Self-host Meilisearch

updated Sep 2026deployed by usprices checked · Jul 2026Install verified on Ubuntu 26.04 · Sep 2026 · how we test

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A search engine written in Rust for search-as-you-type over your own data: typo tolerance, filters and facets, geo search and hybrid keyword-plus-vector search behind a REST API. The Community Edition is MIT; the index lives on disk in memory-mapped LMDB files, so it does not have to fit in RAM.

Key facts

CategorySearch engine

LicenseMIT

StackRust

Min RAM1024 MB

Official imageyes

Measured idle RAM25 MB

Difficulty

Sourcegithub.com/meilisearch/meilisearch

Websitemeilisearch.com

Our recommendation

Pick Meilisearch when you want Algolia-style search-as-you-type over your own data on one server: a Rust binary with typo tolerance, filters and facets, geo search, and hybrid keyword-plus-vector search (OpenAI, any REST embedder, or a HuggingFace model run locally). The index lives on disk in memory-mapped LMDB files, so it does not have to fit in RAM; upstream says a RAM-to-disk ratio around 1/3 does not materially hurt performance. The Community Edition — the `getmeili/meilisearch` image — is MIT. Several self-hosted apps, Karakeep among them, already bundle it as their full-text index.

Follow the Meilisearch deploy guide →

What you need

Any VPS with at least 1024 MB of RAM
A domain you control — most self-hosted setups need HTTPS in front of them
Under an hour if you've used Docker before

Where to host itaffiliate disclosure

Hetzner Cloudrun it on

From $23.59/mo · 2 vCPU / 4 GB / 80 GB · EU + US

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Kamaterafree trial

From $4/mo · 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 20 GB · US + EU + Asia

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DigitalOceanalso works on

From $6/mo · 1 vCPU / 1 GB / 25 GB · US + EU + Asia

Deploy on DigitalOcean →

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Install

Run these commands on your server:

# Meilisearch Community Edition — official image, per meilisearch.com/docs (Docker guide); upstream advises pinning a version over :latest
export MEILI_MASTER_KEY="$(openssl rand -base64 24)" && echo "$MEILI_MASTER_KEY"
mkdir -p meili_data
docker run -d --name meilisearch --restart unless-stopped \
  -p 7700:7700 \
  -e MEILI_ENV=production -e MEILI_MASTER_KEY \
  -v $(pwd)/meili_data:/meili_data \
  getmeili/meilisearch:v1.54.0
# production mode requires a master key of 16+ bytes; add -e MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS=true to opt out of telemetry
# API on http://SERVER_IP:7700 — put it behind a reverse proxy with HTTPS

deploy guideHow to Deploy Meilisearch on a VPS vps picksBest VPS for self-hostingbenchmarked quarterly · re-priced monthly

What you take on

Meilisearch is simple to start; these are the edges its own docs spell out:

non-negotiableSet MEILI_ENV=production and a master key of at least 16 bytes. Without them the instance runs in development mode with the search-preview UI enabled. The master key is for managing keys only; applications should use the generated Default Search / Admin API keys or keys you create, and tenant tokens for per-user filtering.

non-negotiableHigh availability is not in the free build. Replication and sharding require the Enterprise Edition, whose code is under a Business Source Licence that allows "non-production purposes only" without a commercial agreement. A self-hosted Community Edition is one node: back it up with snapshots (--schedule-snapshot) or dumps.

non-negotiableDatabases are tied to the version that created them. Upgrades run with --upgrade-db, which upstream says is "not atomic", so snapshot first; a database created before v1.12 must go through a dump and re-import. Pin an image tag — the docs advise against :latest.

non-negotiableIndexing is the memory-hungry part: by default the indexer caps itself at two thirds of the machine's RAM (--max-indexing-memory overrides it), and most out-of-memory kills happen during indexing. Send large imports in batches. Disk use only grows, because LMDB does not return space freed by deletions to the OS.

non-negotiableTelemetry is on by default; set MEILI_NO_ANALYTICS=true (or --no-analytics) to opt out. The 1 GB floor in our catalog is our estimate for a small index, not an upstream figure — Meilisearch publishes no minimum, and a local HuggingFace embedder needs more.