ElasticSearch vs Typesense

Two self-hosted Search Engines apps, compared on the facts we track: GitHub popularity and activity, license, language, Docker images and a rough hosting estimate.

Side by side

ElasticSearchTypesense
DescriptionDistributed, RESTful search and analytics engine.Blazing fast, typo-tolerant search engine optimized for developer happiness and ease of use.
GitHub stars78,68227,107
Forks26.2k–
Open issues (incl. PRs)6.6k–
Commits (12 months)14.5k251
Last activity2026-11-102026-11-06
Latest releasev9.5.6 (2026-11-02)v30.2 (2026-04-19)
Maintenance healthActiveActive
LicenseSSPL-1.0GPL-3.0
Language / platformJavaC++, Docker, K8S, deb
Docker Hub imageelastic/elasticsearch–
Docker pulls28027.3k–
Est. server size~4 GB, 2 vCPU~2 GB, 1 vCPU
Est. hosting from$20/mo$10/mo
CategoriesSearch EnginesSearch Engines
LinksWebsite · SourceWebsite · Source

What the numbers say

Summary: ElasticSearch leads on GitHub popularity, commit activity and Docker Hub availability. The right choice depends on the features you need — read both project descriptions and docs.

This summary is generated from GitHub, Docker Hub and awesome-selfhosted data as of 2026-11-15. It does not rate features or quality.

Get the Docker images

ElasticSearch

docker pull elastic/elasticsearch

Image on Docker Hub. Ports, volumes and environment variables differ per app; follow the official docs.

Frequently asked questions

Is ElasticSearch or Typesense more popular?

ElasticSearch has more GitHub stars (78,682 vs 27,107 for Typesense, as of 2026-11-15). Stars measure interest, not quality.

Which is more actively maintained, ElasticSearch or Typesense?

ElasticSearch had more commits over the last 12 months (14,470 vs 251). The last recorded activity was 2026-11-10 for ElasticSearch and 2026-11-06 for Typesense. Our health labels: ElasticSearch is “Active”, Typesense is “Active”.

What licenses do ElasticSearch and Typesense use?

ElasticSearch: SSPL-1.0. Typesense: GPL-3.0. Note: ElasticSearch includes a non-free license component.

Can I run ElasticSearch and Typesense with Docker?

ElasticSearch has a Docker Hub image (elastic/elasticsearch). We did not find one for Typesense, though the upstream listing mentions Docker as a deployment option.

Read more

ElasticSearch

Distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine.

Active ★ 78.7k SSPL-1.0 🐳 Docker~$20/mo

Typesense

Blazing fast, typo-tolerant search engine optimized for developer happiness and ease of use.

Active ★ 27.1k GPL-3.0 🐳 Docker~$10/mo

Browse all self-hosted Search Engines apps.

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