What is tinysearch used for?

tinysearch is a tiny full-text search engine for static websites, written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly so search runs entirely in the visitor's browser. It is a good fit for adding search to a static blog and offline-friendly documentation search.

Is tinysearch open source?

Yes. tinysearch is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at tinysearch/tinysearch and is written mainly in Rust.

Yes. tinysearch is open source, so the software itself is free to use.

What is tinysearch an alternative to?

tinysearch is an open-source alternative to Algolia, AddSearch and Google Programmable Search Engine. Other open-source alternatives to Algolia include Meilisearch, Typesense and Orama.

Is tinysearch actively maintained?

Yes. The most recent commit to tinysearch was on 14 September 2026, and the latest release is v0.11.1, published on 14 September 2026. The project has 3k stars on GitHub.

tinysearch: open-source alternative to Algolia, AddSearch

About tinysearch

Tinysearch is a lightweight, fast full-text search engine designed for static websites. It is written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly, so the search index and query logic run in the browser with no search server. It can be used with static site generators such as Jekyll, Hugo, Zola, Cobalt, or Pelican, and it is released under the Apache-2.0 license.

It is a Rust and WebAssembly port of an approach to full-text search that uses Bloom filters, and the project presents it as a lighter alternative to lunr.js and elasticlunr, which load a lot of JavaScript for small sites. The README gives an example of the author's own site: an index of 73 posts produces a WASM payload of 179 kB, or 83 kB gzipped.

By default it stores a sorted vocabulary with exact posting lists that map each word to the pages that contain it. It suits bloggers and documentation maintainers who want instant client-side search on a statically hosted site without adding a backend service or sending queries to a third party.

Key features

Full-text search that runs in the browser
Rust core compiled to WebAssembly
Works with Jekyll, Hugo, Zola, Cobalt, and Pelican
Small index and payload size
No backend or search server required

Good fit for

→Adding search to a static blog
→Offline-friendly documentation search

Built with: Rust
Tags: search; static-site; wasm; rust; full-text-search; jamstack; client-side; bloom-filter

tinysearch: questions and answers

What is tinysearch used for?: tinysearch is a tiny full-text search engine for static websites, written in Rust and compiled to WebAssembly so search runs entirely in the visitor's browser. It is a good fit for adding search to a static blog and offline-friendly documentation search.
Is tinysearch open source?: Yes. tinysearch is open source under the Apache-2.0 licence. Its source code is on GitHub at tinysearch/tinysearch and is written mainly in Rust.
Is tinysearch free?: Yes. tinysearch is open source, so the software itself is free to use.
What is tinysearch an alternative to?: tinysearch is an open-source alternative to Algolia, AddSearch and Google Programmable Search Engine. Other open-source alternatives to Algolia include Meilisearch, Typesense and Orama.
Is tinysearch actively maintained?: Yes. The most recent commit to tinysearch was on 14 September 2026, and the latest release is v0.11.1, published on 14 September 2026. The project has 3k stars on GitHub.