DatabasesFrom $29/app/month

Managed Elasticsearch Hosting

Name: Elasticsearch
Price: 29 USD
Availability: InStock

Distributed search and analytics engine

What is Elasticsearch on ManageStacks?

Elasticsearch on ManageStacks is production-grade Elasticsearch (or OpenSearch, the AWS-forked Apache-2.0 fork) deployed to your own AWS, Azure, or GCP region — priced flat at $29 per cluster per month regardless of index size, with automatic sharding, replication, snapshot-to-S3 backups, and Kibana included. Materially cheaper than Elastic Cloud or AWS OpenSearch Service for typical workloads. Also fully licence-safe against the Elastic v7.11+ SSPL/ELv2 change (we support OpenSearch as a drop-in).

Deploy Elasticsearch Back to Catalog

Last updated July 7, 2026Official site (Elastic)OpenSearch (Apache-2.0 fork)Source on GitHub

About Elasticsearch

What Elasticsearch does, and why teams deploy it.

Elasticsearch is the world's most widely deployed search and analytics engine. Built on Apache Lucene, it provides near-real-time full-text search, structured queries, aggregations, and geospatial features. It's the search engine behind e-commerce sites, log platforms, and thousands of application-specific search implementations.

Since Elastic switched to SSPL/Elastic License 2.0 in 2021, AWS forked the last Apache-2.0 version and continued it as OpenSearch. Both engines share the same core (Lucene) and largely the same API. ManageStacks offers both — pick based on your licence posture and vendor preference.

Running production Elasticsearch/OpenSearch means running a 3-node cluster minimum, sizing JVM heap and off-heap page cache correctly (50/50 rule), configuring shard counts per index carefully (getting this wrong is the #1 cause of performance problems), setting up snapshot-to-S3 for backups, and testing major-version upgrades (each version has schema and behaviour changes). ManageStacks handles it.

DIY vs ManageStacks

What running Elasticsearch yourself looks like — and what it looks like with us.

DIY self-hosting

Stand up 3+ nodes on VMs; tune JVM heap and off-heap page cache
Design shard topology per index; get replica counts right for HA
Configure snapshot-to-S3 backups; verify restores work
Test major-version upgrades in staging; validate query compatibility
Decide Elasticsearch (SSPL/ELv2) vs OpenSearch (Apache-2.0); package either

On ManageStacks

Subscribe through your AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplace
Cluster comes up as 3 nodes with TLS, JVM tuning, S3 snapshots, Kibana/Dashboards
Grafana dashboards ship for cluster health, JVM heap, indexing rate, query latency
Rolling upgrades handled by us with zero-downtime cluster availability
Pick Elasticsearch or OpenSearch — same operational shell for both

3 nodes

Minimum cluster with replication + HA

$29/mo

Flat per cluster, standard tier

Elastic or OpenSearch

Pick your engine + licence posture

Kibana included

Dashboards + index management UI

Key features

Everything Elasticsearch ships with, running on our stack.

Full-text search with relevance scoring, analyzers, and multi-language support
Near-real-time indexing (sub-second) and sub-second query response
3-node cluster minimum with automatic sharding and replication
Rich aggregations for real-time analytics
Kibana included for exploration, dashboards, and index management
Snapshot-to-S3 backups with configurable retention
Rolling restarts for zero-downtime version upgrades
TLS between nodes and clients by default; RBAC via native security
OpenSearch drop-in option — Apache-2.0 licensed alternative
Vector search on both engines (kNN plugin) for embedding workloads

How it deploys

From subscribe to live in minutes.

Subscribe to ManageStacks through your AWS, Azure, or GCP marketplace.

Choose engine

Pick Elasticsearch (Elastic-vendor SSPL/ELv2) or OpenSearch (Apache-2.0).

Provision

3-node cluster spins up with TLS, JVM tuning, S3 snapshots, Kibana/OpenSearch Dashboards, and Grafana monitoring — typically 3-5 minutes.

Index + search

POST documents to your index. Standard REST API and client libraries all work. Set up ILM policies for lifecycle management.

Who this is for

Built for teams that want Elasticsearch to just work.

E-commerce search teams

You need typo-tolerant, faceted, relevance-scored search on your product catalog. Elasticsearch is the standard for this at scale.

Log platforms (ELK stack)

Full-text search on logs is where Elasticsearch shines. For cheaper log storage without full-text needs, consider Loki instead — but for forensic log search, ELK wins.

Licence-sensitive teams

OpenSearch on ManageStacks keeps you on a fully OSI-approved Apache-2.0 licence. Ideal for regulated environments or organisations avoiding SSPL/ELv2.

Compliance & compatibility

What we handle, what Elasticsearch runs on.

Compliance & operations

TLS-encrypted communication between nodes and with clients
S3-backed snapshot repository encrypted at rest
RBAC via native security features (users, roles, index-level permissions)
GDPR data-residency — cluster stays in your chosen cloud region
OS-level and engine security patches applied during your maintenance window
OpenSearch option keeps you on a fully OSI-approved licence

Compatibility

Version: Elasticsearch 7.x/8.x/9.x or OpenSearch 1.x/2.x/3.x
Runtime: Elasticsearch or OpenSearch JVM binary on containerised infrastructure
Dependencies: S3-compatible object storage for snapshots
Min. resources: 2 vCPU / 4 GB RAM (dedicated) per node in the cluster

How ManageStacks helps

We handle the parts you shouldn't be writing yourself.

ManageStacks deploys Elasticsearch (or OpenSearch, your pick) as a 3-node cluster with JVM heap tuned, TLS between nodes and clients, snapshot-to-S3 backups, and Kibana or OpenSearch Dashboards. We handle rolling upgrades, shard rebalancing, and the operational polish that keeps Lucene-based clusters performant under load.

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How it compares

Elasticsearch on ManageStacks vs the alternatives.

How Elasticsearch/OpenSearch on ManageStacks compares to the two dominant managed search offerings and running the cluster yourself.

Comparison of Elasticsearch on ManageStacks against publicly-documented alternatives across deployment model, data residency, pricing basis, custom domain support, open-source status, and data export.
Property	Elasticsearch/OpenSearch on ManageStacksUs	Elastic Cloud	AWS OpenSearch Service	Self-hosted on your VM
Deployment	Managed on your AWS, Azure, or GCP	Vendor-hosted (multi-cloud)	AWS-managed	You provision + operate
Data residency	Your cloud region	Vendor region choice	AWS region	Your cloud region
Pricing basis	Flat per cluster	Per node-hour + storage	Per instance-hour + storage	Your compute cost
Engine choice	Elastic or OpenSearch	Elasticsearch only	OpenSearch only	You choose
Open source	SSPL/ELv2 or Apache-2.0	SSPL/ELv2 (hosted)	Apache-2.0 (hosted)	SSPL/ELv2 or Apache-2.0
Kibana / Dashboards	Included	Included	OpenSearch Dashboards included	You install

Comparison focuses on architectural properties (deployment model, pricing basis, open-source status) that don't change with vendor pricing pages. Verify current pricing on each vendor's own site.

FAQ

Common questions about Elasticsearch on ManageStacks.

Elasticsearch or OpenSearch — which should I pick?

For net-new deployments where licence purity matters (regulated industries, distros with strict OSI-only policies, or cloud-reselling concerns), pick OpenSearch — fully Apache-2.0 licensed. For existing Elasticsearch deployments, or if you need specific Elastic-vendor features (Elastic APM, ML anomaly detection), pick Elasticsearch. Wire-protocol and query DSL are largely compatible for standard search and analytics workloads.

How does this compare to Elastic Cloud or AWS OpenSearch Service?

Elastic Cloud is priced per node-hour + storage + I/O; AWS OpenSearch is similar. Both grow expensive as your cluster scales. ManageStacks is flat $29 per cluster at standard tier. For small-to-medium clusters (< 500 GB data, < 3 nodes), self-hosted on ManageStacks is materially cheaper. Elastic Cloud is worth it if you specifically need Elastic-vendor features (Search UI, Enterprise Search connectors, App Search); AWS OpenSearch for VPC-tight integrations.

How is cluster health and shard management handled?

3-node cluster minimum with 1 replica per primary shard. Cluster health, shard allocation, and index-level relocation are monitored continuously. Grafana dashboards show cluster status, JVM heap, indexing rate, query latency, and shard balance. Automatic shard rebalancing keeps the cluster even.

Can I use Kibana / OpenSearch Dashboards?

Yes. Kibana (for Elasticsearch) or OpenSearch Dashboards (for OpenSearch) install alongside the cluster and mount at a subdomain of your deployment. Pre-built dashboards for common exporters (Filebeat, Metricbeat) are included.

Does ManageStacks handle Elasticsearch/OpenSearch version upgrades?

Yes. Major upgrades (7 → 8 → 9 for Elasticsearch; 1 → 2 → 3 for OpenSearch) involve schema and behaviour changes tested on a clone of your indexes first. Rolling restarts across cluster nodes keep the cluster available during the upgrade.

How is snapshot-to-S3 backup configured?

S3-backed snapshot repository is configured by default. Daily incremental snapshots + weekly full snapshots. Retention is configurable (default 30 days). Restore any snapshot to any cluster through the ManageStacks dashboard or the native REST API.

What about vector search for AI/embedding workloads?

Both engines support kNN vector search via the built-in kNN plugin. HNSW indexes are the default. For very-large vector workloads (100M+ vectors, high-QPS), Qdrant or a purpose-built vector DB might be a better fit — but for tens of millions of vectors alongside a text-search workload, Elasticsearch/OpenSearch is efficient.

What if I want to migrate off?

Snapshot to S3 → restore into another cluster. Both engines support cross-cluster search + replication for zero-downtime migration. Elasticsearch/OpenSearch are portable by design. Migration off ManageStacks is a supported operation.

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