Algolia

Algolia has a permanent free tier (10,000 search requests/month) plus this $10,000 in startup credits. The credits enable production-scale search — 100M+ operations per month — at no cost for up to 12 months.

The $10,000 in credits are valid for 12 months from activation. Usage beyond what the credits cover at standard pricing applies immediately. For most early-stage startups, $10,000 covers an entire year of production search.

Algolia startup program credits cannot be stacked with other promotional offers. You can use Algolia alongside any other tool in your stack — it integrates with any backend, database, or frontend framework.

After 12 months or once credits are exhausted, your account transitions to standard Algolia pricing. Your search configuration, indices, and analytics history remain intact. Algolia will notify you before credits run out.

Yes, Algolia requires a payment method for account activation even when credits are applied. You won't be charged until credits are consumed. The card is held on file for when standard billing begins.

Yes — if your product has a search box that users interact with. The engineering time saved by using Algolia instead of building search from scratch easily justifies the cost, and the user experience improvement typically shows up directly in engagement and conversion metrics.