Magento 2 Catalog Search Engines: Solr, Elasticsearch, and Sphinx

In this article, we shed light on the Magento 2 catalog search engines, such as Solr, Elasticsearch, and Sphinx. Magento Enterprise Edition supports Solr out-of-the-box, while Community Edition provides the ability to enhance the default search capabilities with the aid of third-party extensions. In the following post, we shed light on the features of a few extensions that provide advanced search functionality. 

Magento 2 Catalog Search Extensions

First of all, let’s have a look at the most reliable improved catalog search extensions for Magento 2.

Mirasvit Sphinx Search Ultimate

This Magento 2 extension combines the functionality of the following modules: Advanced Sphinx Search Pro, Search Spell Correction, and Search Autocomplete. As a result, you get an ultra-fast searching tool that understands misspells, typos, synonyms, and other vital aspects of a smart search system. The Sphinx search Magento 2 module can process more than 500 queries per second against 1,000,000 SKUs, which proves its exceptional efficiency and high performance.

Below, you can see an example of a popup with search results generated by the Mirasvit Magento 2 search module:

As for the module’s settings, it offers flexible configuration options allowing merchants to adjust its functionality in the required way. Store managers can create various search indexes, add particular attributes, and specify the properties that will be included in the search. Also, it is possible to select one of the three available working modes and configure their settings, define searchable content, and more.

As for the other prominent features of Sphinx Search Ultimate for Magento 2, they are:

• Search autocomplete function;
• Improved search speed based on AJAX technology;
• Option to include product data (images and prices) in the dropdown box;
• Dictionaries with 600+ stop words and 60k+ synonyms;
• Search by various parameters: category name, tag, SKU, etc.;
• Searching across multiple content types;
• Configuration of score boost rules;
• Typos correction;
• Stemming feature support;
• Long-tail search;
• Singular/plural search;
• The ability to use hyphens and slashes while searching for products;
• Landing pages optimized for specific keywords;
• Fallback search;
• “Out of stock” products can be pushed to the end of the search results list;
• Built-in search results validator;
• Amazon-like search categories;
• Mobile-friendly tool.

Mirasvit Search Sphinx Ultimate offers a great opportunity to completely revamp the default Magento 2 search. As a result, you will substantially improve the user experience on your web store.

Download / Buy Mirasvit Search Sphinx Ultimate Magento 2 Extension

MageWorx Search Suite

MageWorx Search Suite is another reliable replacement for the default Magento 2 search. It allows you to integrate and configure various Sphinx settings, as well as customize the default Sphinx functionality. Besides, it is possible to define the Sphinx connection timeout and validate its Config file. There is also the Search Results Ranker feature that allows you to adjust the priority of displayed search results. Besides, the module includes the Search Autocomplete functionality.

In case of Mageworx Search Suite, the frontend appearance of the new search window might look as shown below:

As for the backend configuration, the module allows you to specify search delay and choose fields that will be displayed in a pop-up.

Besides, you can specify the number of results for suggested and product search.

It is also possible to select product search result fields.

The core features of the MageWorx Search Suite Magento 2 Extension include:

• Pre-define Sphinx settings and easy Sphinx integration;
• Custom Sphinx functionality and connection timeout;
• Sphinx Config file validation;
• Search Matching mode;
• Search results ranker settings (to show specified products first);
• Search autocomplete.

Download / Buy MageWorx Search Suite Magento 2 Extension

Wyomind Elasticsearch

Wyomind also offers a robust autocomplete functionality for the product, category, and CMS pages; provides the ability to boost products or specific attributes to adjust search results; allows you to manage index data right from the backend; and provides advanced configurations on a store view basis.

This is how the extension behaves on frontend pages:

While configuring the module, Wyomind offers several sections. First of all, it is settings common to each store view:

Next, you can adjust the search settings for products, categories, and CMS pages separately:

Core Features:

• Powerful autocomplete;
• Attribute search;
• Index management;
• Store view-specific configuration.

Download / Buy Wyomind Elasticsearch Magento 2 Extension

Doofinder

Doofinder is a smart site search tool designed to help you sell more. You can add a site search to your e-commerce website in 5 minutes without writing any line of code or applying complicated configurations. With Doofinder, your customers get the ability to search for and find the most relevant results. As a store owner, you increase conversion and, as a result, sales. According to the solution’s website, it helps to boost sales by up to 20%.

And you can use Doofinder for free for 30 days without upfront payments or obligations. 

Since the tool is a multi-platform solution, you can use it not only for Magento but also for Shopware, Shopify, WordPress, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, etc.

For further information, follow this link:

Doofinder E-commerce Search Extension

Magento 2 Catalog Search Engines

Below, we provide an overview of the Magento 2 catalog search engines:

Solr

If you are not familiar with Solr, it is one of the most popular search platforms available for your ecommerce needs. Solr is an open-source, blazing-fast, enterprise-level solution that incorporates Apache Lucene. It is famous for such features as:

• dynamic clustering
• support for hit highlighting
• integration with database
• rich document handling capabilities
• faceted and geospatial search options

As we’ve mentioned above, Magento 2 Enterprise Edition provides support for Solr – a robust catalog search engine option. You can find the official documentation related to Solr and Magento 2 here: Install and configure Solr. The guide described all the nuances of Solar’s installation and configuration on Magento 2.

It is also necessary to mention that there are two reliable extensions developed for 1.X, which provide integration with the Solr search. They are Solr Bridge Search and Magento Solarium. Hence, there will be the appropriate Magento 2 modules aimed at integration with Solr in the nearest future. For example, Integer-net offers the IntegerNet_Solr module as a reliable replacement for the default search engine. You can check the extension here: IntegerNet_Solr – The Solr Module for Magento. For further information about Solr, follow the link below:

Apache Solr

Sphinx

Sphinx is a less popular search option than Solr, but it is utilized by such Internet giants as Groupon, Craigslist, and LivingSocial. In addition to rapid performance and top-notch search quality, the platform offers a simple integration. We’ve already described three Magento modules designed for the integration with Sphinx: AheadWorks Advanced Search, Mirasvit Search Sphinx Ultimate, and Mirasvit Advanced Sphinx Search Pro. For further information about Sphinx, follow the link below:

Sphinx Search Server

Elasticsearch

Being one of the most widely used search engines, Elasticsearch has been incorporated by the best ecommerce sites worldwide. Since the solution is built on top of Lucene Elasticsearch, it offers advanced search capabilities. Developers love Elasticsearch because it utilizes the RESTful web interface as well as uses schema-free JSON documents. Merchants prefer this search engine because it offers real-time search, high scalability, and enterprise-level performance. And don’t forget that it is an open source platform, so you can download and use it for free. Magento 1 users can feel all the benefits of Elasticsearch integration with the Managed Elasticsearch extensions. Magento 2 still lacks appropriate Elasticsearch modules. For further information about Elasticsearch, follow the link below:

Elasticsearch