# Meilisearch (slim)

> 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.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch.md (~7,450 tokens) · this version ~1,880 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

**A · 78.6/100 · rank #14 of 950 · #1 in Retrieval & vector search · agent-ready · confidence medium**


Assessment: 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.

## Facts

- Kind: HTTP API · vendor: Meilisearch · category: Retrieval & vector search · legal entity: Meili SAS · provenance 76/100
- Local only (HTTP): npm `meilisearch`, pypi `meilisearch`
- Auth: API key · pricing: Pay per use · x402: no · licence: MIT for the Community Edition. Enterprise Edition code, which powers Meilisearch Cloud, is BUSL-1.1
- Probe metrics: not measured yet (probes haven't run)
- Surface graded: Meilisearch Cloud through the REST API (v1.54.3). The same API runs self-hosted from the MIT Community Edition
- Search modes: Typo-tolerant keyword, semantic (vector) and hybrid with `semanticRatio` from 0 to 1, filters, facets, sorting, geo search and federated multi-index search. Embeddings generated by a configured embedder (OpenAI, Cohere, Mistral, Hugging Face, Gemini, Voyage and others, or any REST endpoint) or supplied by the caller
- MCP server: Built in at `POST /mcp` since v1.54 (21 September 2026), experimental, enabled with the `mcpRoute` feature. Four read-only tools (`listIndexes`, `describeIndex`, `searchInIndexes`, `facetSearch`), MCP protocol version 2026-07-28, API key as Bearer, no OAuth. The older `meilisearch-mcp` Python package is deprecated
- Credentials: Bearer API keys limited to named actions and indexes with optional expiry, a default admin key and a default search key, and tenant tokens that embed search rules. The `/keys` route needs the master key
- Free trial: 14 days on Cloud, no card (https://www.meilisearch.com/pricing)
- Cloud billing: Usage-based Build plan at $30 a month in the estimator with 50,000 searches and 100,000 documents, then $0.40 per 1,000 searches and $0.30 per 1,000 documents. Resource-based projects pay hourly by instance size (XS, 0.5 vCPU and 1 GB RAM, $18 a month in the estimator), plus disk at $0.165 per GiB with a 32 GB minimum and bandwidth at $0.15 per GB. Enterprise by quote
- Limits: 1,000 concurrent searches, then 503 `too_many_search_requests` with `Retry-After` of 10 seconds. 1,000 results a search by default (`pagination.maxTotalHits`), 10 query words, 100 facet values in facet search. No Cloud request rate limit published
- Update delay: Not published. Writes are queued as asynchronous tasks and return a `taskUid`. We haven't measured the delay
- Regions: Nine on Cloud. Frankfurt, Paris, London, Singapore, Japan, Sydney, San Francisco, New York and São Paulo. A project's region can't be changed
- SLA: 99.9 per cent monthly uptime with service credits of 10 to 30 per cent, Enterprise plans only. The pricing page advertises up to 99.999 per cent by contract
- Self-hosted: Community Edition under MIT as a single binary or Docker image. Enterprise Edition (sharding) under BUSL-1.1. Telemetry is on by default and `--no-analytics` turns it off
- SDKs: Official clients for JavaScript (meilisearch 0.62.0 on npm), Python, PHP, Ruby, Java, Go, .NET and Dart, plus Laravel, Rails, Strapi and Firebase integrations
- Prices: Build plan, 50,000 searches and 100,000 documents included $30 per month (plan); Extra searches on the Build plan $0.40 per 1,000 requests; Cloud bandwidth, resource-based projects $0.15 per GB of traffic

- Scores: Reliability 90, Performance pending, Schema & documentation 93, Agent ergonomics 87, Security & auth 67, Payments & pricing 40, Task success pending, Maintenance & community 93, Transparency & trust 74 · total over the 7 assessed categories
- Why: Reliability, Graded as the hosted Meilisearch Cloud service. · Schema & documentation, OpenAPI 3.1.0 file for v1.54.3 with 72 paths and 143 operations, linked from the docs, attached to each release and regenerated in a daily C… · Agent ergonomics, `attributesToRetrieve`, `limit`, `cropLength` and `rankingScoreThreshold` size a search response, and the MCP route has four tools, with… · Security & auth, API keys are limited to named actions and indexes with an optional expiry, tenant tokens embed search rules for each user, keys are sent onl… · Payments & pricing, Graded on Meilisearch Cloud. · Maintenance & community, v1.54.3 tagged 1 October 2026 (30). · Transparency & trust, The Community Edition is MIT.
- Sources: 15, open questions: 8, both in the full twin
- Capabilities: db.vector, db.hybrid, db.fulltext, db.filters
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/meilisearch.json
- Verify (for the vendor): the badge `https://www.anchorterminal.com/badges/meilisearch.svg` or a link to https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/meilisearch from a page on meilisearch.com or one of its subdomains, or the README of github.com/meilisearch/meilisearch, then `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/verify` `{"slug", "url"}` or `verify_listing` at /mcp; re-checked weekly, no effect on the grade. Snippets in the full twin.

## Before you call it

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

## Connect

```bash
npm install meilisearch
```

```bash
curl \
  -X POST 'MEILISEARCH_URL/indexes/movies/search' \
  -H 'Authorization: Bearer API_KEY' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data-binary '{ "q": "american ninja" }'
```

```bash
claude mcp add --transport http meilisearch https://your-host/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY"
```
Full config and headless snippets are in the full page. Through letme (picks today, calling later): https://letme.dev/meilisearch

## Similar tools

| Tool | Grade | Score | Shared capabilities | Slim |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Pinecone API + MCP | BB | 76.2 | db.vector, db.hybrid, db.fulltext, db.filters | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pinecone.min.md |
| Supabase API + MCP | BB | 75.6 | db.vector, db.hybrid, db.fulltext, db.filters | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/supabase-mcp.min.md |
| Qdrant API + MCP | BB | 75.3 | db.vector, db.hybrid, db.fulltext, db.filters | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/qdrant.min.md |
| Typesense API + MCP | BB | 70.7 | db.vector, db.hybrid, db.fulltext, db.filters | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/typesense.min.md |
| Vespa | BB | 70 | db.vector, db.hybrid, db.fulltext, db.filters | https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/vespa.min.md |


## Panel reviews (0, desk reviews from public material, no calls made)