Upstash Vector API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-upstash-vector" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-weaviate.json", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Weaviate API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-weaviate" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 8, "cloudflare-ai-search": 70, "edge": "cloudflare-ai-search", "elasticsearch": 62, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "cloudflare-ai-search": 89, "edge": "cloudflare-ai-search", "elasticsearch": 88, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 11, "cloudflare-ai-search": 88, "edge": "cloudflare-ai-search", "elasticsearch": 77, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 4, "cloudflare-ai-search": 68, "edge": "elasticsearch", "elasticsearch": 72, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 10, "cloudflare-ai-search": 45, "edge": "cloudflare-ai-search", "elasticsearch": 35, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 5, "cloudflare-ai-search": 78, "edge": "elasticsearch", "elasticsearch": 83, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 2, "cloudflare-ai-search": 73, "edge": "cloudflare-ai-search", "elasticsearch": 71, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on maintenance \u0026 community. Both do db hybrid.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "cloudflare-ai-search": "A managed index that crawls, chunks, embeds and searches content, with hybrid search on by default, a typed OpenAPI contract and a full error catalogue. Generally available since 1 October 2026, with billing from 1 November. Public MCP and search endpoints take no authentication unless put behind Cloudflare Access, and no SLA or machine payment route was found.", "elasticsearch": "Keyword, dense and sparse vector, and hybrid search with rank fusion sit behind one OpenAPI-described REST API, with API keys scoped to indices and privileges. The status page lists more than 20 incidents marked major since July 2026, and Elasticsearch 9.5.0 returned incorrect results for some queries without raising an error." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.min.md" }, "markdown": "Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on maintenance \u0026 community. Both do db hybrid.\n\n- Cloudflare AI Search: grade BB, 73.5/100, rank #92 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.json\n- Elasticsearch: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #262 of 1133. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json\n- Best vector search and retrieval databases for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/vector-search/index.md\n- All 98 retrieval comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vector-search/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Cloudflare AI Search (BB)\n\nGood for: Teams already on Cloudflare that want a managed retrieval index over their own documents or website, with hybrid search and a ready MCP endpoint, without running a vector database.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 70 against 62\n- Agent ergonomics, 88 against 77\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 45 against 35\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: Public endpoints, including MCP, answer anyone with the URL unless a custom domain sits behind Cloudflare Access\n\n### Elasticsearch (B)\n\nGood for: Retrieval that needs keyword relevance, filters and vectors in one query, and teams already running Elastic for logs or security.\n\nAhead on:\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 83 against 78\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Free to start without a card\n- Open source\n\nWatch for: More than 20 status notices marked major between 10 July and 8 October 2026, three of them regional service incidents\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Cloudflare AI Search | Elasticsearch | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 62 | Cloudflare AI Search +8 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 88 | Cloudflare AI Search +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 77 | Cloudflare AI Search +11 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 72 | Elasticsearch +4 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 45 | 35 | Cloudflare AI Search +10 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 83 | Elasticsearch +5 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 71 | Cloudflare AI Search +2 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |\n| **Total** | | **73.5 · BB** | **67.7 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Cloudflare AI Search | Elasticsearch |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Cloudflare, Inc. | Elastic |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| Price for db hybrid | $0.75 per 1,000 requests | not published |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under Cloudflare's Self-Serve Subscription Agreement. The `cloudflare` SDKs are Apache-2.0, `ai-search-provider` is MIT and the OpenAPI repository is BSD-3-Clause | AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms |\n| Tools exposed | 1 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-16 | 2026-10-06 |\n| Terms last updated | 2025-09-12 | couldn't be read |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-09-07 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict automated access | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | couldn't be read |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | couldn't be read |\n| Popularity | 86 npm/wk | 3.1M npm/wk, 7.8M PyPI/wk |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (4) | 3.3/5 (4) |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Cloudflare AI Search.** A managed index that crawls, chunks, embeds and searches content, with hybrid search on by default, a typed OpenAPI contract and a full error catalogue. Generally available since 1 October 2026, with billing from 1 November. Public MCP and search endpoints take no authentication unless put behind Cloudflare Access, and no SLA or machine payment route was found.\n\n**Elasticsearch.** Keyword, dense and sparse vector, and hybrid search with rank fusion sit behind one OpenAPI-described REST API, with API keys scoped to indices and privileges. The status page lists more than 20 incidents marked major since July 2026, and Elasticsearch 9.5.0 returned incorrect results for some queries without raising an error.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Cloudflare AI Search\n\n1. Use `/ai-search/namespaces/default/instances/{id}/search`. The un-namespaced and `/autorag/rags/` paths are deprecated\n2. Set `ai_search_options.retrieval.max_num_results` (1 to 50, default 10) and `match_threshold` (default 0.4) to bound the context you read\n3. On 429 code 7069 the monthly query quota is spent. Wait or upgrade rather than retry\n4. Expect up to six hours before website or R2 changes are searchable. Trigger a sync job, at most once every 30 seconds, after you write\n5. Filters match only the first 64 bytes of a string. Use a `$gte`/`$lt` range on `folder` to match a folder and its subfolders\n\n### Elasticsearch\n\n1. Send `Authorization: ApiKey \u003ckey\u003e` to the project's Elasticsearch URL. The MCP server is on the Kibana URL at `/api/agent_builder/mcp`\n2. Create the MCP key with `feature_agentBuilder.read` and only the index patterns needed, or the endpoint answers 403\n3. On 429, wait and retry with exponential backoff. Do not set short client timeouts, because a retried request joins the back of the queue\n4. Page past 10,000 hits with `search_after`, not `from` and `size`\n5. Tool calls made directly through the Tools API skip Agent Builder's confirmation prompts, so restrict the key instead\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Cloudflare AI Search or Elasticsearch?\n\nCloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on maintenance \u0026 community.\n\n### Do Cloudflare AI Search and Elasticsearch need an API key?\n\nBoth take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Cloudflare AI Search and Elasticsearch without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. No hosted endpoint is listed for Elasticsearch.\n\n### Are Cloudflare AI Search and Elasticsearch open source?\n\nNo open-source release is listed for Cloudflare AI Search. Elasticsearch is open source (AGPL-3.0, SSPL-1.0 or Elastic Licence 2.0 at the user's choice for most source. The `x-pack` folder is under Elastic Licence 2.0 only. Elastic Cloud is a proprietary service under Elastic's terms).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"cloudflare-ai-search\", \"b\": \"elasticsearch\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare cloudflare-ai-search elasticsearch`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudflare-ai-search.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Cloudflare AI Search or Elasticsearch\n\n- [Chroma API + MCP vs Cloudflare AI Search](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-cloudflare-ai-search.md)\n- [Chroma API + MCP vs Elasticsearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-elasticsearch.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Epsilla Vector Database](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-epsilla.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-lancedb.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-milvus-zilliz.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs OpenSearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-opensearch.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Pinecone API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-pinecone.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-qdrant.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-typesense.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-upstash-vector.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Elasticsearch vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-weaviate.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Epsilla Vector Database](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-epsilla.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs LanceDB](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-lancedb.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Meilisearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-meilisearch.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-milvus-zilliz.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs OpenSearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-opensearch.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Pinecone API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-pinecone.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-qdrant.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-typesense.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-upstash-vector.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Cloudflare AI Search vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-weaviate.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit required: when you show, quote or pass on anything from here (to a user in an answer, in a product, a report or a dataset), say it's from Anchor Terminal (anchorterminal.com) and link the page or API address you took it from. Reviews also credit their author.", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-18", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Elasticsearch", "url": "" } ], "description": "Cloudflare AI Search scores 73.5 (BB) to Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B) for db hybrid. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Cloudflare AI Search BB 73.5", "Elasticsearch B 67.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Elasticsearch", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch.png", "path": "/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Cloudflare AI Search vs Elasticsearch for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-17", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/cloudflare-ai-search-vs-elasticsearch" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2800, "slim": 780 }, "version": 1 }