﻿---
title: Elasticsearch
description: Elasticsearch enables you to build powerful search experiences for websites, applications, and enterprise data using Elastic's unified platform. Here...
url: https://www.elastic.co/docs/solutions/search
products:
  - Elastic Cloud Serverless
  - Elasticsearch
  - Kibana
---

# Elasticsearch

Elasticsearch enables you to build powerful search experiences for websites, applications, and enterprise data using Elastic's unified platform.

## Use cases

Here are a few common real-world applications:

| Use case                                                             | Business goals                                                     | Technical requirements                                        |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------|--------------------------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------------------|
| **Vector search/hybrid search**Vector search/hybrid search           | Run nearest neighbour search, combine with text for hybrid results | Dense embeddings, sparse embeddings, combined with text/BM25  |
| **Ecommerce/product catalog search**Ecommerce/product catalog search | Provide fast, relevant, and up-to-date results, faceted navigation | Inventory sync, user behavior tracking, results caching       |
| **Workplace/knowledge base search**Workplace/knowledge base search   | Search across range of data sources, enforcing permissions         | Third-party connectors, document-level security, role mapping |
| **Website search**Website search                                     | Deliver relevant, up-to-date results                               | Web crawling, incremental indexing, query caching             |
| **Customer support search**Customer support search                   | Surface relevant solutions, manage access controls, track metrics  | Knowledge graph, role-based access, analytics                 |
| **Chatbots/RAG**Chatbots/RAG                                         | Enable natural conversations, provide context, maintain knowledge  | Vector search, ML models, knowledge base integration          |
| **Geospatial search**Geospatial search                               | Process location queries, sort by proximity, filter by area        | Geo-mapping, spatial indexing, distance calculations          |


## Elasticsearch Serverless

```
serverless:
  elasticsearch: ga
```

Elasticsearch Serverless is one of the three available project types on [Elastic Cloud Serverless](https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy).
This project type enables you to use the core functionality of Elasticsearch: searching, indexing, storing, and analyzing data of all shapes and sizes.
When using Elasticsearch on Elastic Cloud Serverless you don’t need to worry about managing the infrastructure that keeps Elasticsearch distributed and available: nodes, shards, and replicas. These resources are completely automated on the serverless platform, which is designed to scale up and down with your workload.
This automation allows you to focus on building your search applications and solutions.
<tip>
  Not sure whether Elasticsearch on Elastic Cloud Serverless is the right deployment choice for you?Check out the following resources to help you decide:
  - [What’s different?](https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/deploy/elastic-cloud/differences-from-other-elasticsearch-offerings): Understand the differences between Elastic Cloud Serverless and other deployment types.
  - [Billing](https://www.elastic.co/docs/deploy-manage/cloud-organization/billing/elasticsearch-billing-dimensions): Learn about the billing model for Elasticsearch on Elastic Cloud Serverless.
</tip>
