Elastic Cloud vs Turbopuffer
SEPT 2026 auditA comparison of Elastic Cloud and Turbopuffer built from values read directly from each provider's own documentation, with the source recorded against every figure.
The short answer
Choose Elastic Cloud if…
Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Choose Turbopuffer if…
Teams that want vector search billed like storage rather than compute — object-storage-backed pricing tends to undercut memory-resident vector databases at rest, especially for large, cold datasets.
Editorial · Palash Bagchi · approved
Consider something else if…
- Elastic Cloud: The need is narrowly error tracking or APM — a purpose-built tool is usually simpler to operate than standing up an Elasticsearch cluster for one workload, and Elastic Cloud's per-resource pricing doesn't publish a flat entry price the way single-purpose competitors do.
- Turbopuffer: The full list of supported similarity metrics matters before committing — that wasn't fully documented in what's sourced here, unlike competitors that publish the complete list.
Neither quite fits? Every other option, ranked by iScore: Elastic Cloud alternatives · Turbopuffer alternatives
17 sourced criteria separate them — see where, with sources, below.
Pick the criteria you care about. The chart counts how many of them lean toward each provider — the same read as scanning the bars below, just totalled for the ones you chose.
Elastic Cloud 0
Turbopuffer 0
At a glance.
| Criterion | Elastic Cloud | Turbopuffer |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | ||
| Free tier | No — The only free offer here is a trial; no ongoing free tier is listed beside the Hosted and Serverless plans. | No — Entry plan (launch) carries a $16/month minimum usage; pricing lists no free plan. |
| Kind of free offer | Free trial — The only free offer here is a trial; no ongoing free tier is listed beside the Hosted and Serverless plans. | No free offer |
| Entry paid plan | Elastic Cloud Hosted Standard, cheapest of four subscription tiers: as low as $99 per month for a production config of 120 GB storage across 2 zones. Gold $114, Platinum $131, Enterprise $184 per month on the same config basis. Serverless is metered, no plan fee. | Launch plan: $16/month minimum usage, including all database features. Scale plan: $256/month minimum. Enterprise: $4,096/month or more, plus a 35% usage premium. |
| Pricing model | Three deployment options priced differently: Hosted is resource-based, Serverless is usage-based — both pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid — and Self-managed is licensed by node count and RAM. | Usage-based, against a monthly minimum per plan: $16 Launch, $256 Scale, $4,096 or more for Enterprise, which the page also marks with a 35% usage premium. |
| Infrastructure | ||
| Regions | Hosted: 60 regions across AWS, Azure and Google Cloud (also Alibaba Cloud and FedRAMP). Serverless: generally available on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure. | 20 public regions listed in the docs: 10 on AWS, 9 on GCP and 1 on Azure (eastus2); dedicated and BYOC clusters elsewhere on request. |
| Uptime SLA | 99.95% monthly, for the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers, on both Hosted and Serverless. Not applicable to self-managed, where the customer operates the infrastructure. | 99.95%, listed only against Enterprise (from $4,096/month). Launch and Scale publish no uptime SLA. |
| Vector | ||
| Hybrid search (vector + keyword) | Supported — combines vector similarity scores with BM25F text-relevance scores in a single hybrid query. | Supported |
| Metadata filtering | Supported — vector search results can be filtered by metadata while preserving approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search speed. | Exact attribute filters on every query (and/or/not, eq, in, contains, range); the planner combines the attribute index with the ANN index. |
| Support | ||
| Support on entry paid plan | Four support tiers, keyed to the Elastic Cloud subscription tier rather than bought separately. Platinum and Enterprise share an identical support SLA. | Community Slack and email on Launch, the entry paid plan. Scale adds a private Slack channel with 8-5 hours; Enterprise 24/7. |
| Compliance | ||
| SOC 2 | SOC 2 Type 2 audit by Coalfire covers Elasticsearch Service and support subscriptions; report available on request via the Trust Center. | SOC 2 Type 2 audited for security and availability controls; report and penetration test available on request from the Trust Center. |
| HIPAA | HIPAA business associate agreements available on all Elastic Cloud subscription tiers on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud. | Customers storing PHI may request a Business Associate Agreement; turbopuffer commits to the HIPAA requirements on business associates. Pricing page lists the HIPAA-ready BAA on the Scale and Enterprise plans, not on Launch. |
| GDPR / data residency | Operates in compliance with GDPR principles; customers can request a Data Processing Addendum through a support case. | Data stays in the region selected unless the customer moves it via the API; GDPR/CCPA Data Processing Addendum offered to all customers. |
| PCI DSS | PCI DSS listed among the certifications in the Elastic Trust Center, alongside SOC 2, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP. | Payment card data subject to PCI DSS is Prohibited Data under the terms of service; customers must not use the Service with Prohibited Data. Contractual restriction in the terms of service, not a statement about audit scope. |
| Encryption at rest | Cluster data is encrypted at rest by default; TLS between Elasticsearch nodes and from the internet. | Customer data always encrypted at rest with AES-256, and in transit with TLS 1.2+; optionally with a customer's own key. |
| Customer-managed keys | Supported on Elastic Cloud Hosted via your cloud provider KMS, but only at the Enterprise subscription level; the key cannot yet be changed or removed once set. | CMEK on the Enterprise plan using keys from the customer's own KMS/EKM; the encryption key is defined at the namespace level. |
| Role-based access control | Predefined cloud resource roles (Admin, Editor, Viewer, billing admin) for Hosted and Serverless; custom roles can be created on Serverless projects. | No built-in row or document-level RBAC; docs say permissions have to be implemented at the user level with query filters. Statement is about row/document-level RBAC; no org-level role model is documented either way. |
| Private networking / VPC | AWS PrivateLink and Azure Private Link for Hosted and Serverless; GCP Private Service Connect for Hosted only. IP filtering can be combined with private connections. | Private connections from customer VPCs to multi-tenant regions on the Enterprise plan: AWS PrivateLink, GCP Private Service Connect. |
| Dedicated infrastructure | Elasticsearch nodes run in isolated containers under least privilege; containers have no means of communicating with containers from another cluster. Scope: container-level isolation between customer clusters; no dedicated-hardware option is offered on this page. | Dedicated single-tenancy clusters in further regions, or BYOC clusters inside the customer's own VPC on AWS, GCP or Azure, spun up on request. Pricing page lists Single-Tenancy and BYOC under Deployment on the Enterprise plan only. |
Where they differ.
Kind of free offer
- Elastic Cloud
- Free trial — The only free offer here is a trial; no ongoing free tier is listed beside the Hosted and Serverless plans.
- Turbopuffer
- No free offer
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“Elastic Cloud Serverless Zero operational load so that you can build faster Start free trial Elastic Cloud Hosted Deploy and scale on any cloud in minutes with ultimate control Start free trial”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- turbopuffer pricing ↗
“turbopuffer pricing launch Includes all database features Deployment Multi-Tenancy Security & Com”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Entry paid plan
- Elastic Cloud
- Elastic Cloud Hosted Standard, cheapest of four subscription tiers: as low as $99 per month for a production config of 120 GB storage across 2 zones. Gold $114, Platinum $131, Enterprise $184 per month on the same config basis. Serverless is metered, no plan fee.
- Turbopuffer
- Launch plan: $16/month minimum usage, including all database features. Scale plan: $256/month minimum. Enterprise: $4,096/month or more, plus a 35% usage premium.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Hosted pricing | Elastic ↗
“As low as $99 per month [...] Based on cloud production config, 120 GB storage / 2 zones.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Turbopuffer Pricing ↗
“$16/month minimum usage [...] $256/month minimum usage [...] Contact us >= $4,096/month 35% usage premium”
Read 2026-09-13 · official pricing · Report a correction
Pricing model
- Elastic Cloud
- Three deployment options priced differently: Hosted is resource-based, Serverless is usage-based — both pay-as-you-go monthly or prepaid — and Self-managed is licensed by node count and RAM.
- Turbopuffer
- Usage-based, against a monthly minimum per plan: $16 Launch, $256 Scale, $4,096 or more for Enterprise, which the page also marks with a 35% usage premium.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“Pricing Resource based pricing Pay as you go (monthly) or prepaid Usage based pricing Pay as you go (monthly) or prepaid License-based pricing Licensing based on number of nodes and used RAM”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
- turbopuffer pricing ↗
“$16/month minimum usage [...] $256/month minimum usage [...] >= $4,096/month 35% usage premium”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
Regions
Hosted: 60 regions across AWS, Azure and Google Cloud (also Alibaba Cloud and FedRAMP). Serverless: generally available on AWS, Google Cloud and Azure.
20 public regions listed in the docs: 10 on AWS, 9 on GCP and 1 on Azure (eastus2); dedicated and BYOC clusters elsewhere on request.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“AWS, GCP, Azure, Alibaba, FedRamp — 60 regions across AWS, Azure, and GCP. Serverless currently generally available in AWS, GCP, and Azure.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official pricing · Report a correction
- Regions ↗
“All Regions Region Location Browser RTT aws - ap-southeast-2 Sydney, Australia [...] gcp - asia-northeast3 Seoul, South Korea [...] azure - eastus2 Virginia, US”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Uptime SLA
- Elastic Cloud
- 99.95% monthly, for the Platinum and Enterprise subscription tiers, on both Hosted and Serverless. Not applicable to self-managed, where the customer operates the infrastructure.
- Turbopuffer
- 99.95%, listed only against Enterprise (from $4,096/month). Launch and Scale publish no uptime SLA.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“uptime sla 99.95% monthly uptime sla for platinum and enterprise subscription tiers see elastic cloud hosted sla for more details”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
- turbopuffer pricing ↗
“Support Hours 24/7 Support SLA Uptime SLA 99.95% Contact us >= $4,096/month”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
Hybrid search (vector + keyword)
- Elastic Cloud
- Supported — combines vector similarity scores with BM25F text-relevance scores in a single hybrid query.
- Turbopuffer
- Supported
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic: What is vector search? ↗
“To further optimize, combine vector similarities with BM25F scores, known as hybrid scoring. This allows you to have images ranked by vector similarity while implementing BM25F, which can provide better rankings for text.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official site · Report a correction
- Hybrid Search — turbopuffer docs ↗
“To improve search quality, multiple strategies can be used together. This is commonly referred to as hybrid search. turbopuffer supports vector search and BM25 full-text search.”
Read 2026-09-14 · official docs · Report a correction
Metadata filtering
- Elastic Cloud
- Supported — vector search results can be filtered by metadata while preserving approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search speed.
- Turbopuffer
- Exact attribute filters on every query (and/or/not, eq, in, contains, range); the planner combines the attribute index with the ANN index.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic: What is vector search? ↗
“Filter vector search results using metadata. Maintain recall without sacrificing speed by applying a filter in line with approximate nearest neighbor (ANN) search.”
Read 2026-09-11 · official site · Report a correction
- Query documents ↗
“Exact filters for attributes to refine search results for. Think of it as a SQL WHERE clause. [...] When combined with a vector, the query planner will automatically combine the attribute index and the approximate nearest neighbor index for best performance and recall.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Support on entry paid plan
- Elastic Cloud
- Four support tiers, keyed to the Elastic Cloud subscription tier rather than bought separately. Platinum and Enterprise share an identical support SLA.
- Turbopuffer
- Community Slack and email on Launch, the entry paid plan. Scale adds a private Slack channel with 8-5 hours; Enterprise 24/7.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Pricing ↗
“four support tiers, depending on the elastic cloud subscription tier two subscription tiers (platinum and enterprise) with identical support sla”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
- turbopuffer pricing ↗
“Support Community Slack & Email Private Slack Channel Support Hours 8-5 [...] Support Community Slack & Email Private Slack Channel Support Hours 24/7”
Read 2026-09-14 · official pricing · Report a correction
SOC 2
- Elastic Cloud
- SOC 2 Type 2 audit by Coalfire covers Elasticsearch Service and support subscriptions; report available on request via the Trust Center.
- Turbopuffer
- SOC 2 Type 2 audited for security and availability controls; report and penetration test available on request from the Trust Center.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Security | Elastic ↗
“have been audited by Coalfire under the SOC 2 Type 2 framework. Customers can request a SOC 2 report through the Elastic Trust Center”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Security & Compliance ↗
“turbopuffer undergoes System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type 2 audits of the design and operational effectiveness of security and availability controls. You can request a copy of the latest SOC 2 report and Penetration Test from our Trust Center”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
HIPAA
- Elastic Cloud
- HIPAA business associate agreements available on all Elastic Cloud subscription tiers on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.
- Turbopuffer
- Customers storing PHI may request a Business Associate Agreement; turbopuffer commits to the HIPAA requirements on business associates. Pricing page lists the HIPAA-ready BAA on the Scale and Enterprise plans, not on Launch.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Security | Elastic ↗
“All Elastic Cloud subscription tiers on Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud, and Amazon Web Services allow for HIPAA business associate agreements (BAAs).”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Security & Compliance ↗
“Customers who wish to store protected health information (PHI) in turbopuffer may request a Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with turbopuffer, under which turbopuffer commits to compliance with the requirements of HIPAA on business associates that store and process PHI.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
GDPR / data residency
- Elastic Cloud
- Operates in compliance with GDPR principles; customers can request a Data Processing Addendum through a support case.
- Turbopuffer
- Data stays in the region selected unless the customer moves it via the API; GDPR/CCPA Data Processing Addendum offered to all customers.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Security | Elastic ↗
“Today, Elastic is operating in compliance with the principles of GDPR. Elastic Cloud customers can request a Data Processing Addendum (DPA)”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Security & Compliance ↗
“Customer data inserted into one region remains in that region, except when requested by the customer via the turbopuffer API. [...] turbopuffer provides a Data Processing Addendum (DPA) for all customers to enable compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
PCI DSS
- Elastic Cloud
- PCI DSS listed among the certifications in the Elastic Trust Center, alongside SOC 2, ISO 27001 and FedRAMP.
- Turbopuffer
- Payment card data subject to PCI DSS is Prohibited Data under the terms of service; customers must not use the Service with Prohibited Data. Contractual restriction in the terms of service, not a statement about audit scope.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Trust Center | Elastic ↗
“FedRAMP High FedRAMP Moderate PCI DSS CSA STAR ISO/IEC 27001 ISO/IEC 27017 ISO/IEC 27018 SOC 2 SOC 3 TISAX HIPAA”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- turbopuffer terms of service ↗
“credit, debit, or other payment card data subject to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards [...] Customer must not use the Service with Prohibited Data or for High Risk Activities”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
Encryption at rest
- Elastic Cloud
- Cluster data is encrypted at rest by default; TLS between Elasticsearch nodes and from the internet.
- Turbopuffer
- Customer data always encrypted at rest with AES-256, and in transit with TLS 1.2+; optionally with a customer's own key.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Security | Elastic ↗
“Cluster data is encrypted at rest. We support IP address-based access controls”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Security & Compliance ↗
“Customer data and usage data is always encrypted in transit with TLS1.2+. Customer data is always encrypted at rest with AES-256”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Customer-managed keys
- Elastic Cloud
- Supported on Elastic Cloud Hosted via your cloud provider KMS, but only at the Enterprise subscription level; the key cannot yet be changed or removed once set.
- Turbopuffer
- CMEK on the Enterprise plan using keys from the customer's own KMS/EKM; the encryption key is defined at the namespace level.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Use a customer-managed encryption key | Elastic Docs ↗
“Encryption at rest using customer-managed keys is only available for the Enterprise subscription level.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Security & Compliance ↗
“turbopuffer offers support for customer managed encryption keys (CMEK), allowing customers on the Enterprise plan to ensure their data is encrypted using keys from their Key Management System (KMS)/Enterprise Key Manager (EKM). [...] the encryption key is defined at the namespace level.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Role-based access control
- Elastic Cloud
- Predefined cloud resource roles (Admin, Editor, Viewer, billing admin) for Hosted and Serverless; custom roles can be created on Serverless projects.
- Turbopuffer
- No built-in row or document-level RBAC; docs say permissions have to be implemented at the user level with query filters. Statement is about row/document-level RBAC; no org-level role model is documented either way.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- User roles and privileges | Elastic Docs ↗
“Elastic Cloud Hosted deployments and Elastic Cloud Serverless projects each have a set of predefined cloud resource access roles available”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Permissions ↗
“Permissions in turbopuffer currently have to be implemented at the user-level with filters, as turbopuffer [...] provide built-in mechanisms for row/document-level RBAC.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Private networking / VPC
- Elastic Cloud
- AWS PrivateLink and Azure Private Link for Hosted and Serverless; GCP Private Service Connect for Hosted only. IP filtering can be combined with private connections.
- Turbopuffer
- Private connections from customer VPCs to multi-tenant regions on the Enterprise plan: AWS PrivateLink, GCP Private Service Connect.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Private connectivity | Elastic Docs ↗
“Private connectivity is a secure way for your Elastic Cloud deployments and projects to communicate with other cloud provider services”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
- Security & Compliance ↗
“turbopuffer supports private network connections between customer VPCs and our multi-tenant regions [...] This feature is available to customers on the Enterprise plan. AWS regions use AWS PrivateLink GCP regions use GCP Private Service Connect”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
Dedicated infrastructure
- Elastic Cloud
- Elasticsearch nodes run in isolated containers under least privilege; containers have no means of communicating with containers from another cluster. Scope: container-level isolation between customer clusters; no dedicated-hardware option is offered on this page.
- Turbopuffer
- Dedicated single-tenancy clusters in further regions, or BYOC clusters inside the customer's own VPC on AWS, GCP or Azure, spun up on request. Pricing page lists Single-Tenancy and BYOC under Deployment on the Enterprise plan only.
Sources (2) →Sources ↓
- Elastic Cloud Security | Elastic ↗
“Elasticsearch nodes run in isolated containers, configured according to the principle of least privilege, and with restrictions on system calls and allowed root operations. [...] Containers have no means of setting up communication with containers from another cluster.”
Read 2026-09-13 · official site · Report a correction
- Regions ↗
“In addition to these public clusters, we run dedicated clusters in various other regions for single-tenancy customers and in any region inside your VPC in AWS, GCP and Azure (BYOC). We can spin up dedicated or BYOC clusters in hours upon request”
Read 2026-09-13 · official docs · Report a correction
When these numbers change, hear about it. Sources are re-checked monthly; a repricing goes out as a short note.
Documented by only one.
These criteria are published by one provider and not the other. An absence here means we have not found a source, not that the feature is missing — except where we say we read the other provider's own page on a given date and it does not state it. Those rows lean, and the provider can correct them with a link.
Questions this comparison answers.
Entry paid plan: Elastic Cloud or Turbopuffer?
Elastic Cloud: Elastic Cloud Hosted Standard, cheapest of four subscription tiers: as low as $99 per month for a production config of 120 GB storage across 2 zones. Gold $114, Platinum $131, Enterprise $184 per month on the same config basis. Serverless is metered, no plan fee.
Turbopuffer: Launch plan: $16/month minimum usage, including all database features. Scale plan: $256/month minimum. Enterprise: $4,096/month or more, plus a 35% usage premium.
Should I choose Elastic Cloud or Turbopuffer?
Pick Elastic Cloud if Teams that need full-text search and observability on the same underlying engine, or that want the option to self-host later — Elastic's dual identity as a search platform and an observability platform is the actual differentiator against single-purpose competitors.
Pick Turbopuffer if Teams that want vector search billed like storage rather than compute — object-storage-backed pricing tends to undercut memory-resident vector databases at rest, especially for large, cold datasets.
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