head to head · open source
Meilisearch vs Typesense
Meilisearch has 59,317 GitHub stars, 2,710 forks, 321 open issues and last shipped yesterday. Typesense has 26,568 stars, 974 forks, 879 open issues and last shipped 2 days ago. Meilisearch leads on adoption by 123% (59,317 vs 26,568 stars). Meilisearch is written in Rust under a custom or non-standard licence; Typesense is written in C++ under GPL-3.0. Meilisearch has attracted 5% as many forks as stars, Typesense 4%. Meilisearch was the more recently maintained of the two, and both are self-hostable with no licence fee. The two share 6 topic tags (enterprise-search, faceting, full-text-search, fuzzy-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.
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Side by side
| Meilisearch | Typesense | |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | ★ 59K | ★ 27K |
| License | Custom / other | GPL-3.0 |
| Written in | Rust | C++ |
| Last push | 2026-09-17 | 2026-09-16 |
| Forks | ⑂ 2.7K | ⑂ 974 |
| 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 Typesense if
- You want the Typesense 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 Typesense 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 Typesense
Typesense is an open source, C++ built search engine released under the GPL 3.0 licence that provides typo tolerant, low latency full text search for developers and teams who want an Algolia alternative they host and control themselves.
read the full Typesense overview →
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Frequently asked questions
Is Meilisearch or Typesense more popular?
Meilisearch has 59,317 GitHub stars and Typesense has 26,568. Meilisearch has the larger community by that measure.
Are Meilisearch and Typesense free?
Both are open source. Meilisearch has no licence declared in this registry, and Typesense is licensed under GPL-3.0. Both are free to self-host.
What is the difference between Meilisearch and Typesense?
Meilisearch is written in Rust and Typesense 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 Typesense?
Choose Meilisearch if you want the larger community (59,317 stars) or its Custom / other licence terms. Choose Typesense if its feature set, stack or GPL-3.0 licence fits better. Both are self-hostable.