Comparison

Apache Solr vs Vespa

On the evidence we track, Vespa leads this comparison with a composite score of 58/100. Scores are only directly comparable because these tools share a category; the full breakdown and every source is below.

Machine formatsMarkdownJSONGraphQLMarkdown is open. JSON and GraphQL need a free key.
Apache Solr49
★Vespa58
Score
vioscaleAI score
Apache Solr49 / 100low · 34%
Vespa58 / 100high · 75%
Pricing
Free tier
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✓
Model
Apache Solropen_source
Vespafree
Price level
Apache Solrfree
Vespafree
Transparent
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✗
Integrations
Count
Apache Solr10
Vespa12
Reliability
Status page
Apache Solr–
Vespa✓
Adoption
Dependent repos
Apache Solr0
Vespa7
Github stars
Apache Solr1,685
Vespa7,129
Activity
Commits last 30d
Apache Solr100
Vespa100
Release
Cadence days
Apache Solr–
Vespa3
History
Apache Solr–
License
Spdx
Apache SolrApache-2.0
Language
Primary
Apache SolrJava
VespaJava
Market
Availability
Apache Solr–
Content
Faq
Apache Solr6 items
Vespa8 items

Capabilities

Feature-by-feature on the axes that matter for search engines. “-” means undocumented, not absent.

Deployment
Deployment
Apache SolrSelf-hosted
VespaSelf-hosted
Architecture
Index engine
Apache SolrLucene
VespaCustom
Query
Query DSL (JSON / SQL / params / GraphQL)
Apache SolrHTTP REST API with JSON/XML/CSV
Vespa-
Faceting & filtering
Apache SolrYes
Vespa-
Geo search
Apache Solr✓
Vespa-
Relevance
Typo tolerance / fuzzy
Apache Solr-
VespaConfigurable
Relevance tuning
Apache Solr-
VespaRanking rules
Vector
Vector / hybrid search
Apache SolrDense + lexical fusion
VespaDense + lexical fusion
Scale
Distributed / horizontal scale
Apache SolrClustered
VespaSharded
Multi-tenancy (indexes / collections / tenants)
Apache Solr✓
Vespa-
Ingest
Real-time indexing
Apache SolrNear-real-time
VespaNear-real-time
Workload
Log / analytics workload
Apache Solr✓
Vespa-
Licensing
Licence class
Apache SolrPermissive OSS
VespaPermissive OSS

What each one is

The product in its own terms, so the numbers below have context.

Apache Solr

Apache Solr is a distributed, open-source search engine providing scalable indexing and querying with support for full-text, vector, and geospatial search. It offers features like faceting, analytics, replication, and automated failover, with deployment options including containerization via Docker and Kubernetes.

Independently observed

Vespa

Leader

A distributed search and AI platform that handles vectors, tensors, text, and structured data at scale, delivering sub-100ms query latency with continuous data updates and machine-learned relevance ranking.

Independently observed

Pricing

List pricing as published by each vendor, with the date we read it. Always verify at the source before you buy.

Apache Solr

Open source
as of verify ↗

Vespa

Leader
FreeFree tier
as of verify ↗

Platform & deployment

Where each product runs and how it can be hosted. A dash means undocumented, not unsupported.

Platforms
Web
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✓
macOS
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✗
Windows
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✗
Linux
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✗
CLI
Apache Solr✗
Vespa✓
Deployment
Cloud / SaaS
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✓
Self-hosted
Apache Solr✓
Vespa✓
Hybrid
Apache Solr✗
Vespa✓

Integrations

What each product connects to. Counts come from the vendor's own integration directory where one exists.

Apache Solr

10 total
  • Apache Lucene
  • Apache Zookeeper
  • Apache Tika
  • Docker
  • Kubernetes
  • Apache ManifoldCF
  • Apache Spark
  • Apache Nutch
  • Apache Zeppelin
  • Apache OpenNLP
Independently observed

Vespa

Leader
12 total
  • Python
  • Cohere
  • TwelveLabs
  • Claude Code
  • OpenAI Codex
  • Google Gemini
  • Cursor
  • VSCode
  • IntelliJ
  • PyCharm
  • AWS
  • GCP
Independently observed
Still deciding?

Apache Solr or Vespa: which one depends on you

A composite score cannot know your constraints. Describe them and both get re-weighted against what you actually need, with the evidence behind every position.

Free to run, no account needed to start. How the evaluation works

Comparison generated from independently-sourced facts. Every value links to its source and retrieval date. See the method.