OpenSearch is a fork of Elasticsearch 7.10.2 and Kibana 7.10.2, created in 2021 after Elastic moved Elasticsearch away from the Apache 2.0 licence, and it remains fully open source under Apache 2.0. Elasticsearch is Elastic's own search and analytics engine, which Elastic made open source again in 2024 by adding the AGPL licence option. Choose Elasticsearch for Elastic's latest features and cloud services, and OpenSearch for an Apache-licensed, community-run project or if you're on Amazon OpenSearch Service.
This pair has a history, and it decides which one you can use and how. I read Elastic's licensing FAQ, the Elastic founder's blog post on the licence change and the OpenSearch about and FAQ pages.
Elasticsearch and OpenSearch side by side
| Elasticsearch | OpenSearch | |
|---|---|---|
| Who runs it | Elastic | OpenSearch community and partners |
| Licence | SSPL, Elastic License or AGPL, your choice | Apache License 2.0 |
| Origin | Elastic's original engine | Fork of Elasticsearch 7.10.2, announced in 2021 |
| Dashboards | Kibana | OpenSearch Dashboards, forked from Kibana 7.10.2 |
| Managed service | Elastic Cloud Serverless and Hosted | Amazon OpenSearch Service and other providers |
| Self-hosting | Download and run locally or on Kubernetes | Download from the OpenSearch project |
| Built on | Apache Lucene | Apache Lucene |
Why the fork happened, in each side's words
Elastic's licensing FAQ says that in 2021, with release 7.11, it moved the Apache 2.0 source code of Elasticsearch and Kibana to a dual licence under the Server Side Public License and the Elastic License. In a blog post titled Elasticsearch Is Open Source. Again!, Elastic's founder explains the reason: issues with AWS and the market confusion its offering was causing, knowing the change would lead to a fork with a different name.
That fork is OpenSearch. Its FAQ says it was created from the last Apache 2.0 version of Elasticsearch and Kibana, and production use began with OpenSearch 1.0 in mid 2021. Here's the detail to watch: the OpenSearch FAQ still says Elastic's licences aren't open source, while Elastic's FAQ says it added the OSI-approved AGPL as an option in 2024. Both statements sit on official pages, so check the current licence terms yourself before you decide.
What Elasticsearch offers now
Elastic sells three ways to run Elasticsearch: Elastic Cloud Serverless with zero operational load, Elastic Cloud Hosted on the cloud of your choice, and self-managed Elasticsearch that you run locally or on Kubernetes. Around the core engine it offers observability, security and search products, and its site notes that Jina AI is now part of Elastic, bringing models for embeddings and reranking. Free trials are available for the cloud options.
If you're choosing for security and logging rather than search, you'll find more in our Elastic vs Splunk guide.
What OpenSearch offers
OpenSearch describes itself as a community-driven, open source search and analytics suite for ingesting, searching, visualizing and analysing data. It's built on Apache Lucene and ships OpenSearch Dashboards for visualization, plus built-in security, anomaly detection and alerting. All of the project's software is under the Apache License 2.0, and AWS runs a managed version called Amazon OpenSearch Service.
Dashboards matter too, and our Grafana vs Kibana guide helps you choose.
Five questions before you choose
- Do you need a permissive Apache 2.0 licence for your product? OpenSearch has it.
- Do you want Elastic's newest features and its own cloud? Elasticsearch.
- Are you already on AWS and want a managed service there? Amazon OpenSearch Service is the native route.
- Is AGPL acceptable to your legal team? Then Elasticsearch is open source for you too.
- Migrating an old 7.x cluster? Both trace back to the same 7.10 code, so check compatibility for your version.
For more on choosing data tools, see my round-up of data analytics tools, and if you're building AI search, my explainer on vector databases is useful background.
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My advice on Elasticsearch or OpenSearch
If you want the latest search features and a managed service from the people who built the engine, choose Elasticsearch on Elastic Cloud. If your company prefers Apache-licensed software, or you live inside AWS, choose OpenSearch. For a small business adding site search or log analysis, the managed option you can support easily matters more than the licence debate, so pick the one your team or host already knows.
Do you make search or analytics tools? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place in comparisons like this one.
Frequently asked questions
Is OpenSearch a fork of Elasticsearch?
Yes. OpenSearch was forked from Elasticsearch 7.10.2 and Kibana 7.10.2, announced in early 2021, and released for production in mid 2021.
Is Elasticsearch open source again?
Elastic says it added the OSI-approved AGPL as a licence option in 2024, alongside SSPL and the Elastic License.
What licence does OpenSearch use?
All software in the OpenSearch project is released under the Apache License 2.0.
Why was OpenSearch created?
OpenSearch says it forked the last Apache 2.0 version after Elastic changed its licences in 2021. Elastic's founder says the change came from issues with AWS.
Does AWS offer Elasticsearch?
AWS offers Amazon OpenSearch Service, its managed version of OpenSearch.
