Free Site Search Engines
Which site search engines a startup can add fast search to its website or app with for free today, how many search requests and records the free plan covers, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, read from each provider's own page.
Free allowances read on each provider's own pages, all checked on or after . Search engines change their free plans from time to time: confirm the terms on the provider's page before you rely on it.
Site search engines a startup can use for free today include Algolia (Free plan: 10K search requests a month), Meilisearch (Open source, MIT license), Meilisearch Cloud (14-day free trial of Cloud), Typesense (Open source search engine), and Typesense Cloud (720 hours and 10GB of bandwidth). Each of the 11 free plans below links to the provider's page that states it, with its main limit, its request and record caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs.
Search that finds the right product, article or doc as you type keeps visitors on your site. Hosted search services index your content and answer queries in milliseconds, several with a free plan or trial, and open-source search engines run free on your own servers or in a static site.
The headline rarely tells you how far it goes. Free plans cap search requests or records a month, some free allowances are one-time, and self-hosted engines leave hosting and scaling to you. Each engine below shows what is free, its main limit, its request and record caps, whether a card is needed and what the first paid plan costs, quoted from the provider's own page with the date we read it.
Which tools we picked and the order they appear in are our editorial choices; the terms are the providers'. Some of these providers pay us a referral commission when someone signs up through our link: those links are labeled, and they play no part in which tools are listed or where.
Site search services with a free plan or trial
Add instant search to your site or app on a hosted service, free to start.
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Algolia
Hosted search with a free monthly allowance
Algolia's Free plan includes 10K search requests a month and 50K records, with no credit card required. Above the included requests, the Grow plan charges $0.50 per additional 1K searches.
- Requests and records
- 50K records included (source: algolia.com)
- Payment card
- No credit card required (source: algolia.com)
- First paid plan
- Grow: $0.50 per extra 1K searches (source: algolia.com)
Start free at AlgoliaTerms read on algolia.com on Algolia: the free allowance and how to start Algolia for Startups: what startups get - 2
Meilisearch Cloud
A managed search trial with no card to start
Meilisearch Cloud includes a 14-day free trial for a project, and no credit card is needed to start. Cloud starts at $20 a month after the trial.
- First paid plan
- Cloud: from $20 a month (source: meilisearch.com)
Start free at MeilisearchTerms read on meilisearch.com on Meilisearch Cloud: the free allowance and how to start - 3
Typesense Cloud
A managed cluster with one-time free hours
Typesense Cloud gives a one-time free tier of 720 hours and 10GB of bandwidth per account, on select configurations. After that it is pay-as-you-go with no long-term contract.
Start free at TypesenseTerms read on cloud-help.typesense.org on Typesense Cloud: the free allowance and how to start - 4
Doofinder
Plug-in product search for online stores
Doofinder offers a free trial with no credit card required. Once it assesses your usage, it matches you to the plan that best fits your needs, and search is included in every plan.
- Payment card
- No credit card required (source: doofinder.com)
Start free at DoofinderTerms read on doofinder.com on Doofinder: the free allowance and how to start - 5
Bonsai
Managed Elasticsearch or OpenSearch, free to start
Bonsai's own pages say a free tier is available with no credit card required. Its Standard plan starts from $25 a month, and the size of the free tier is not stated.
- What's free
- Free tier to start (source: bonsai.io)
- Payment card
- No credit card required (source: bonsai.io)
- First paid plan
- Standard: from $25 a month (source: bonsai.io)
Open-source search engines you can self-host
Run your own search engine on your own servers, free.
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Meilisearch
Self-host an MIT-licensed engine with no limits
Meilisearch is open source under the MIT license, and you can deploy it on your own infrastructure with no usage limits. Its managed Cloud product starts at $20 a month if you later want it hosted.
- First paid plan
- Cloud: from $20 a month (source: meilisearch.com)
Start free at MeilisearchTerms read on meilisearch.com on Meilisearch: the free allowance and how to start - 2
Typesense
An open-source search engine you run yourself
Typesense is an open-source search engine that you can run on your own servers. Its managed Typesense Cloud is billed pay-as-you-go with no long-term contract.
Start free at TypesenseTerms read on typesense.org on Typesense: the free allowance and how to start - 3
OpenSearch
Apache 2.0 search and analytics you run yourself
OpenSearch is a community-driven, Apache 2.0-licensed open source search and analytics suite. The OpenSearch Project is a project of The Linux Foundation.
Start free at OpenSearchTerms read on opensearch.org on OpenSearch: the free allowance and how to start - 4
OramaJS
A free search library that runs in the browser
OramaJS is a free, open-source library for full-text, vector and hybrid search. It runs in the browser, on your server or at the edge.
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Pagefind
Search for a static website, with no server
Pagefind is an independent open source search library for static sites. It adds a static search bundle to your built files, without hosting any infrastructure.
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Manticore Search
An open-source search database on your own servers
Manticore Search is free to use and published under OSI-approved open source licences. You query it over SQL or HTTP, on your own servers.
Start free at Manticore SearchTerms read on manticoresearch.com on Manticore Search: the free allowance and how to start
Data startup programs
Programs from data companies that give startups credits or discounts on paid plans.
Also useful for databases and data infrastructure
Referral links, picked for fit and ordered by fit (70%) and what a signup earns us (30%), at no cost to you. They never change this page's ranking.
Compare the top options
How this comparison is built
The list covers site search engines a founder can use for free today without applying to a program. The order and the "best for" notes are our editorial reading of each service's terms. Every term comes from the service's own pricing or help page on the date shown, never from a third-party list; follow each link for the full conditions. A cap on search requests or records a month, the provider's logo on free search, a trial instead of a free plan can matter more than the headline, so the comparison quotes them wherever the provider states them. Some of these services pay StartupPerks a referral commission, and their links are labeled as referral links; that decides neither whether nor where a service appears, and no service pays for a placement on this page.
Read the full methodologyCommon questions
What is the best free site search?
It depends on your scale. By the terms each provider states, Algolia's free plan includes 10K search requests a month and 50K records, Typesense Cloud gives a one-time 720 hours and 10GB of bandwidth, and Meilisearch Cloud offers a 14-day free trial.
Is Algolia free?
Algolia has a free plan with 10K search requests a month and 50K records; beyond that, its Grow plan charges $0.50 per extra 1K searches.
Is there a free open-source search engine for websites?
Yes. Meilisearch (MIT license) has no usage limits when self-hosted, Typesense and OpenSearch (Apache 2.0) are open source, and Pagefind adds search to any static site with no hosting needed.
What does Meilisearch Cloud cost?
Meilisearch Cloud offers a 14-day free trial; Cloud plans start from $20 a month, and the open-source engine is free to self-host.
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