Typesense
The speed-obsessed instant-search engine - in-memory C++, typo tolerance, vectors - for $7/month.
One-click deploy, from $7/mo on a Miget plan.
Typesense is what you get when search is engineered like a database kernel: a C++ binary holding indexes in RAM, returning typo-tolerant, faceted, filtered results in single-digit milliseconds - plus vector and hybrid search for the semantic layer. Env-only configuration down to the port.
It is the deliberate counterpart to the catalogue’s meilisearch: Meilisearch for the gentlest developer experience, Typesense for raw speed and richer filtering at scale. Key-protected like its sibling, so the API can face browsers with scoped search-only keys.
The cloud math is unusually direct here: Typesense Cloud’s smallest node - 0.5 GB, no HA, the identical open-source binary - costs $21.60/month. This template’s 1 GiB plan is $7.
Upstream project: Typesense
#what you get
- Sub-10ms typo-tolerant search with facets and filtering
- Vector + hybrid search; InstantSearch-compatible adapter
- Env-only config including the port - simplest deploy class
- Scoped search-only API keys for browsers
- RAM-resident indexes: predictable, honest sizing
- GPL-3.0; Raft clustering upstream when one node ends
#topology
| Service | Role | Public |
|---|---|---|
| typesense | search engine (:5000) | yes (key-protected) |
#miget sizing
// this stack needs
1 GiB RAM · 5 GB disk · 1 service
Indexes live in RAM: budget 2-3x the size of indexed fields. The on-disk copy on the volume makes restarts instant.
Hobby - recommended fit
$7/mo
1 vCPU · 1 GiB · 25 GiB disk
Headroom for your own apps: 2 GiB at $13/mo
Professional - production
$22/mo
1 vCPU · 2 GiB · 10 GiB disk
Dedicated resources, production SLOs - plan details
One Miget plan is a fixed pool of compute - the whole stack (managed databases included) deploys inside it, and anything left over runs your other apps. No per-service or per-seat math.
#vs. the managed service
What the hosted equivalents charge, against the flat Miget plan this stack fits on. Prices as of June 2026, sources linked.
| Service | Plan | Monthly | What you get |
|---|---|---|---|
| Typesense on Miget ★ | 1 GiB plan | $7 | this whole stack, flat - no usage meters, and room left for your own apps |
| Typesense Cloud | smallest cluster | ~$22 | $0.03/hr for 0.5 GB RAM, no HA - the identical open-source binary, hosted |
| Algolia | Grow (pay-as-you-go) | ~$45 | at ~100k searches + 100k records/mo |
#vs. other PaaS
Estimated monthly cost of running this exact stack (1 GiB RAM, 5 GB disk, 1 container) elsewhere, from published June 2026 rates.
| Platform | Est. monthly | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Miget ★ | $7 flat | compose stacks first-class: one deploy, dedicated vCPU, managed Postgres/Valkey, volumes and TLS all included in the plan |
| Heroku | ~$50 | no volumes; nothing between 1 GB ($50) and 2.5 GB ($250) dynos - 2 GB containers cost far more than shown |
| DO App Platform | ~$17 | no persistent volumes - stateful containers need managed DBs/Spaces (base $5 Spaces included here) |
| Render | ~$14 | per-service instances (0.5 GB $7, 2 GB $25) - every container is its own paid service |
| Railway | ~$11 | usage-based ($10/GB RAM-mo); vCPU billed separately at $20/vCPU-mo on top |
| Fly.io | ~$7 | cheapest sticker price - but burstable shared CPUs (1/16 core; dedicated vCPUs cost ~2-3×), no compose deploys (one app per container, manual wiring), managed DBs billed extra |
Estimates assume RAM fully allocated at published on-demand rates - and sticker price isn't the whole comparison: the cheaper rows buy burstable shared CPUs, per-service wiring instead of a compose deploy, and managed databases billed separately. Heroku and DO App Platform have no persistent volumes at all - stateful stacks like this one need workarounds there.
#deploy it
On Miget
- Create a Compose Stack in app.miget.com pointing at the templates repository
- Set the stack path to
typesense -
Set the required variable:
TYPESENSE_API_KEY, admin key; derive scoped search keys for clients
- Deploy. Miget layers
compose.miget.yaml(RAM, privacy, volumes, managed services) automatically
Locally first?
Every template is portable, vanilla Docker Compose - the Miget overrides are ignored locally:
git clone https://github.com/deployable-sh/stacks
cd miget-compose-templates/typesense
docker compose up -dSame files, same behavior. The template README covers connection strings and scaling notes.
#faq
Typesense or Meilisearch - this catalogue has both?
Deliberately: Meilisearch wins on out-of-box DX and built-in AI hybrid search; Typesense wins on raw latency, filtering depth, and memory predictability at larger scale. Both are key-protected single containers - benchmarking with your data costs an afternoon and $14.
Is the hosted version different software?
No - Typesense Cloud runs this same GPL binary; you pay for their ops. Their smallest 0.5 GB non-HA node is $21.60/month, which makes the $7 self-hosted plan one of the clearest deltas on this site.
Can browsers query it directly?
Yes - generate scoped, search-only API keys (optionally with embedded filters per user) and ship those to the frontend. The admin key stays server-side; the InstantSearch adapter makes the UI part familiar.
Ship Typesense today
One compose stack, 1 GiB of RAM, from $7/month flat, and it runs on your laptop with the same files.