7 best Algolia alternatives for Shopify (2026)

The short answer

What is the best Algolia alternative for Shopify?

It depends on the job.

Prices are as of November 2026. Check each listing before you buy. Algolia sits in the last row for reference.

The bill you have now

What does Algolia's Shopify app cost?

Algolia's first 10,000 searches a month are free, then Grow charges $0.50 per 1,000 and Grow Plus $1.75. Typing "dress" uses five of them. Algolia's help center counts each keystroke as one billed search, even a search that finds nothing.

If Algolia runs your collections, each page that opens counts as a search. So does each filter tap or sort change, unless the browser already holds that result. A page that shows results as it opens runs an empty search, billed too. Each size or color of a product can count as one stored item.

Grow and Grow Plus run month to month, and the top plan is sold on a yearly contract. Grow Plus adds AI synonyms and ranking.

Algolia's charges can come on a second invoice, apart from Shopify's. Guaranteed support replies, setup help and training go through Sales.

Say your store gets 15,000 visits a month and Algolia runs search and collections. Each visit opens two collection pages and taps two filters. One visit in three types a five-letter word and opens the results page. Algolia counts that as 90,000 searches: $40 a month on Grow, or $140 on Grow Plus. On the search box alone, it is 30,000 searches, so $10 or $35.

The switch

What does it take to switch search apps?

1. Set up the new app on a duplicate of your theme during its free trial and preview it there, so shoppers see nothing until you publish.
2. If Algolia was added to your theme before 2024, remove it from the theme too. Duplicate the theme first so a copy keeps its edits. Then open the "Search options" tab in the Algolia app and click the trash icon on that theme.
3. Publish the new theme and remove the Algolia app. Then check your Algolia account for a separate bill.

Rebuild your synonyms, redirects and pinned products in the new app before you publish. Anything a developer built on Algolia, like a custom results page, does not carry over. Price its rebuild in developer hours before you leave.

Staying takes a step too. Algolia stopped supporting version 4 of its storefront search on August 14, 2026. Most stores only switch one setting to "Version 5". A developer who customized Algolia's search follows its upgrade guide.

1 · Sledge

Sledge: can search, filters and offers share one flat bill?

You set up synonyms, redirects and pinned products in Algolia's dashboard, and bundles and discounts elsewhere. Sledge is a Shopify search and filter app. It gives each of those jobs a settings page and puts your bundles and discounts in the results, on a flat monthly plan.

Sledge's Search features cover synonyms, redirects, suggested searches and spellings, stop words, personalization, translation, and which product details count first.

Search matches by keyword by default. On a paid plan, "Search Mode", the matching setting, can match by meaning instead, or both.

Synonyms go one way or two way, with no cap, and AI synonyms come with any paid plan. "Import synonyms" reads your list from a CSV spreadsheet, one row per search term with its direction and synonyms, on a template you download.

A redirect sends one search term straight to the page you set.

For all searches or chosen keywords, you can pin, boost, push down or hide products, add one from another collection, and place an offer or a banner. Those merchandising rules run on "Search Page & Instant Search", meaning the results page and the drop-down, and on collection pages. Shaping results this way is called searchandising.

Filters run on collections and search results. They take color and image swatches and can merge similar values into one option. A search that finds nothing can show search tips, other terms to try and your most popular products. Analytics lists your top search terms and those with no results.

The four plans run from $29.99 to $399 a month on Sledge pricing, stepping up by product count and a monthly revenue ceiling, not searches, sessions or orders. Start the 14-day free trial.

Sledge imports nothing from Algolia. AI search starts on a paid plan, not in the trial, and a live store gets no free plan. Sledge has no image search or chat assistant for shoppers. A full SKU finds the product, part of one does not, and Pro covers 10,000 products.

Best for: one flat bill for search, filters and offers.

2 · Fast Simon

Fast Simon: can collections sort themselves toward your goals?

Every week you reorder a collection by hand and still guess what should lead. Fast Simon ranks search and collections toward goals you set, and its shopping agents apply your promotions and rules.

Its plans count monthly sessions: 100 free, 2,000 on Starter at $39.99, 10,000 on Essential at $114.99 and 30,000 on Top Pro at $299.99. SKU search starts on Essential. Merchandising rules, A/B tests and custom ranking wait for Top Pro. A yearly plan saves 17%.

Fast Simon's help center says it counts sessions the way Google Analytics does. It can also run search on custom-built storefronts. Already on Fast Simon and leaving? See seven Fast Simon alternatives.

Best for: stores that merchandise collections every week.

3 · Searchanise

Searchanise: can the bill follow your product count?

You want to know next month's search bill in advance. Searchanise sets it by your count of active products, not by searches.

A product counts once it is active, listed on your online store and not left out by a tag. Basic, $19 a month, covers 1,500 products with voice search, and Essential, $39, covers 7,500 with banners. Plans on Searchanise's own site run to $349 a month, and each paid plan opens with a 14-day free trial.

Its free plan has unlimited searches, filters, merchandising and AI personalization, with Searchanise branding. It fits only a development store or one under 25 products. Four Searchanise alternatives cover a move away from it.

Best for: a bill set by catalog size.

4 · Doofinder

Doofinder: what if shoppers could ask search a question?

Shoppers type questions, not product names, and your search box finds nothing. Doofinder adds an assistant that answers them.

Basic, at $61, has AI guided search and a quiz maker. The assistant needs Pro, at $186, and Advanced, at $436, adds personalized results and visual search. Every plan has voice search and synonyms. No plan is free, but there is a 15-day trial, and the listing promises no development work.

Like Algolia, Doofinder counts searches: one request each time its search answers a shopper, from the third letter typed. Each plan comes with an allowance, not a price per 1,000. Basic allows 10,000 requests a month for search. Past a plan's allowance, Doofinder recommends a bigger plan rather than selling extra requests.

Best for: an assistant that answers shoppers.

5 · Klevu

Klevu: when does a quoted platform make sense?

You have a merchandising team and want one supplier for search, filters and recommendations. Klevu, now part of Athos Commerce, sells that by quote.

The app is free to install, and Klevu may bill outside your Shopify invoice. Athos Commerce, formed when Klevu and Searchspring combined, sells Onsite, Offsite and Complete Discovery, each quoted as a yearly plan. Its listing names Shopify Markets and custom-built storefronts.

Athos has promised Klevu stores a path onto its new platform. Ask which platform you would join before you sign. To leave Klevu, see five Klevu alternatives.

Best for: a merchandising team with a budget.

6 · Rapid Search

Rapid Search: what does $14 a month buy?

Shoppers miss the small magnifying glass in your header, and your budget is tight. Rapid Search replaces it with a search bar that stays on screen, from $14 a month.

Every plan has every feature, including rules that pin, boost, push down or hide a product. Its listing promises no code and no theme edits, and carries the Built for Shopify badge.

Its three paid plans, $14, $27 and $39 a month, allow 5,000, 12,000 and 25,000 sessions, cover 100,000 products and remove the branding. The free plan stops at 2,000 sessions and 5,000 products. Its pricing page calls a session "basically a visit".

Past your sessions, Shopify's own search returns until your next charge resets the count, unless you upgrade.

Best for: a search bar on a small budget.

7 · Shopify Search & Discovery

Shopify Search & Discovery: what does the free app cover?

You want to pay nothing, and your catalog is small. Shopify's own app adds filters, product boosts and search reports for free.

A store gets 25 filters at most, and a collection over 5,000 products shows none. You can't reorder search results, only lift products through your product data and the app. Shopify has retired its synonyms, though the listing still names them. For what the app still does, read how to use the Shopify Search & Discovery app.

Best for: $0 and a small catalog.

The monthly bill

What does each app cost at 15,000 visits a month?

Take the same store as Algolia's bill above, with 2,000 products in four sizes. Each Fast Simon session counts here as one visit.

Sledge's price doesn't move with traffic, but each plan has a revenue ceiling. Pro covers a Monthly Revenue Boost of $8,000, the sales Sledge counts as added in a month. Past that ceiling your price holds for the month, Growth Intelligence pauses new suggestions, and conversational search reads no more sentences until the month resets.

Conversational search, which turns a typed sentence into filters, has its own allowance too, 2,000 per billing cycle on Pro. Past it, search still answers what the shopper typed. For the wider field, see seven Shopify search apps compared.

Once search is live

How do you see which searches find no results?

Each search that finds nothing names something a shopper came for, so start with zero-result searches.

On any paid plan, Growth Intelligence lists the searches that found nothing once enough different ones show up in a week: at least five, or one for every 20 searches if that is more. It also flags a store with no synonyms when those searches exist. Its fixes add up to one "Est. potential" total, and each finding opens the right Sledge page filled in, for you to review and save.

Say 40 searches a week for "linen pants" find nothing. If one in ten would have bought at $60, your own math says $240 a week, about $1,040 a month. Start the 14-day free trial, then choose a paid plan to switch Growth Intelligence on and read your own total.