# Best Magento 2 Search Extensions in 2026, Compared *Published: 2026-09-29 | Author: Jason Ratzlaff* When a Magento store feels slow, the search and catalog layer is usually part of the story. It is also the most crowded part of the Magento ecosystem: OpenSearch, ElasticSuite, Adobe Live Search and Catalog Service, Algolia, and Klevu all promise better search. Most of them are solving a different problem than the one FastMagento solves, and it helps to be precise about which is which. **1.9×**faster uncached search*631 ms → 338 ms* **−90%**search SQL at 513,000 products*220 → 23* **−89%**search SQL at ~14,600 products*436 → 48* FastMagento README benchmarks. Magento Search Speed vs Relevance: Two Different Problems --------------------------------------------------------- Search tools mostly compete on **relevance** — synonyms, merchandising, typo tolerance, personalization, and analytics. Those drive revenue and are worth paying for. But there is a second problem underneath: **serving cost**. Even after a search engine returns the right product IDs, stock Magento still loads each product through its EAV model and the full collection stack to render the page. That second step is where many stores lose their time. [FastMagento](https://github.com/parkktech/FastMagento) works on serving. It uses the OpenSearch cluster Magento already runs to store complete product, category, attribute-option, and review documents, then serves the storefront’s product reads from those documents instead of EAV. Relevance tools ElasticSuite, Algolia, Klevu, Live Search Decide which productsYes MerchandisingYes Render the listingMagento, per product EAV loads per resultStill there Serving layer FastMagento Decide which productsOpenSearch + AI synonyms MerchandisingNot yet Render the listingFrom the index EAV loads per resultRemoved Magento Search Extensions Compared: ElasticSuite, Algolia, Klevu and Live Search -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- OptionWhat it improvesCost and availabilityNative OpenSearchBaseline full-text search. Magento 2.4.8 is optimized for OpenSearch 2.19 and deprecates the Elasticsearch modules.Free; requiredElasticSuite (Smile)Relevance, merchandising, virtual categories, better layered navigationFree, OSL-3.0; actively maintainedAdobe Live Search + Catalog ServiceAI relevance; Catalog Service claims up to 10x faster catalog retrieval than core GraphQL (vendor figure)Adobe Commerce only (SaaS); not available on Magento Open Source or Mage-OSAlgoliaHosted search with strong relevance and speedUsage-based; third-party estimates put mid-market stores at roughly $600–1,850 per monthKlevu (now Athos Commerce)AI search and merchandisingPaid service; merged with Searchspring in 2025FastMagentoServing: product, search-result, cart, and checkout reads from OpenSearch instead of EAVOpen source (OSL-3.0/AFL-3.0); uses your existing OpenSearchSources: [Adobe 2.4.8 release notes](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce-operations/release/notes/adobe-commerce/2-4-8), [ElasticSuite on GitHub](https://github.com/Smile-SA/elasticsuite), [Adobe Catalog Service](https://experienceleague.adobe.com/en/docs/commerce/catalog-service/overview), [Algolia pricing analysis](https://www.meilisearch.com/blog/algolia-pricing), [Klevu pricing](https://www.klevu.com/magento-pricing/). Magento OpenSearch Performance: What Happens After the Search ------------------------------------------------------------- ElasticSuite, Algolia, and Klevu decide *which* products to show. The listing page that displays them is still rendered by Magento PHP, product by product. Adobe’s Catalog Service does move that serving work off the database — but only inside Adobe’s licensed SaaS stack. For stores on Magento Open Source or Mage-OS, there has been no first-party answer. That is the gap FastMagento fills. On my 513,000-product stress catalog, measured as a cold, uncached render with the module disabled versus enabled (median of three runs), search results went from **631 ms to 338 ms** and from **220 SQL queries to 23**. On a mid-size catalog of about 14,600 products, search results dropped from **436 queries to 48** ([published in the README](https://github.com/parkktech/FastMagento)). FastMagento also ships its own search features on top of that serving layer: autocomplete, an instant search results page with live filters, and optional AI-assisted search that generates synonyms and per-product keywords with Claude. ![FastMagento as-you-type autocomplete showing products and categories in Magento search](https://www.parkktech.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/fastmagento-autocomplete.gif)Autocomplete: products and categories appear as you type.![FastMagento instant search results page re-rendering without a page reload](https://www.parkktech.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/fastmagento-instant-serp.gif)Instant search results: the grid re-renders with no page reload.![FastMagento live Shop By layered navigation updating results and counts instantly](https://www.parkktech.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/fastmagento-shop-by.gif)Live “Shop By” filters on search: results, counts and facets update instantly.Can You Use FastMagento with ElasticSuite or Algolia? ----------------------------------------------------- Often, yes, and that is usually the right answer. A relevance tool picks the best products; a serving layer makes rendering them cheap. The combination to test first is ElasticSuite for merchandising with FastMagento for serving, since both are open source and run on the same OpenSearch. Hosted engines such as Algolia replace Magento’s search results page with their own front end, so FastMagento’s gains there shift to product pages, cart, and checkout instead. As always, test on staging with your own catalog. FastMagento Search Limitations ------------------------------ **What FastMagento does not do yet**Category product grids are still served from MySQL today. On the stress catalog, category pages halved their SQL (246 to 131 queries) but were not faster in wall-clock time (543 ms to 622 ms). Only the default store view is indexed, and Adobe Commerce category permissions and B2B shared catalogs are not yet applied. If your traffic is dominated by category browsing across multiple store views, weigh that before you choose. Frequently Asked Questions -------------------------- Is FastMagento a replacement for ElasticSuite or Algolia?Not exactly. ElasticSuite and Algolia focus on search relevance and merchandising. FastMagento focuses on the cost of serving product data, reading it from OpenSearch instead of Magento’s EAV tables. They solve different problems and can often be used together. Does FastMagento need a separate search server?No. It uses the OpenSearch cluster that Magento 2.4 already requires, adding its own product and category indexes. Does FastMagento work on Magento Open Source?Yes. It supports Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce 2.4.x, which matters because Adobe’s Catalog Service and Live Search are only available with an Adobe Commerce license. How much faster is search with FastMagento?In the published benchmarks, uncached search results on a 513,000-product catalog went from 631 ms to 338 ms, with SQL queries dropping from 220 to 23. Results depend on catalog, extensions, and hardware. Have a Magento store that is too slow? -------------------------------------- Bring me the store three agencies could not make fast. The first conversation is free, and it is a real one. I will tell you honestly where your time is going. [Start the conversation](https://www.parkktech.com/contact/) --- **Parkk Technology** — Custom Software Development, AI Integration, and Equity Partnerships - Custom Software Development: We build the software your business actually needs — scoped, shipped, supported. - AI Integration for Existing Businesses: Add AI capabilities to what you already have — without rebuilding everything. - Equity Partnership: Considered case by case for validated problems. No fixed package. Contact: https://www.parkktech.com/contact | Author: Jason Ratzlaff, founder of Parkk Technology