Manticore Search

Manticore Search is an open-source search database designed for building fast full-text and hybrid (text + filters) search applications. It provides a SQL-first experience with MySQL protocol compatibility and an HTTP JSON API for programmatic indexing and querying.

Key Features

• Full-text search with relevance ranking (BM25-style), highlighting, and many match operators
• SQL interface with MySQL protocol support for querying and management
• HTTP JSON API, including Elasticsearch-compatible bulk writes for easier ingestion
• Real-time indexing so newly inserted or updated documents are searchable immediately
• Advanced search capabilities such as faceting, geo-spatial search, autocomplete, fuzzy search, and spell correction
• Vector search (KNN) to support semantic and similarity search scenarios
• Multiple storage modes, including row-wise and optional columnar storage for larger datasets
• High-availability options including built-in replication and load balancing
• Built-in backup and restore tooling (including SQL BACKUP)

Use Cases

• Application search for catalogs, marketplaces, documentation, and knowledge bases
• Log/event search and analytics-style querying on large datasets
• Hybrid search combining keyword relevance with filters, geo, and vector similarity

Limitations and Considerations

• Not fully ACID-compliant; transaction semantics differ from general-purpose relational databases
• Some features (such as columnar storage) may require additional components and tuning depending on workload

Manticore Search is well-suited when you need a high-performance, resource-efficient search engine with familiar SQL workflows and flexible APIs. It aims to be an approachable alternative to Elasticsearch for many search and analytics scenarios.