Postgres Full-Text Search

• CategoryDatabase-native FTS
• EnginePostgres
• PricingOpen source
• LicensePostgreSQL License
• Created2008
• GitHub starsclosed
• Vector supportYes
• Edge-readyNo

Postgres has had built-in full-text search since 2008 with tsvector / tsquery. GIN indexes, ranking with ts_rank, multi-language stemming via dictionaries. Pair with pg_trgm for fuzzy / typo tolerance and pgvector for hybrid lexical+vector. Not as fast as dedicated engines but sufficient for most apps.

• Apps already on Postgres where adding a search service is overhead
• Mid-scale workloads (under ~10M rows) where Postgres performance suffices
• Hybrid lexical + vector search via pg_trgm + pgvector + tsvector together
• Cost-conscious teams that want zero additional infrastructure

Skip Postgres FTS for genuine search-product workloads (e-commerce search, content search at scale). Skip if you need typo tolerance comparable to Algolia / Meilisearch.

Postgres FTS is underrated. For most apps with Postgres in the stack, it is a fine default. Graduate to Typesense / Meilisearch when search becomes a real product feature rather than a side concern.

• Official homepage →

The 30-min call is where your search choice becomes a real architecture, a relevance-tuning plan, and a price range you can take to your stakeholders.