Algolia's DX. None of the bill shock.

We ship an Algolia-compatible REST surface and InstantSearch-equivalent widgets. Swap one constant, keep your UI, and cut your search bill by 5–10× at the low end — with native hybrid ranking Algolia still doesn't have.

"We pointed the existing Algolia client at AsterSearch on a Friday afternoon. Monday's bill cycle was the first one we didn't dread." — Eng lead, mid-market e-commerce design partner (private alpha)

What works without touching application code.

Our REST surface mirrors Algolia's for the operations that matter. Migration is usually a one-line client swap plus a re-index.

Algolia endpoint	AsterSearch endpoint	Status
POST /1/indexes/<index>/queries	POST /1/indexes/<index>/queries	Supported
POST /1/indexes/*/queries (multi-index)	POST /v1/multi-search	Up to 20 requests/batch
POST /1/indexes/<index>/batch	POST /v1/batch (NDJSON)	HMAC + idempotency
POST /1/indexes/<index>/settings	PUT /v1/indexes/<index>	Settings v1
objectID on documents	objectID as primary-key alias	Supported
InstantSearch widgets	@astersearch/react + @astersearch/sdk	Drop-in v1
Personalization v2	Segment boosts via function_score	Q3 GA
Query Suggestions auto-build	Use slow-query analytics	Manual today
Crawler advanced rules	Site Search Wizard + crawler	Sitemap-first v1

Where AsterSearch wins outright.

Capability	Algolia	AsterSearch
Native hybrid (BM25 + vector + RRF)	Add-on, separate pricing	Built-in
Postgres CDC (logical replication)	No native connector	Lag < 5s p95
Self-hostable	SaaS only	Single binary, open core
Wildcard / regex / exists queries	Limited	Native
Function-score with decay + filter_weight	Custom ranking only	Full ES-style composition
Filtered vector search in HNSW traversal	Post-filter	In-traversal predicate
Price at 10M searches / mo	~$5,000	$199 (Growth)
Multi-tenancy with per-tenant quotas	Per-app workarounds	Native

Most teams flip the constant in an afternoon.