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Weaviate VS Apache Solr

Compare Weaviate VS Apache Solr and see what are their differences

Weaviate logo Weaviate

Welcome to Weaviate

Apache Solr logo Apache Solr

Solr is an open source enterprise search server based on Lucene search library, with XML/HTTP and...
  • Weaviate Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-05-10
  • Apache Solr Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-04-28

Weaviate features and specs

  • Semantic Search
    Weaviate provides advanced semantic search capabilities, allowing users to perform searches based on meanings and concepts rather than just keyword matching, enhancing the accuracy and relevance of search results.
  • Scalability
    Weaviate is designed to handle large-scale data efficiently, making it suitable for enterprise-level applications that require processing big datasets.
  • Graph-Based
    It leverages a graph-based data model which is intuitive for representing complex relationships between entities, providing a more natural way to organize and query data.
  • Integration with AI/ML Models
    Weaviate can integrate with machine learning models to enrich data processing capabilities, such as text vectorization, which improves the precision of semantic search.
  • Open-Source Platform
    Being open-source, Weaviate encourages community-driven development and transparency, allowing users to contribute to and modify the software in accordance with their needs.

Possible disadvantages of Weaviate

  • Complexity
    The advanced features and configurations of Weaviate can introduce complexity which may require a steep learning curve for new users unfamiliar with graph databases or semantic search technologies.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Weaviate at scale can require significant computational resources, which might be a consideration for organizations with limited infrastructure capabilities.
  • Maturity and Support
    As a relatively newer technology compared to other established database systems, Weaviate might have fewer community resources and third-party integrations available.
  • Use Case Specificity
    Weaviate's focus on semantic search might make it less suitable for applications that only require simple, traditional relational database features without the added complexity of semantic layer.

Apache Solr features and specs

  • Scalability
    Apache Solr is highly scalable, capable of handling large amounts of data and numerous queries per second. It supports distributed search and indexing, which allows for horizontal scaling by adding more nodes.
  • Flexibility
    Solr provides flexible schema management, allowing for dynamic field definitions and easy handling of various data types. It supports a variety of search query types and can be customized to meet specific search requirements.
  • Rich Feature Set
    Solr comes with a wealth of features out-of-the-box, including faceted search, result highlighting, multi-index search, and advanced filtering capabilities. It also offers robust analytics and joins support.
  • Community and Documentation
    Being an open-source project, Apache Solr has a strong community and comprehensive documentation, which ensures continuous improvements, updates, and extensive support resources for developers.
  • Integrations
    Solr integrates well with a variety of databases and data sources, and it provides REST-like APIs for ease of integration with other applications. It also has strong support for popular programming languages like Java, Python, and Ruby.
  • Performance
    Solr is built on top of Apache Lucene, which provides high performance for searching and indexing. It is optimized for speed and can handle rapid data ingestion and real-time indexing.

Possible disadvantages of Apache Solr

  • Complexity
    The initial setup and configuration of Apache Solr can be complex, particularly for those not already familiar with search engines and indexing concepts. Managing a distributed Solr installation also requires considerable expertise.
  • Resource Intensive
    Running Solr, especially for large datasets, can be resource-intensive in terms of both memory and CPU. It requires careful tuning and adequate hardware to maintain performance.
  • Learning Curve
    The learning curve for Apache Solr can be steep due to its extensive feature set and the complexity of its configuration options. New users may find it challenging to get up to speed quickly.
  • Consistency Issues
    In distributed setups, ensuring data consistency can be challenging, particularly for users unfamiliar with managing clustered environments. There may be delays or issues with synchronizing indexes across multiple nodes.
  • Maintenance
    Ongoing maintenance of a Solr instance, including monitoring, tuning, and scaling, can be labor-intensive. This requires dedicated effort to keep the system running efficiently over time.
  • Limited Real-time Capabilities
    Although Solr provides near real-time indexing, it may not be as effective as some specialized real-time search engines. For applications requiring truly real-time capabilities, additional solutions might be necessary.

Weaviate videos

Introducing the Weaviate Vector Search Engine!

More videos:

  • Review - Weaviate + Haystack presented by Laura Ham (Harry Potter example!)

Apache Solr videos

Solr Index - Learn about Inverted Indexes and Apache Solr Indexing

More videos:

  • Review - Solr Web Crawl - Crawl Websites and Search in Apache Solr

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Weaviate and Apache Solr)
Search Engine
34 34%
66% 66
Custom Search Engine
12 12%
88% 88
Utilities
100 100%
0% 0
Custom Search
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Weaviate and Apache Solr

Weaviate Reviews

We have no reviews of Weaviate yet.
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Apache Solr Reviews

Top 10 Site Search Software Tools & Plugins for 2022
Apache Solr is optimized to handle high-volume traffic and is easy to scale up or down depending on your changing needs. The near real-time indexing capabilities ensure that your content remains fresh and search results are always relevant and updated. For more advanced customization, Apache Solr boasts extensible plug-in architecture so you can easily plug in index and...
5 Open-Source Search Engines For your Website
Apache Solr is the popular, blazing-fast, open-source enterprise search platform built on Apache Lucene. Solr is a standalone search server with a REST-like API. You can put documents in it (called "indexing") via JSON, XML, CSV, or binary over HTTP. You query it via HTTP GET and receive JSON, XML, CSV, or binary results.
Source: vishnuch.tech
Elasticsearch vs. Solr vs. Sphinx: Best Open Source Search Platform Comparison
Solr is not as quick as Elasticsearch and works best for static data (that does not require frequent changing). The reason is due to caches. In Solr, the caches are global, which means that, when even the slightest change happens in the cache, all indexing demands a refresh. This is usually a time-consuming process. In Elastic, on the other hand, the refreshing is made by...
Source: greenice.net
Algolia Review – A Hosted Search API Reviewed
If you’re not 100% satisfied with Algolia, there are always alternative methods to accomplish similar results, such as Solr (open-source & self-hosted) or ElasticSearch (open-source or hosted). Both of these are built on Apache Lucene, and their search syntax is very similar. Amazon Elasticsearch Service provides a fully managed Elasticsearch service which makes it easy to...
Source: getstream.io

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Weaviate should be more popular than Apache Solr. It has been mentiond 37 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Weaviate mentions (37)

  • Why gemini flash 2.0 might be the final boss for RAGs
    Explore open-source vector stores like Weaviate or Chroma if you’re still going the RAG route. - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • 10 open-source MCPs that make your AI agents smarter than your team lead
    Weaviate — comes with built-in modules for semantic search. - Source: dev.to / 12 days ago
  • 6 retrieval augmented generation (RAG) techniques you should know
    The key difference lies in the retrieval mechanism. Vector databases focus on semantic similarity by comparing numerical embeddings, while graph databases emphasize relations between entities. Two solutions for graph databases are Neptune from Amazon and Neo4j. In a case where you need a solution that can accommodate both vector and graph, Weaviate fits the bill. - Source: dev.to / 26 days ago
  • Why You Shouldn’t Invest In Vector Databases?
    In cases where a company possesses a strong technological foundation and faces a substantial workload demanding advanced vector search capabilities, its ideal solution lies in adopting a specialized vector database. Prominent options in this domain include Chroma (having raised $20 million), Zilliz (having raised $113 million), Pinecone (having raised $138 million), Qdrant (having raised $9.8 million), Weaviate... - Source: dev.to / 27 days ago
  • Retrieving Original Documents via Summaries with Weaviate and LangChain
    In this post, we'll explore how to achieve a similar result using Weaviate and its cross-references feature, integrated with LangChain. We'll leverage Weaviate's ability to create cross-references between data objects to efficiently retrieve original documents by querying their summaries. - Source: dev.to / 7 months ago
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Apache Solr mentions (19)

  • List of 45 databases in the world
    Solr — Open-source search platform built on Apache Lucene. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Considerations for Unicode and Searching
    I want to spend the brunt of this article talking about how to do this in Postgres, partly because it's a little more difficult there. But let me start in Apache Solr, which is where I first worked on these issues. - Source: dev.to / 11 months ago
  • Swirl: An open-source search engine with LLMs and ChatGPT to provide all the answers you need 🌌
    Using the Galaxy UI, knowledge workers can systematically review the best results from all configured services including Apache Solr, ChatGPT, Elastic, OpenSearch, PostgreSQL, Google BigQuery, plus generic HTTP/GET/POST with configurations for premium services like Google's Programmable Search Engine, Miro and Northern Light Research. - Source: dev.to / over 1 year ago
  • Looking for software
    Apache Solr can be used to index and search text-based documents. It supports a wide range of file formats including PDFs, Microsoft Office documents, and plain text files. https://solr.apache.org/. Source: about 2 years ago
  • 'google-like' search engine for files on my NAS
    If so, then https://solr.apache.org/ can be a solution, though there's a bit of setup involved. Oh yea, you get to write your own "search interface" too which would end up calling solr's api to find stuff. Source: over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Weaviate and Apache Solr, you can also consider the following products

Qdrant - Qdrant is a high-performance, massive-scale Vector Database for the next generation of AI. Also available in the cloud https://cloud.qdrant.io/

ElasticSearch - Elasticsearch is an open source, distributed, RESTful search engine.

Milvus - Vector database built for scalable similarity search Open-source, highly scalable, and blazing fast.

Algolia - Algolia's Search API makes it easy to deliver a great search experience in your apps & websites. Algolia Search provides hosted full-text, numerical, faceted and geolocalized search.

pgvecto.rs - Scalable, Low-latency and Hybrid-enabled Vector Search in Postgres. Revolutionize Vector Search, not Database. - tensorchord/pgvecto.rs

Typesense - Typo tolerant, delightfully simple, open source search 🔍