Pick Meilisearch if
app teams who will stay on MIT self-host $0 while they index a first catalog, then start the 14-day Cloud trial (no card) and land on Cloud from $20/month when they do not want to run the engine.
Read the Meilisearch pageMeilisearch vs Upstash
Our take
Pick Meilisearch if app teams who will stay on MIT self-host $0 while they index a first catalog, then start the 14-day Cloud trial (no card) and land on Cloud from $20/month when they do not want to run the engine. Pick Upstash if app teams who will stay on Redis Free $0 (250 MB, 500k commands, no card) while they cache a first route, then put a card on file when they need Pay as You Go at $0.20/100k commands — or
Best for
Meilisearch Search you start at MIT $0 or Cloud from $20
Upstash A cache, a message, a durable step, a vector index, or a box you start without a card
Free plan
Meilisearch $0 · mIT license. No usage cap on the engine. You run the binary
Upstash $0 · /month. 250 MB. 500k commands/mo. 10 GB bandwidth. 1 database
Lowest paid
Meilisearch Not published by the vendor
Upstash Pay as You Go $0.10
Next step up
Meilisearch
Upstash Pay as You Go $0.20
Runs where
Meilisearch Local; you host it
Upstash Hosted
Watch out
Meilisearch The hero says $20
Upstash Free Redis is 250 MB and 500k commands
Last checked
Meilisearch 2026-10-22 · meilisearch.com/pricing
Upstash 2026-10-22 · upstash.com/pricing/redis
Which one, then?
Pick Upstash if
app teams who will stay on Redis Free $0 (250 MB, 500k commands, no card) while they cache a first route, then put a card on file when they need Pay as You Go at $0.20/100k commands — or add QStash / Workflow / Vector / Box on the same $0 free envelope.
Read the Upstash page