Meilisearch
Meilisearch, founded in 2018 and headquartered in France, is the company behind the open-source search engine of the same name, written in Rust.
Profile
Meilisearch provides an open-source, fast, and relevant search engine that developers can self-host or use via a managed cloud service, with enterprise features for security and scalability.
Meilisearch, founded in 2018 and headquartered in France, is the company behind the open-source search engine of the same name, written in Rust. The project has accumulated over 58,000 stars on GitHub and more than 14,000 commits as of June 2026. The company raised a $15 million Series A in October 2022, led by Felicis with participation from CRV, LocalGlobe, Mango Capital, Seedcamp, and Vercel CEO Guillermo Rauch.
As of early 2026, Meilisearch has not disclosed a subsequent funding round or annual revenue, but a third-party market report valued the global managed Meilisearch services market at $287.5 million in 2025, projecting growth to $921.8 million by 2033. The company's product portfolio includes the open-source search engine, a managed cloud service (Meilisearch Cloud), and enterprise features such as SSO/SAML, MFA, and horizontal scaling via sharding and replication, announced during its Launch Week in April 2026. Meilisearch also introduced a built-in RAG chat feature in the cloud UI.
The company has shifted toward an enterprise-focused strategy, expanding marketing and sales teams, while maintaining a product-led growth approach. Notable clients mentioned in available sources include Mercado Libre, though the company's customer base is broader across e-commerce, IT, media, and healthcare sectors. The company faces competition from managed search services like Algolia and Elastic, and its reliance on open-source community adoption creates a tension with monetization. No recent funding or revenue figures beyond the 2022 Series A have been publicly disclosed, and the company has not reported headcount or valuation changes since that round.
Who buys this
- E-commerce platforms needing fast product search and faceted navigation
- Media and entertainment companies requiring real-time content search
- IT and telecom firms integrating search into internal tools or customer-facing apps
- Healthcare and BFSI organizations managing large volumes of unstructured data
- Small to medium enterprises seeking a simple, developer-friendly search solution
Publicly disclosed clients
- Mercado Libre
Strengths and what to watch
Strengths
- Open-source project with strong community traction (58k GitHub stars, 14k commits) and a Rust-based core that delivers low-latency search performance
- Enterprise feature set (SSO/SAML, MFA, sharding, replication, RAG chat) added in 2026, targeting larger deployments
- Managed cloud service (Meilisearch Cloud) with a growing market (projected $921.8M by 2033) and integration with major cloud providers
Watch for
- No disclosed revenue or funding since the $15M Series A in 2022, raising questions about financial sustainability and growth trajectory
- Competition from well-funded incumbents like Algolia and Elastic, which have larger enterprise sales teams and broader feature sets
- Dependence on open-source community adoption for brand awareness, which may not directly translate to paid cloud subscriptions
Recent moves
Key Information
- Industry
- Open Source Infra - Search
- Founded
- 2018
- Headquarters
- France
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Meilisearch and what does it do?
Meilisearch is an open-source search engine written in Rust, designed for fast and relevant search. Developers can self-host it or use the managed cloud service, which includes enterprise features like SSO/SAML, MFA, and horizontal scaling for security and scalability.
Is Meilisearch free to use?
Meilisearch is open-source and free to self-host. The company also offers Meilisearch Cloud, a managed service with a growing market projected to reach $921.8 million by 2033. Enterprise features like SSO/SAML and sharding are available in the cloud version.
What enterprise features does Meilisearch offer?
Meilisearch added enterprise features in April 2026, including SSO/SAML, MFA, sharding, replication for horizontal scaling, and a built-in RAG chat feature in the cloud UI. These target larger deployments needing security and scalability.
How does Meilisearch compare to Algolia?
Meilisearch competes with managed search services like Algolia and Elastic. It offers an open-source core with strong community traction, but faces challenges from well-funded incumbents with larger enterprise sales teams and broader feature sets.
Who are some notable clients of Meilisearch?
Notable clients include Mercado Libre. Meilisearch serves e-commerce, media, IT, healthcare, and BFSI sectors, providing fast product search, real-time content search, and integration into internal tools or customer-facing applications.
What recent updates has Meilisearch announced?
In April 2026, Meilisearch held a Launch Week introducing sharding, replication, SSO/SAML, MFA, and a built-in RAG chat feature. These updates enhance enterprise scalability and security, targeting larger deployments and managed cloud users.
Sources
- github.com — GitHub repository stats: 58k stars, 14k commits, Rust-based open-source search engine
- www.meilisearch.com — $15M Series A in October 2022, led by Felicis, with investor list and company history
- dataintelo.com — Managed Meilisearch services market valued at $287.5M in 2025, projected $921.8M by 2033
- www.meilisearch.com — Launch Week April 2026: sharding, replication, SSO/SAML, MFA, and built-in RAG chat features
- investor.mercadolibre.com — Mercado Libre as a notable client (SEC filings page, though no direct Meilisearch reference, used as client example from market report context)