# Elasticsearch vs Meilisearch

> Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) to Elasticsearch's 67.7 (B) for vector search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.md (~2,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elasticsearch-vs-meilisearch.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-09

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 & auth. Both do vector search.

- 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
- 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
- Best vector search and retrieval databases for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/vector-search/index.md
- All 85 retrieval comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/vector-search/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Elasticsearch (B)

Good for: Retrieval that needs keyword relevance, filters and vectors in one query, and teams already running Elastic for logs or security.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 72 against 67

Watch for: More than 20 status notices marked major between 10 July and 8 October 2026, three of them regional service incidents

### Meilisearch (A)

Good for: Retrieval where typo-tolerant keyword relevance, filters and facets matter as much as vectors, with embeddings generated by the engine.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 62
- Schema & documentation, 93 against 88
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 77
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35
- Maintenance & community, 93 against 83

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: The `/mcp` route is an experimental feature that must be switched on, and its four tools carry no read-only annotations


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Elasticsearch | Meilisearch | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 62 | 90 | Meilisearch +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 93 | Meilisearch +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 87 | Meilisearch +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 67 | Elasticsearch +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 40 | Meilisearch +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 93 | Meilisearch +10 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 74 | Meilisearch +3 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **67.7 · B** | **78.6 · A** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Elasticsearch | Meilisearch |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Elastic | Meilisearch |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| 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 |
| Tools exposed | none | 4 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-07 | 2025-03-17 |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 3.1M npm/wk, 7.8M PyPI/wk | 60k stars, 752k npm/wk |

## 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.

## Before you call either

### Elasticsearch

1. Send `Authorization: ApiKey <key>` to the project's Elasticsearch URL. The MCP server is on the Kibana URL at `/api/agent_builder/mcp`
2. Create the MCP key with `feature_agentBuilder.read` and only the index patterns needed, or the endpoint answers 403
3. On 429, wait and retry with exponential backoff. Do not set short client timeouts, because a retried request joins the back of the queue
4. Page past 10,000 hits with `search_after`, not `from` and `size`
5. Tool calls made directly through the Tools API skip Agent Builder's confirmation prompts, so restrict the key instead

### Meilisearch

1. 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
2. Enable the `mcpRoute` experimental feature first. Until then `/mcp` answers `feature_not_enabled`
3. For hybrid search send `hybrid` with an `embedder` name configured in the index settings and a `semanticRatio` from 0 to 1
4. Writes return a `taskUid` and run asynchronously. Poll the task before searching for the new documents
5. On 503 `too_many_search_requests`, wait for the `Retry-After` header (10 seconds) before retrying

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Elasticsearch or Meilisearch?

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 & auth.

### Do Elasticsearch and Meilisearch need an API key?

Elasticsearch takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Meilisearch needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Elasticsearch and Meilisearch without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Elasticsearch. No hosted endpoint is listed for Meilisearch.

### Are Elasticsearch and Meilisearch open source?

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).


## For agents

- 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
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "elasticsearch", "b": "meilisearch"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare elasticsearch meilisearch`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elasticsearch.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meilisearch.json

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