What is ParadeDB used for?

ParadeDB is a Postgres extension and distribution that adds fast full-text search, BM25 ranking, vector and hybrid search and analytics to PostgreSQL. It is a good fit for adding search to an existing Postgres database, hybrid keyword and vector retrieval, and real-time analytics inside Postgres.

Is ParadeDB open source?

Yes. ParadeDB is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at paradedb/paradedb and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. ParadeDB is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.

Can I self-host ParadeDB?

Yes. ParadeDB can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.

What is ParadeDB an alternative to?

ParadeDB is an open-source alternative to Elastic and Azure AI Search. Other open-source alternatives to Elastic include RediSearch, SeekStorm and Manticore Search.

Is ParadeDB actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to ParadeDB was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.25.11, published on 29 September 2026. The project has 9.3k stars on GitHub.

ParadeDB: open-source alternative to Elastic

About ParadeDB

ParadeDB upgrades Postgres so that application records, keyword search, vector lookups and aggregate queries can share one database. It is built as a Postgres extension, home of pg_search, and uses standard SQL and ACID transactions, so there is no separate search engine to keep in sync.

A custom index delivers full-text and vector search with BM25 scoring, top-K queries, highlighting, tokenizers and filters, along with facets, aggregations, bucket and metrics queries, joins and columnar storage. Under the hood it builds on Rust libraries: pgrx bridges Postgres and Rust, Tantivy powers search and Apache DataFusion handles OLAP processing. Integrations cover Drizzle, Django, SQLAlchemy, Rails and EF Core, AI agent tooling such as MCP, and PaaS providers like Railway, Render, Fly.io and DigitalOcean.

You can try ParadeDB locally with Docker and psql, run it self-hosted, or use ParadeDB Cloud for a fully managed experience. It is written in Rust and licensed under AGPL-3.0. Teams use it to add search to an existing Postgres setup instead of adding Elasticsearch.

Key features

Full-text search with BM25 scoring
Vector and hybrid search
Facets, aggregations and joins
Columnar storage for analytics
Built as a Postgres extension
Standard SQL with ACID transactions
Integrations with ORMs and PaaS hosts

Good fit for

→Adding search to an existing Postgres database
→Hybrid keyword and vector retrieval
→Real-time analytics inside Postgres

Built with: Rust; PostgreSQL
Tags: postgresql; full-text-search; vector-search; bm25; hybrid-search; search-engine; analytics; rust; pg-search

ParadeDB: questions and answers

What is ParadeDB used for?: ParadeDB is a Postgres extension and distribution that adds fast full-text search, BM25 ranking, vector and hybrid search and analytics to PostgreSQL. It is a good fit for adding search to an existing Postgres database, hybrid keyword and vector retrieval, and real-time analytics inside Postgres.
Is ParadeDB open source?: Yes. ParadeDB is open source under the AGPL-3.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at paradedb/paradedb and is written mainly in Rust.
Is ParadeDB free?: Yes. ParadeDB is open source, so the software itself is free to use. A managed cloud version is also available.
Can I self-host ParadeDB?: Yes. ParadeDB can be self-hosted on your own server or infrastructure.
What is ParadeDB an alternative to?: ParadeDB is an open-source alternative to Elastic and Azure AI Search. Other open-source alternatives to Elastic include RediSearch, SeekStorm and Manticore Search.
Is ParadeDB actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to ParadeDB was on 2 October 2026, and the latest release is v0.25.11, published on 29 September 2026. The project has 9.3k stars on GitHub.