# Algolia vs Typesense

Canonical: https://inetgeek.com/compare/algolia-vs-typesense/

Every value below is read from Algolia's and Typesense's own documentation. See https://inetgeek.com/methodology/ for how.

## At a glance

| Criterion | Algolia | Typesense |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Free tier | Yes | No |
| Entry paid plan | No monthly fee. Grow starts at zero and bills $0.50 per additional 1,000 search requests beyond 10,000 a month, plus $0.40 per additional 1,000 records beyond 100,000. Grow Plus, which adds AI, charges $1.75 per additional 1,000 searches. No magnitude is recorded because a usage rate and a plan fee are not the same number. | None published. typesense.org/pricing redirects to a cluster configurator rather than a plan table, so the cost depends entirely on the RAM, CPU and node count you choose and there is no entry figure to quote. |
| Pricing model | Two meters at once: search requests and records, each with an included allowance and a per-1,000 overage. The AI tier changes the search rate and not the record rate. | Free to self-host; the managed cloud prices a cluster you specify rather than a tier you pick. Support and migration consulting are sold separately, quoted at $5,200 for a year of prioritised business support. |
| Self-hostable | Not supported | Supported |
| Hybrid search (vector + keyword) | Sold as a higher tier rather than a feature flag: Grow Plus is keyword search with AI capabilities, at $1.75 per additional 1,000 searches against Grow's $0.50. | Vector search, semantic search and built-in RAG are listed alongside fuzzy search, faceted navigation and geo search — one engine rather than a separate product. |

## Where they differ

### Free tier

- Algolia: Yes ([source](https://www.algolia.com/pricing))
- Typesense: No ([source](https://cloud.typesense.org/pricing/calculator))

### Entry paid plan

- Algolia: No monthly fee. Grow starts at zero and bills $0.50 per additional 1,000 search requests beyond 10,000 a month, plus $0.40 per additional 1,000 records beyond 100,000. Grow Plus, which adds AI, charges $1.75 per additional 1,000 searches. No magnitude is recorded because a usage rate and a plan fee are not the same number. ([source](https://www.algolia.com/pricing))
- Typesense: None published. typesense.org/pricing redirects to a cluster configurator rather than a plan table, so the cost depends entirely on the RAM, CPU and node count you choose and there is no entry figure to quote. ([source](https://typesense.org/))

### Pricing model

- Algolia: Two meters at once: search requests and records, each with an included allowance and a per-1,000 overage. The AI tier changes the search rate and not the record rate. ([source](https://www.algolia.com/pricing))
- Typesense: Free to self-host; the managed cloud prices a cluster you specify rather than a tier you pick. Support and migration consulting are sold separately, quoted at $5,200 for a year of prioritised business support. ([source](https://cloud.typesense.org/pricing/calculator))

### Self-hostable

- Algolia: Not supported ([source](https://www.algolia.com/pricing))
- Typesense: Supported ([source](https://typesense.org/))

### Hybrid search (vector + keyword)

- Algolia: Sold as a higher tier rather than a feature flag: Grow Plus is keyword search with AI capabilities, at $1.75 per additional 1,000 searches against Grow's $0.50. ([source](https://www.algolia.com/pricing))
- Typesense: Vector search, semantic search and built-in RAG are listed alongside fuzzy search, faceted navigation and geo search — one engine rather than a separate product. ([source](https://typesense.org/))

## Which should you choose?

Pick Algolia if Search you do not want to operate. No monthly fee, a standing free plan at 10,000 searches and 50,000 records, and relevance tuning that works out of the box — you pay per search and per record instead of per server.

Pick Typesense if Running it yourself. Open source, in-memory, and unusually complete for the category — vector search, semantic search and built-in RAG sit beside fuzzy search, faceting and geo search in one engine rather than across tiers.

Consider something else: Algolia — Traffic is the thing that grows. Beyond the free allowance it is $0.50 per additional 1,000 searches and $0.40 per additional 1,000 records, and $1.75 per 1,000 once you want the AI tier — a bill that rises with success, against three engines you can run yourself for the cost of operations.

Consider something else: Typesense — You need to know the hosted cost before committing. Typesense Cloud publishes no plan: the pricing page is a configurator that prices whatever cluster you specify, and support is a separate purchase quoted at $5,200 a year.

## Documented by only one

- What the free plan includes: Algolia: 10,000 search requests a month, 50,000 records, 5,000 recommendation requests and 5,000 crawls, with no credit card required.
- Support on entry paid plan: Typesense: Sold as an add-on rather than bundled: a year of prioritised business support with migration consulting is quoted at $5,200, and the enterprise equivalent at $9,100.

## Questions this comparison answers

**Entry paid plan: Algolia or Typesense?**

Algolia: No monthly fee. Grow starts at zero and bills $0.50 per additional 1,000 search requests beyond 10,000 a month, plus $0.40 per additional 1,000 records beyond 100,000. Grow Plus, which adds AI, charges $1.75 per additional 1,000 searches. No magnitude is recorded because a usage rate and a plan fee are not the same number.
Typesense: None published. typesense.org/pricing redirects to a cluster configurator rather than a plan table, so the cost depends entirely on the RAM, CPU and node count you choose and there is no entry figure to quote.

**Free tier: Algolia or Typesense?**

Algolia: Yes
Typesense: No

**Should I choose Algolia or Typesense?**

Pick Algolia if Search you do not want to operate. No monthly fee, a standing free plan at 10,000 searches and 50,000 records, and relevance tuning that works out of the box — you pay per search and per record instead of per server.
Pick Typesense if Running it yourself. Open source, in-memory, and unusually complete for the category — vector search, semantic search and built-in RAG sit beside fuzzy search, faceting and geo search in one engine rather than across tiers.