Every Omeka site comes with a built-in search, and for smaller collections it does the job just fine. But as a collection grows into the thousands of items, searching can start to feel slow, and the results are not always the ones your visitors were hoping for. That is where Solr comes in.
What is Solr?
Solr is a powerful open source search engine that runs alongside your site and takes over the searching. It keeps its own copy of your collection, built purely for answering searches, called an index. When a visitor types in a query, Solr answers from that index, which is what makes it so quick.
Your items, files, and pages all stay right where they are, inside your Omeka site. Solr only ever holds the search index.
What it does better
- Speed. Searches come back fast, even across thousands of items.
- Smarter results. Solr is better at ranking, so the most relevant items rise to the top.
- Filters. Visitors can narrow their results with clickable filters, a feature often called faceting.
How it connects to your site
Solr runs on its own dedicated server, set up just for your team and separate from your site. Your site talks to it through search modules that you install the same way as any other module. On Omeka S, that is the Search module with its Solr adapter. The modules handle the conversation between your site and the search engine, so once they are set up there is nothing extra for you to do day to day.
Our setup is built for Omeka S. If you run Omeka Classic and want Solr, get in touch first.
Do you need it?
If your collection has a few hundred items, the built-in search is probably all you need. If you are managing thousands of items, or your visitors rely on search to find things and you want better results, Solr is worth a look.
What it costs
Solr is a paid add-on. Each Solr server is $20 per month, added onto your existing subscription, so you need an active paid plan before you can subscribe. You can read more about plans on our plans and billing page.
One server can power search for several sites, so most teams only ever need one.
Ready to try it? Head over to subscribing and adding a server and we will walk you through it.