Search APIs · Comparison
Algolia vs Meilisearch Cloud vs Typesense Cloud
3 products compared side by side: what you pay for with each one first, then the five access facts, entry prices, recorded plan limits and the bottom line of each review. The evidence note under the table says how each product was checked.
Side by side
| Metric | Algolia | Meilisearch Cloud | Typesense Cloud |
|---|---|---|---|
| What you're paying for | Saves engineering timeHosted search with no cluster to size: pay per search request and record, starting from a permanent free plan. | Easy to adoptHosted open-source search with a choice of billing: pay per search and document, or a fixed instance price from about $20 a month. | Worth the priceA dedicated, managed cluster of open-source search from $21.60 a month, with no per-search or per-record charges. |
| Overall score | 5.8 | 6.2 | 7.6Best |
| Free option | Free plan | 14-day free trial | Free trial |
| Card to start | No card needed | No card needed | –Not measured |
| Getting access | Self-serve | Self-serve | Self-serve |
| Starter priceCheapest paid plan | $0.50/1k searches | $20/mo | $21.60/mo |
| Pricing model | Usage-based | Usage-based | Usage-based |
| Pricing page | Public prices | Public prices | Public prices |
| Billing units | Search requests and records | Instance hours, disk and bandwidth; or searches and documents | Cluster hours (RAM and vCPU) and outbound bandwidth |
| Free option | Free plan: 10,000 searches and 50,000 records/mo, no card | 14-day trial, no card | 720 cluster hours and 10 GB once per account |
| 100,000 records, 500,000 searches/mo | $245 (Grow, listed rates) | $23 (XS, estimator); $210 usage-based | $21.60 (0.5 GB, one node); $64.80 with high availability |
| Vector or hybrid search | NeuralSearch on Elevate (annual contract) | Documented for the engine, no plan limit stated | Every cluster |
| SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 | Both | SOC 2 Type II | SOC 2 Type II (report with Business support) |
| HIPAA BAA | Not stated | Not stated | With the Business support plan ($400 per 28 days) |
| EU hosting | Yes, EU West and UK on every plan | Yes, Frankfurt and Paris | Yes, 6 EU locations incl. Frankfurt and Paris, same price as the US |
| SAML SSO | Elevate (annual contract) | Enterprise | Every account, no extra charge |
| Open-source engine | No | Yes, MIT (Enterprise Edition parts under BUSL) | Yes, GPL-3.0 |
| Bottom line | From its public pages, Algolia is the simplest to price for small volumes and the only one here with a permanent free plan. Per-request billing makes it the most expensive at our 500,000-search scenario. | From its public pages, Meilisearch Cloud gives the most billing flexibility here and a low resource-based price at our scenario. Check the instance size against the docs’ tier table, and plan on Enterprise for SSO. | From its public pages, Typesense Cloud is the cheapest here at our scenario and includes the most on a self-serve plan: vector search, SAML SSO and an open-source engine. You size the cluster, and compliance documents need a support plan. |
Evidence: Algolia: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Meilisearch Cloud: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run; Typesense Cloud: facts checked 2026-10-15 from its public sign-up and pricing pages, no completed hands-on run. Prices in USD as listed, excluding tax. "–" means not recorded.
When to pick each
In the words of each review, with the date its facts were checked.
From our Algolia review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Algolia when
- You want nothing to size, a permanent free plan and AI relevance features on a monthly plan.
- Pick Typesense Cloud when
- Search volume is high relative to your data, or you want SAML SSO and vector search without a contract.
From our Algolia review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Algolia when
- You want ISO 27001 as well as SOC 2, and billing that needs no instance choice.
- Pick Meilisearch Cloud when
- You want hybrid search on a self-serve plan and a fixed monthly price at higher search volumes.
From our Meilisearch Cloud review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Meilisearch Cloud when
- You want hybrid search on a self-serve plan and a fixed instance price at higher search volumes.
- Pick Algolia when
- You want a permanent free plan, ISO 27001 and AI ranking without sizing anything.
From our Meilisearch Cloud review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Meilisearch Cloud when
- You want to start on usage-based billing with nothing to size, or the Paris region on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud.
- Pick Typesense Cloud when
- You want SAML SSO without an enterprise plan, or a HIPAA BAA.
From our Typesense Cloud review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Typesense Cloud when
- Search volume is high relative to your data, or you want vector search and SAML SSO without a contract.
- Pick Algolia when
- You want nothing to size, a permanent free plan, ISO 27001 and AI ranking on a monthly plan.
From our Typesense Cloud review
Checked Oct 15, 2026- Pick Typesense Cloud when
- You want SAML SSO without an enterprise plan, or a HIPAA BAA.
- Pick Meilisearch Cloud when
- You would rather not size anything and your volume fits the usage-based Build plan.
Entry price
Baseline: each product's cheapest paid plan, per month. Included usage differs, so read the line under each price.
- AlgoliaGrow$0.50/1k searches10,000 search requests and 100,000 records included; then $0.50 per 1,000 requests and $0.40 per 1,000 records
- Billed monthly, no contract
- Keyword search, query suggestions, manual synonyms
- Rules: 10 per index
- 30-day analytics retention
- Meilisearch CloudLowest priceXS (resource-based)$17.73/mo0.5 vCPU, 1 GB RAM, Frankfurt; plus disk (32 GB minimum) and $0.15/GB bandwidth
- Billed hourly, regardless of searches or documents
- Listed in the docs for development and testing
- Typesense Cloud0.5 GB RAM, one node$21.60/mo$0.03/hr; 2 vCPUs with 1 hr burst per day; first 720 hours free once
- Dedicated cluster, no limits on records or operations
- Bandwidth out $0.09/GB, first 10 GB free once
- SAML SSO at no extra charge
Prices as listed on each pricing page, in USD per month, excluding tax. Observed: Algolia 2026-10-15, Meilisearch Cloud 2026-10-15, Typesense Cloud 2026-10-15.
Which one fits
- If you need to start today without a sales call
- Typesense CloudSelf-serve sign-up; the highest score of the 3 self-serve products here (7.6/10).
- If you want to try it without entering a card
- AlgoliaFree plan, no card needed; scored 5.8/10.
- Lowest starter price
- Meilisearch Cloud$20/mo for the Cloud plan. Algolia lists no comparable paid price.
- Highest overall score
- Typesense Cloud7.6/10 (Good). The review shows the score breakdown and the run behind it.
Picked by fixed rules from the table above, not by hand. How we score
Full reviews
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