Elasticsearch vs OpenSearch
Elasticsearch
Distributed search and analytics engine
OpenSearch
Community-driven Elasticsearch fork by AWS
| Feature | Elasticsearch | OpenSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Databases | Databases |
| Sub-category | Search | Search |
| Maturity | mature | stable |
| Complexity | intermediate | intermediate |
| Performance tier | medium | medium |
| License | SSPL | Apache-2.0 |
| License type | source-available | permissive |
| Pricing | fully free | fully free |
| GitHub stars | 72.0K | 10.0K |
| Contributors | 2.0K | 500 |
| Commit frequency | weekly | weekly |
| Plugin ecosystem | none | none |
| Docs quality | good | good |
| Backing org | Elastic | AWS / OpenSearch |
| Funding model | open_core | corporate |
| Min RAM | 4 GB | 4 GB |
| Min CPU cores | 2 | 2 |
| Scaling pattern | distributed | distributed |
| Self-hostable | Yes | Yes |
| K8s native | No | No |
| Offline capable | Yes | Yes |
| Vendor lock-in | none | none |
| Languages | Java | Java |
| API type | REST | REST |
| Protocols | HTTP | HTTP |
| Deployment | docker, apt, binary | docker, apt, binary |
| SDK languages | — | — |
| Team size fit | solo, small, medium, enterprise | solo, small, medium, enterprise |
| First release | 2020 | 2020 |
| Latest version | — | — |
When to use Elasticsearch
- ✓ Primary use: full-text-search
- ✓ Primary use: log-analytics
- ✓ Primary use: security-analytics
When to use OpenSearch
- ✓ Primary: full-text-search
- ✓ Primary: log-analytics
- ✓ Primary: observability
Elasticsearch anti-patterns
OpenSearch anti-patterns
- ✕ Lags behind Elasticsearch features
- ✕ AWS ecosystem bias
- ✕ Large resource footprint