How Search Stack compares
One agent-native, multimodal search API — over our managed pool or your own backend. Here's an honest look at how that stacks up against hosted search APIs, the search engines themselves, and dedicated vector databases.
Your backend or ours
Run on our managed pool, or point Search Stack at the Elasticsearch, Azure AI Search, Amazon OpenSearch, or PostgreSQL you already pay for. Same API either way.
Agent-native & multimodal
Text, vector, hybrid, geo, grouping — plus image and video search and a built-in MCP server so AI agents can query your index directly.
Ship in a day
A versioned REST API, typed SDKs, drop-in components, and a console your whole team can use — with flat, predictable pricing from $9/mo.
Feature comparison
| Capability | Search Stack | Algolia | Typesense / Meilisearch | Elastic / Azure AI Search |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Keyword, filter, facet & geo | ||||
| Vector / semantic & hybrid | ||||
| Image & video (multimodal) search | ||||
| Bring your own embedding keys | ||||
| Rerankers | ||||
| Autocomplete & typo tolerance | ||||
| Agent-native MCP server (read & write) | ||||
| Search-quality evals (tracked pass rate) | ||||
| Use your own search backend | it is the backend | |||
| Managed, fully hosted option | ||||
| Console for non-engineers | ||||
| Typed SDKs | ||||
| Pricing model | Flat tiers from $9/mo + free / $49 on your own backend |
Usage-metered (records + operations) |
Open-source — free to self-host; cheap managed cloud |
Infra-scale (per node / RAM-hour) |
built in partial / do-it-yourself not offered. Competitor capabilities and pricing models as of June 2026 — check each vendor's site for current details.
Simple, predictable pricing
Managed plans are flat monthly tiers — no per-search or per-record metering, no bill shock as you grow. Already running your own search cluster? Add the Search Stack layer on top: free to start, or $49/mo for the full BYO tier — you keep paying only your own infrastructure underneath.
| What's included | Basic $9/mo |
Starter $29/mo |
Pro $99/mo |
Scale $299/mo |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Records | 10,000 | 50,000 | 250,000 | 1,000,000 |
| Storage | 2 GB | 5 GB | 25 GB | 100 GB |
| Index | Shared | Shared | Per-account | Per-account |
| AI judges | 2 | 3 | 10 | 25 |
| Eval sets | 3 | 10 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Rerankers | 1 | 2 | 5 | Unlimited |
| Embedding models | 3 | 5 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Media stores | 2 | 5 | 10 | Unlimited |
| Webhooks | 5 | 10 | 50 | Unlimited |
| Version history | 10 | 25 | Unlimited | Unlimited |
Every plan includes the full feature set — higher tiers simply raise the limits, none turn a feature off. Prefer your own backend? Both BYO tiers keep records and storage unlimited (you pay only your own infrastructure underneath), and the $49 tier is unlimited on the AI features too — judges, evals, rerankers, models and more.
Is Search Stack right for you?
A great fit if…
- You want modern search and AI/agent access over the backend you already run.
- You'd rather not build and maintain your own search gateway, embedding pipeline and console.
- You want flat, predictable pricing and a UI non-engineers can use.
- You need image, video and multimodal search alongside text.
Maybe look elsewhere if…
- You need deep, backend-specific tuning and want to wire every native feature yourself — go direct to Elastic or Azure AI Search.
- Your need is purely a vector store for RAG — a dedicated vector database may fit better.
- You're a large enterprise after a fully managed merchandising/discovery suite — that's a different category.
We'd rather tell you straight than sell you the wrong thing.