# Meilisearch vs Vespa

> Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) to Vespa's 70 (BB) for vector search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.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 Vespa's 70 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vespa leads on security & auth and transparency & trust. Both do vector search.

- 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
- Vespa: grade BB, 70/100, rank #165 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vespa.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

### 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 80
- Schema & documentation, 93 against 58
- Agent ergonomics, 87 against 80

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

### Vespa (BB)

Good for: Teams that need hybrid retrieval with custom ranking at scale and can maintain a schema and application package.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 75 against 67
- Transparency & trust, 85 against 74

Watch for: No OpenAPI file was found in the docs index. The APIs are described in reference pages only


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Meilisearch | Vespa | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 90 | 80 | Meilisearch +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 93 | 58 | Meilisearch +35 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 87 | 80 | Meilisearch +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 67 | 75 | Vespa +8 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 93 | 91 | Meilisearch +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 85 | Vespa +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -2 | |
| **Total** | | **78.6 · A** | **70 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Meilisearch | Vespa |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Meilisearch | Vespa.ai AS |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1 | Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service |
| Tools exposed | 4 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-03-17 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |
| Popularity | 60k stars, 752k npm/wk | 7.1k stars, 180k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Vespa.** Vespa Cloud publishes hourly unit prices, a 99.5% uptime agreement for paying customers and a trial with $300 of credits and no card. Every call needs an application package deployed first, no OpenAPI file was found in the reviewed documentation, and Vespa.ai says it has no official public MCP server.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Vespa

1. Deploy an application package with a schema before feeding or querying. Use `vespa deploy` and wait for the endpoint to report ready
2. Send a token as `Authorization: Bearer` only to the endpoint marked Token. The mTLS endpoint needs the client certificate and key
3. Set `hits`, `offset` and `presentation.summary` on queries. `hits` is capped at 400 by default and the query timeout defaults to 0.5s
4. On 429 from `/document/v1` reduce the feed rate and back off. On 507 stop feeding, because the cluster is out of memory or disk
5. Use the `condition` parameter for test-and-set writes and expect 412 when it fails or the document is missing

## Questions

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

Meilisearch scores 78.6 (A) on agent readiness against Vespa's 70 (BB), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Vespa leads on security & auth and transparency & trust.

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

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

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

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

### Are Meilisearch and Vespa open source?

Yes. Meilisearch is open source (MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1). Vespa is open source (Apache-2.0 for the engine, the Vespa CLI and pyvespa. Vespa Cloud is a paid hosted service).


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/meilisearch-vs-vespa.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "meilisearch", "b": "vespa"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare meilisearch vespa`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meilisearch.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/vespa.json

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