Choosing a Search Engine on Zerops

Keywords

search, elasticsearch, meilisearch, typesense, qdrant, vector, full-text, choose search, which search engine

TL;DR

Use Meilisearch for simple full-text search. Use Elasticsearch for advanced queries or HA requirements. Use Qdrant for vector/AI search.

Decision Matrix

Need	Choice	Why
Simple full-text search	Meilisearch (default)	Instant setup, typo-tolerant, frontend-safe keys
Advanced queries / HA	Elasticsearch	Cluster support, plugins, JVM tuning
Autocomplete + typo-tolerance	Typesense	Raft HA, CORS built-in, fast
Vector / AI similarity	Qdrant	gRPC + HTTP, automatic cluster replication

Meilisearch (Default for Simple Search)

• Single-node only (no clustering)
• Port: 7700
• API keys: masterKey (admin), defaultSearchKey (frontend-safe), defaultAdminKey (backend)
• Production mode by default (no search preview dashboard)

Elasticsearch (Advanced / HA)

• Cluster support with multiple nodes
• Port: 9200 (HTTP only)
• Auth: elastic user with auto-generated password
• Plugins via PLUGINS env var (comma-separated)
• JVM heap: HEAP_PERCENT env var (default 50%)
• Min RAM: 0.25 GB

Typesense (Fast Autocomplete)

• HA: 3-node Raft consensus
• API key via apiKey env var (immutable after generation)
• CORS enabled by default
• Recovery time: up to 1 minute during failover (503/500 auto-resolves)
• Data persisted at /var/lib/typesense

Qdrant (Vector Search)

• Ports: 6333 (HTTP), 6334 (gRPC)
• API keys: apiKey (full access), readOnlyApiKey (search only)
• HA: 3 nodes with automaticClusterReplication=true by default
• Internal access only — no public access available

Gotchas

1. Meilisearch has no HA: Single-node only — for HA full-text search, use Elasticsearch or Typesense
2. Qdrant is internal-only: Cannot be exposed publicly — access via your runtime service
3. Typesense API key is immutable: Cannot change apiKey after service creation
4. Elasticsearch plugins require restart: Changing PLUGINS env var needs service restart

See Also

• zerops://themes/services — Meilisearch, Elasticsearch, Typesense, Qdrant service cards and wiring