Hello,
I want to add Search feature to my existing Hugo sites as well as to the upcoming one - all of them hosted on dedicated (semi-shared) hosting and wonder what are some pro/cons of using Algolia search service for Hugo-powered sites?
I’ve noted that Algolia’s pricing has changed - e.g. 1$ Unit/month, iirc, it was much more expensive before, at least, for small-medium sized sites, so curious is it actually cheaper than before?
I use Algolia on two of my websites. I think their search is good. I don’t like the complexity of setting up Algolia, using their (relatively) large JavaScript files, and their prices.
I also don’t like their centralised hosting (makes search slower for people on a different continent) and that they limit how much analytics you can see (which I think should be free since it’s your data after all).
Not that much. I’m luckily still on their community plan, but else the 65k monthly searches I got would cost me $55 per month, which I find quite expensive. (Especially since it’s just a blog without revenue.)
Note that 65k searches sound like a lot, but it’s really not due to how Algolia measures searches. Since they search as you type, every letter is a search (depending on how quick you type, of course, but most people pause to see what search results show up).
“hugo algolia” → could be 10 searches.
Thanks a lot for very informative post!
Indeed, $55/mo for 65k searches and how they count is certainly too expensive. For much less I can get very decent hosting and then even install EleasticSearch or some other search engine…I must admit that I’m disappointed with such offering - paying so much for just a single feature. 