{ "data": { "a": { "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": 242, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 8, "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": 0, "avgRating": 0, "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": "2026-10-10T02:05:56.44505885Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "elastic/elasticsearch", "version": "v9.5.5", "released": "2026-10-06", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:51:28.060716552Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "@elastic/elasticsearch", "version": "9.5.1", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:51:25.742667029Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "elasticsearch", "version": "9.5.1", "released": "2026-09-09", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T16:51:27.922910454Z" } ], "githubStars": 78225, "npmWeekly": 2585602, "pypiWeekly": 7817826, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://elastic.co/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T15:39:54.193710383Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T14:01:50.325575586Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/docs/release-notes/elasticsearch", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:49:52.532544613Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "b089eced2b1b" }, { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/pricing/serverless-search", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:49:58.534687729Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "2aedb044e960" }, { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/legal/product-privacy-statement", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:49:56.471944811Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "c61e39fadb3e" }, { "url": "https://www.elastic.co/agreements/cloud-monthly", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:49:49.860754605Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "9558ef2f6571" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T02:05:56.44505885Z" } }, "answer": "Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on security \u0026 auth.", "b": { "slug": "meilisearch", "name": "Meilisearch", "vendor": "Meilisearch", "vendorUrl": "https://www.meilisearch.com", "kind": "http-api", "category": "vector-search", "summary": "Open-source search engine from Meili SAS in Paris with typo-tolerant keyword search, vector and hybrid search, filters and facets. It runs self-hosted or as Meilisearch Cloud, with a REST API, SDKs and an experimental built-in MCP route.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meilisearch.json", "repo": "https://github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch", "license": "MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1", "transports": [ "http" ], "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "meilisearch" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "meilisearch" } ], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "Every route except `/health` takes an API key as `Authorization: Bearer`. Keys are limited to named actions (`search`, `documents.add`, `indexes.get` and others) and to named indexes, with an optional expiry, and are created through `/keys` with the master key. Tenant tokens are short-lived tokens signed from a key that embed search filters for one user. A Cloud project is created by a person signed in at cloud.meilisearch.com, which generates the master key. The MCP route takes the same Bearer key and has no OAuth flow.", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Meilisearch Cloud has a 14-day trial with no card. After that the usage-based Build plan includes 50,000 searches and 100,000 documents a month, then $0.40 per 1,000 searches and $0.30 per 1,000 documents. Resource-based projects pay hourly by instance size plus disk and bandwidth. Enterprise is by quote. The self-hosted Community Edition is free under MIT (https://www.meilisearch.com/pricing).", "priceSummary": "$30 / mo", "where": "local", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the docs, the OpenAPI file or the pricing page (checked 2026-10-09).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 4, "popularity": { "githubStars": 59529, "npmWeekly": 752198, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-09" }, "docsUrl": "https://www.meilisearch.com/docs", "llmsTxt": "https://www.meilisearch.com/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://www.meilisearch.com/docs/assets/release-assets/meilisearch-openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "db.vector", "db.hybrid", "db.fulltext", "db.filters" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "usage", "free-trial", "no-card", "open-source", "self-hosted", "mcp", "openapi", "llms-txt", "typescript", "python", "status-page", "soc2" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-01", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 78.6, "grade": "A", "agentReady": true, "rank": 14, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 950, "categoryRank": 1, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 87, "maintenance": 93, "payments": 40, "reliability": 90, "schema": 93, "security": 67, "transparency": 74 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-09" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Keyword, vector and hybrid search share one request, behind keys scoped by action and index and a published OpenAPI 3.1 file with 143 operations. The built-in MCP server is experimental and read-only, and Cloud access starts with a browser sign-up and a 14-day trial.", "bestFor": "Retrieval where typo-tolerant keyword relevance, filters and facets matter as much as vectors, with embeddings generated by the engine.", "strengths": [ "Keyword, vector and hybrid search in one request, with `semanticRatio`, filters, facets, sorting and federated multi-index search", "OpenAPI 3.1 file for v1.54.3 with 143 operations, each described, checked daily in CI and attached to every release", "API keys limited to named actions and indexes with an expiry, plus tenant tokens that embed per-user search filters", "Status page shows one 16-minute outage of the San Francisco cluster in 90 days, on 24 July 2026", "Three minor releases between 3 August and 21 September 2026, and patch release v1.54.3 on 1 October 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "The `/mcp` route is an experimental feature that must be switched on, and its four tools carry no read-only annotations", "No per-plan request rate limit is published for Cloud, although the monitoring docs list rate limiting as a cause of failed calls", "The 99.9 per cent uptime SLA applies to Enterprise plans only", "The terms of use date from 18 March 2022 and forbid using the service for comparative analysis, which matters before any probe is run", "Cloud runs the Enterprise Edition, parts of which are under BUSL-1.1, and no audit log was found in the docs" ], "agentNotes": [ "Create a key with only `search`, `documents.get` and `indexes.get` on the indexes needed. The default search key fails `listIndexes` and `describeIndex` over MCP", "Enable the `mcpRoute` experimental feature first. Until then `/mcp` answers `feature_not_enabled`", "For hybrid search send `hybrid` with an `embedder` name configured in the index settings and a `semanticRatio` from 0 to 1", "Writes return a `taskUid` and run asynchronously. Poll the task before searching for the new documents", "On 503 `too_many_search_requests`, wait for the `Retry-After` header (10 seconds) before retrying" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "A", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 78.6 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 87, "maintenance": 93, "payments": 40, "reliability": 90, "schema": 93, "security": 67, "transparency": 72 }, "provenanceScore": 76 }, "connect": { "install": "npm install meilisearch", "http": "curl \\\n -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/movies/search' \\\n -H 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY' \\\n -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \\\n --data-binary '{ \"q\": \"american ninja\" }'", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http meilisearch https://your-host/mcp \\\n --header \"Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/db.vector", "tool": "https://letme.dev/meilisearch" }, "area": "developer", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Build plan, 50,000 searches and 100,000 documents included", "unit": "month", "usd": 30, "note": "Figure from the pricing page's estimator" }, { "item": "Extra searches on the Build plan", "unit": "1k-requests", "usd": 0.4, "note": "Beyond the included 50,000 a month" }, { "item": "Cloud bandwidth, resource-based projects", "unit": "gb", "usd": 0.15, "note": "May vary slightly by region" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Meili SAS", "domain": "meilisearch.com", "domainRegistered": "2018-09-19", "endpointOnVendorDomain": false, "terms": "https://www.meilisearch.com/terms-of-use", "privacy": "https://www.meilisearch.com/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.meilisearch.com", "changelog": "https://github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch/releases", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-09", "notes": [ "The terms of use and privacy policy name Meili, a simplified joint stock company at 52 boulevard de Sebastopol, 75003 Paris, registered in Paris under number 844 156 364. The repository licence names Meili SAS and the SLA names Meilisearch SAS.", "The terms of use cover the SaaS (Meilisearch Cloud) and the website in one document, in force since 18 March 2022. The privacy policy covers the website and the service, updated 17 March 2025.", "Cloud project hosts in the docs are on meilisearch.io (for example `ms-xxxxxxxxxxxx-xxxx.meilisearch.io`), a second domain. The console is at cloud.meilisearch.com.", "security.txt gives a support@ contact, expires 26 May 2027 and points its policy at trust.meilisearch.com, which we could not reach (TLS handshake failed from our network).", "RDAP for meilisearch.com gives a registration date of 2018-09-19." ], "score": 76 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch.json", "live": { "slug": "meilisearch", "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.meilisearch.com", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-10T00:50:47.762685709Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "github", "name": "meilisearch/meilisearch", "version": "v1.54.3", "released": "2026-10-01", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T17:04:40.097716968Z" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "meilisearch", "version": "0.62.0", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T17:04:39.05018526Z" }, { "registry": "pypi", "name": "meilisearch", "version": "0.43.0", "released": "2026-07-22", "seenAt": "2026-10-09T17:04:39.969460973Z" } ], "githubStars": 59532, "npmWeekly": 752198, "pypiWeekly": 161080, "pages": [ { "url": "https://www.meilisearch.com/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:52:04.7066609Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "dcca1e629ab7" }, { "url": "https://www.meilisearch.com/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:52:07.026020309Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "21c832192d64" }, { "url": "https://www.meilisearch.com/terms-of-use", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-09T18:52:09.133371798Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "fingerprint": "d3de0e9f5e21" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-10T00:50:47.762685709Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Elastic", "b": "Meilisearch", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "no (local only)", "b": "no (local only)", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth or key", "b": "API key", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Pay per use", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "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", "b": "MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "none", "b": "4", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-10-06", "b": "2026-10-01", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "no date given", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "2026-09-07", "b": "2025-03-17", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "3.1M npm/wk, 7.8M PyPI/wk", "b": "60k stars, 752k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on security \u0026 auth.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Elasticsearch or Meilisearch?" }, { "answer": "Elasticsearch takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Meilisearch needs an API key.", "question": "Do Elasticsearch and Meilisearch need an API key?" }, { "answer": "No hosted endpoint is listed for Elasticsearch. No hosted endpoint is listed for Meilisearch.", "question": "Can an agent call Elasticsearch and Meilisearch without installing anything?" }, { "answer": "Yes. 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). Meilisearch is open source (MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1).", "question": "Are Elasticsearch and Meilisearch open source?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Security \u0026 auth, 72 against 67" ], "also": null, "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" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 90 against 62", "Schema \u0026 documentation, 93 against 88", "Agent ergonomics, 87 against 77", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 93 against 83" ], "also": [ "Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better" ], "goodFor": "Retrieval where typo-tolerant keyword relevance, filters and facets matter as much as vectors, with embeddings generated by the engine.", "slug": "meilisearch", "watchFor": "The `/mcp` route is an experimental feature that must be switched on, and its four tools carry no read-only annotations" } ], "job": { "capability": "db.vector", "name": "Vector search" }, "others": [ { "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/chroma-vs-meilisearch.json", "title": "Chroma API + MCP vs Meilisearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-meilisearch" }, { "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-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/epsilla-vs-meilisearch.json", "title": "Epsilla Vector Database vs Meilisearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-meilisearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-meilisearch.json", "title": "LanceDB vs Meilisearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-meilisearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-milvus-zilliz.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-milvus-zilliz" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-opensearch.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs OpenSearch", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-opensearch" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-pinecone.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Pinecone API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-pinecone" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-qdrant.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Qdrant API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-qdrant" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-typesense.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Typesense API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-typesense" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-upstash-vector.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Upstash Vector API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-upstash-vector" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Vespa", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-weaviate.json", "title": "Meilisearch vs Weaviate API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-weaviate" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 28, "edge": "meilisearch", "elasticsearch": 62, "key": "reliability", "meilisearch": 90, "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "meilisearch", "elasticsearch": 88, "key": "schema", "meilisearch": 93, "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "meilisearch", "elasticsearch": 77, "key": "ergonomics", "meilisearch": 87, "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "elasticsearch", "elasticsearch": 72, "key": "security", "meilisearch": 67, "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 5, "edge": "meilisearch", "elasticsearch": 35, "key": "payments", "meilisearch": 40, "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "meilisearch", "elasticsearch": 83, "key": "maintenance", "meilisearch": 93, "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 3, "edge": "meilisearch", "elasticsearch": 71, "key": "transparency", "meilisearch": 74, "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do vector search.", "verdicts": { "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.", "meilisearch": "Keyword, vector and hybrid search share one request, behind keys scoped by action and index and a published OpenAPI 3.1 file with 143 operations. The built-in MCP server is experimental and read-only, and Cloud access starts with a browser sign-up and a 14-day trial." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.min.md" }, "markdown": "Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on security \u0026 auth. Both do vector search.\n\n- Elasticsearch: grade B, 67.7/100, rank #242 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elasticsearch.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json\n- Meilisearch: grade A, 78.6/100, rank #14 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meilisearch.json\n- Best vector search and retrieval databases for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/vector-search/index.md\n- All 85 retrieval comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vector-search/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\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- Security \u0026 auth, 72 against 67\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### Meilisearch (A)\n\nGood for: Retrieval where typo-tolerant keyword relevance, filters and facets matter as much as vectors, with embeddings generated by the engine.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 90 against 62\n- Schema \u0026 documentation, 93 against 88\n- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 77\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 35\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 93 against 83\n\nAlso in its favour:\n- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better\n\nWatch for: The `/mcp` route is an experimental feature that must be switched on, and its four tools carry no read-only annotations\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Elasticsearch | Meilisearch | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 62 | 90 | Meilisearch +28 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 93 | Meilisearch +5 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 87 | Meilisearch +10 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 67 | Elasticsearch +5 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Meilisearch +5 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 93 | Meilisearch +10 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 74 | Meilisearch +3 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **67.7 · B** | **78.6 · A** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Elasticsearch | Meilisearch |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Elastic | Meilisearch |\n| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |\n| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | 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 | MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1 |\n| Tools exposed | none | 4 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-01 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |\n| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-07 | 2025-03-17 |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 3.1M npm/wk, 7.8M PyPI/wk | 60k stars, 752k npm/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\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**Meilisearch.** Keyword, vector and hybrid search share one request, behind keys scoped by action and index and a published OpenAPI 3.1 file with 143 operations. The built-in MCP server is experimental and read-only, and Cloud access starts with a browser sign-up and a 14-day trial.\n\n## Before you call either\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### Meilisearch\n\n1. Create a key with only `search`, `documents.get` and `indexes.get` on the indexes needed. The default search key fails `listIndexes` and `describeIndex` over MCP\n2. Enable the `mcpRoute` experimental feature first. Until then `/mcp` answers `feature_not_enabled`\n3. For hybrid search send `hybrid` with an `embedder` name configured in the index settings and a `semanticRatio` from 0 to 1\n4. Writes return a `taskUid` and run asynchronously. Poll the task before searching for the new documents\n5. On 503 `too_many_search_requests`, wait for the `Retry-After` header (10 seconds) before retrying\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Elasticsearch or Meilisearch?\n\nMeilisearch scores 78.6 (A) on agent readiness against Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Elasticsearch leads on security \u0026 auth.\n\n### Do Elasticsearch and Meilisearch need an API key?\n\nElasticsearch takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Meilisearch needs an API key.\n\n### Can an agent call Elasticsearch and Meilisearch without installing anything?\n\nNo hosted endpoint is listed for Elasticsearch. No hosted endpoint is listed for Meilisearch.\n\n### Are Elasticsearch and Meilisearch open source?\n\nYes. 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). Meilisearch is open source (MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1).\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"elasticsearch\", \"b\": \"meilisearch\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare elasticsearch meilisearch`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meilisearch.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Elasticsearch or Meilisearch\n\n- [Chroma API + MCP vs Elasticsearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-elasticsearch.md)\n- [Chroma API + MCP vs Meilisearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chroma-vs-meilisearch.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 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- [Epsilla Vector Database vs Meilisearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/epsilla-vs-meilisearch.md)\n- [LanceDB vs Meilisearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/lancedb-vs-meilisearch.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Milvus and Zilliz Cloud API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-milvus-zilliz.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs OpenSearch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-opensearch.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Pinecone API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-pinecone.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Qdrant API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-qdrant.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Typesense API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-typesense.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Upstash Vector API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-upstash-vector.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Vespa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.md)\n- [Meilisearch vs Weaviate API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-weaviate.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-10", "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" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch", "url": "" } ], "description": "Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) to Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B) for vector search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Elasticsearch B 67.7", "Meilisearch A 78.6", "scores" ], "h1": "Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.png", "path": "/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-09", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2600, "slim": 730 }, "version": 1 }