Comparisons
The best ecommerce search engines in 2026
· 8 min read · By Ray Rodríguez, founder of Findalo
If your online shop has outgrown the search that came with its platform, the next step is an external search engine. There are plenty of them, they charge in very different ways and not all of them work with every platform. This guide covers eight of the ones you are most likely to come across in 2026, based on what each one publishes on its own website.
Two things before we start. First: we are Findalo, so we put ourselves first. That is exactly why, for everyone else, we only say what they say themselves, with a link so you can check it. Second: all the details were checked on on each provider's official website. Prices change often; if you are reading this months from now, look at their pricing page before you decide.
Four questions before you look at names
- How does it charge? By searches, by number of products, by usage "units" or with a custom quote. What suits you depends on whether your traffic or your catalogue is the thing that changes most.
- Does it integrate with your platform? An official module you install in ten minutes is not the same as an API someone has to connect.
- Can you sign up on your own? Some have direct sign-up with a published price; others only work through a demo and a quote.
- What is included in the price? AI, recommendations, merchandising or visual search may be included, reserved for higher plans or sold separately.
At a glance
| Search engine | How it charges | Published entry price | Trial | Sign up without talking to sales |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Findalo | By catalogue size | €15/month (up to 1,000 products) | Free trial, no card (up to 200 products) | Yes |
| Doofinder | By requests per month | Basic: €49 (€44/month billed annually) | Free trial, no card | Yes (Enterprise through sales) |
| Algolia | By requests and records | Free plan; pay as you go after that | Permanent free plan | Yes (Elevate through sales) |
| Klevu (Athos Commerce) | On request | Not published | Not stated | No, via demo |
| Searchanise | By number of products | $19/month on Shopify (up to 1,500 products) | 14 days; free plan up to 25 products | Yes |
| Luigi's Box | Quote based on usage "units" | Not published | 30 days | Trial yes; plan by quote |
| Clerk.io | By usage (not by revenue) | On request | Yes (length not published) | Trial yes; plan by quote |
| Empathy | On request | Not published | Not stated | No, via demo |
1. Findalo
findalo.io · Valencia, Spain · pricing
A SaaS search engine that charges by catalogue size, not by searches: you know what you will pay before you start. Starter costs €15/month for up to 1,000 products; Pro, €49/month for up to 6,000 products, with AI semantic search and recommendations included; Business, €149/month for up to 12,000 products; beyond that, Enterprise on contract. Every plan comes with a monthly search allowance and there are no usage charges.
Platforms: a module for PrestaShop, a plugin in the official WordPress directory for WooCommerce, an extension on the Adobe Commerce Marketplace for Magento and an app for Shopware. On Shopify it currently works through a private app we install with you; the public app is on its way.
A good fit if: you want a fixed, predictable price, to sign up yourself without a sales call and to get AI from a €49 plan. Not a good fit if: your shop runs on Salesforce, SAP, VTEX or BigCommerce, because we have no native integration with them.
2. Doofinder
doofinder.com · Madrid, Spain · pricing
Probably the best-known name among Spanish shops. It charges by requests per month: Basic €49 (€44/month billed annually) for up to 10,000 requests; Pro €149 (€134) for up to 150,000; Advanced €349 (€314) for up to 400,000; Enterprise, custom. Search, recommendations and quiz each have their own allowance.
Platforms: Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento/Adobe Commerce, PrestaShop and BigCommerce, plus more than 30 platforms according to its website, as well as an API.
Stands out for: a wide published feature set (visual search, category merchandising, recommendations, quiz, personalisation, an AI assistant from Pro).
3. Algolia
A search platform built for technical teams, which works for shops as well as any other kind of website or app. It has a free plan (10,000 search requests and 50,000 records a month) and pay-as-you-go plans beyond that; the Elevate plan comes with an annual contract.
Platforms: official guides for Adobe Commerce/Magento, BigCommerce, commercetools, Salesforce B2C Commerce and Shopify. WooCommerce and Shopware through third-party integrations. PrestaShop is not listed.
Stands out for: API flexibility, hybrid vector search, personalisation and tools for building agents. It fits best when there is a development team behind it.
4. Klevu (now Athos Commerce)
Watch out for this change, because many comparisons have not caught up with it yet: Klevu's website announces that Klevu is now Athos Commerce, the company formed in 2025 by bringing together Searchspring, Klevu and Intelligent Reach. Prices are not public: every plan is quoted on request, with annual contracts according to its FAQ.
Platforms: BigCommerce, Shopify and Shopify Plus, Adobe Commerce (Magento), Shopware, Salesforce, Miva and NetSuite. WooCommerce and PrestaShop are not on the list.
Stands out for: search, merchandising, personalisation and feed management from a single provider, aimed at mid-sized and large shops.
5. Searchanise
searchanise.io · San Diego, USA · pricing
It charges by number of active products. On Shopify, from $19/month (up to 1,500 products) to $349/month (up to 300,000), with up to 17% off for annual billing; there is a free plan for up to 25 products and a 14-day trial with no card. Each platform has its own price table.
Platforms: Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, CS-Cart, Wix and custom platforms.
Stands out for: very quick sign-up from the app store and a product-based price scale with many tiers.
6. Luigi's Box
luigisbox.com · Bratislava, Slovakia · pricing
Custom pricing, worked out in "units" derived from page views, products, searches and recommendations; it does not charge extra per domain or per language. It offers a 30-day free trial.
Platforms: more than a hundred on its list, including Shopify, WooCommerce, Magento, Shopware, PrestaShop, OpenCart, BigCommerce, Salesforce Commerce Cloud and VTEX.
Stands out for: search, category listing ranking, recommendations and a conversational shopping assistant, with its own analytics.
7. Clerk.io
clerk.io · Copenhagen, Denmark · pricing
It charges by usage tiers (search and recommendation calls, customers, emails sent) and states explicitly that it does not take a percentage of revenue. The final price is quoted on request; contracts range from monthly to annual.
Platforms: Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Shopware, WooCommerce, PrestaShop, Lightspeed, JTL and several Nordic platforms.
Stands out for: combining search, recommendations, AI chat, email and campaign audiences in a single product.
8. Empathy
empathy.co · Gijón, Spain
A search provider for large retailers, with a pitch centred on privacy: a private cloud governed in the EU and its own language models. It publishes neither prices nor a trial; you buy it through a demo.
Platforms: Adobe Commerce, VTEX and custom integrations.
Stands out for: search with merchandising, an AI conversational mode and privacy of shopper data.
How to decide in an afternoon
- Filter by your platform. Cross off the ones that do not integrate with yours, unless you have someone who can code.
- Work out the price with your own numbers. How many products you have, searches per month (you can see this in your analytics) and how much they grow in peak season. A per-search model goes up with traffic; a per-catalogue one, with products.
- Test them with your real searches. Pull your 50 most frequent searches from your analytics, plus the ones that return zero results today, and run them through your two or three finalists. That tells you more than any comparison, this one included.
- Do not switch off the one you have until you have data. We explain how in switching search engines without turning off the one you already have.
In a sentence
If you want a fixed price based on your catalogue, to sign up yourself and to get AI from €49/month on PrestaShop, WooCommerce, Magento or Shopware, try it free. If your situation is different, the table above tells you where to start.
Keep reading
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Purchase intent: let the search find "the love stone" even if the product page doesn't say so
For every product and in every language, the AI writes the phrases a shopper would use to ask for it: what it's for and what people call it. Real examples from a minerals shop, a medical instruments catalogue in German and a chain of shoe shops. Included from Pro up, with nothing to configure.
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Free 1-month trial: what's included and what happens when it ends
200 products, 1,000 searches in total and no card. When the month or the searches run out, search stops responding and, if you don't move to a paid plan, the account is deleted 30 days later. What we warn you about, how to continue with Starter or Pro (14-day free trial), and when the trial won't help you decide.