Apache Solr is a free, self-hosted search platform built on Apache Lucene, with full-text, vector, and geospatial search capabilities. It accepts documents over HTTP in JSON, XML, CSV, or binary formats and returns results in those formats through a REST query interface. Matching options include phrases, wildcards, joins, and grouping; discovery tools include faceting, autocomplete, spelling suggestions, hit highlighting, and result clustering. Solr can distribute indexing, replicate data, balance queries across servers, and provide automated failover and recovery. It integrates Apache Tika to extract and process content from PDFs and Microsoft Word documents. Administrators can use its interface to control instances and inspect cluster state, logs, threads, and metrics. Listed security capabilities include SSL, authentication, and role-based authorization. Solr runs on Linux, macOS, and Windows, with API access, and is licensed under Apache License, Version 2.0. Community support is available through the users mailing list and other channels. Releases are not scheduled in advance; versions below 9.10 are end of life and will not receive further updates.
Who it is for
Solr suits teams that need self-hosted full-text, vector, or geospatial search, from small projects to enterprise applications. It also fits operators seeking distributed indexing and query management.
What is good
- Supports full-text, vector, and geospatial search.
- Offers faceting, autocomplete, and result clustering.
- Provides distributed indexing and automated failover.
- Includes SSL, authentication, and role-based authorization.
What to know first
- Release dates are not scheduled in advance.
- Versions below 9.10 are end of life.
Verdict
Solr combines varied search modes with distributed operation, administration, and listed security capabilities. Note that older versions below 9.10 no longer receive updates, and future release timing is not announced in advance.
Apache Solr plans and pricing
All plansCompared on spatial databases
- Free plan
- Yes
- Primary search mode
- hybrid
- Vector search
- Yes
- Faceted search
- Yes
- Deployment
- self-hosted
- Query interface
- REST
