head to head · open source
Meilisearch vs Manticore Search
Meilisearch has 59,317 GitHub stars, 2,710 forks, 321 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Manticore Search has 12,015 stars, 642 forks, 651 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Meilisearch leads on adoption by 394% (59,317 vs 12,015 stars). Meilisearch is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; Manticore Search is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Meilisearch has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Manticore Search 5%. Meilisearch was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 4 topic tags (api, database, full-text-search, search), so they are genuine substitutes rather than adjacent tools.
Two open source projects, one decision. Both are free and self-hostable — the differences are community size, license terms, language stack and release pace.
← all 8884 open source comparisons
Side by side
| Meilisearch | Manticore Search | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 59K | ★ 12K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-17 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 642 |
| Self-hosting | Yes | Yes |
| Data ownership | Your server | Your server |
pick Meilisearch if
- You weight community size — 59K stars and counting
- You want the Custom / other license terms
- Your stack matches Rust
- You value the larger contributor base for long-term maintenance
pick Manticore Search if
- You want the Manticore Search feature set and don't need the biggest community
- You prefer the GPL-3.0 license terms
- Your stack matches C++
- You evaluated both and Manticore Search fits your workflow better
About Meilisearch
Meilisearch is an open source search engine built in Rust that delivers fast, relevant search results for applications and websites. It operates as a standalone service with a RESTful HTTP API, designed to integrate directly into existing data pipelines without requiring major architectural changes.
read the full Meilisearch overview →
About Manticore Search
Manticore Search is an open source C++ search database for full text, vector, and hybrid search with real time indexing and SQL. It lives in the search engine and database ecosystem, and the README presents it as an alternative to Elasticsearch.
read the full Manticore Search overview →
More in Infrastructure & Operations
Related comparisons
More Search Engines projects
Compare either of these against the rest of the Search Engines field.
Frequently asked questions
Is Meilisearch or Manticore Search more popular?
Meilisearch has 59,317 GitHub stars and Manticore Search has 12,015. Meilisearch has the larger community by that measure.
Are Meilisearch and Manticore Search free?
Both are open source. Meilisearch has no licence declared in this registry, and Manticore Search is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Meilisearch and Manticore Search?
Meilisearch is written in Rust and Manticore Search in C++. The practical differences are community size, licence terms, language stack and release cadence — all compared in the table above.
Which should I choose, Meilisearch or Manticore Search?
Choose Meilisearch if you want the larger community (59,317 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Manticore Search if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.