Pantheon Search powered by Elasticsearch
Detailed information on using Elasticsearch with your Pantheon WordPress site with ElasticPress.
Elasticsearch on Pantheon gives WordPress teams a fully managed search service that goes beyond basic site search — offloading database queries, handling traffic spikes, and delivering features like fuzzy matching and autosuggest without the overhead of managing an external provider.
This documentation describes support for Elasticsearch that is under active development and is available to customers who are participating in our Beta program.
Overview
Pantheon provides integrated Elasticsearch support for WordPress sites through the ElasticPress plugin. Elasticsearch is a powerful search and query engine that offloads demanding WP_Query requests from your database, delivering faster search results, superior search features, and improved overall site performance for your visitors.
By bringing Elasticsearch directly onto the Pantheon platform, you get a fully managed search service without the operational burden of maintaining an external search provider.
Which Plans Can Use Elasticsearch?
Elasticsearch is available for WordPress sites on Performance and Elite site plans. Every environment on your site (Dev, Test, Live, and Multidevs) receives its own Elasticsearch endpoint. Elasticsearch is not available on Sandbox sites.
Elasticsearch and Solr
Pantheon also offers Solr-based search. You can have both Solr and Elasticsearch activated on a site at the same time, which is useful during migration. However, running both simultaneously in production is not recommended. For new search implementations, Elasticsearch with ElasticPress is the recommended path.
Pantheon is deprecating Solr 3 support. WordPress sites using the Solr Power plugin will lose Solr 3 support in January 2027. If your WordPress site currently uses Solr, plan your migration to Elasticsearch before that date.
| Feature | Elasticsearch | Apache Solr |
|---|---|---|
| CMS Support | WordPress | WordPress, Drupal |
| Plan Availability | Performance, Elite (not Sandbox) | Sandbox (dev only), Performance, Elite |
| Plugin | ElasticPress | Solr Power (WordPress), Search API Solr (Drupal) |
| Fuzzy Search | Yes | Limited |
| Instant Search | Yes | No |
| Autosuggest | Yes | No |
| Faceted Search | Yes | Yes |
| WooCommerce Support | Yes | No |
WP_Query Offloading | Yes | Yes |
| Related Content | Yes | Manual |
| Status | Beta | Generally Available |
Support
During Beta, please report any issues or questions to the Pantheon team in the private #beta-elasticsearch channel in the Pantheon Community Slack. To participate in the Beta, simply toggle the Elasticsearch (beta) add-on in your Site Settings.
For ElasticPress plugin-specific questions, refer to the ElasticPress documentation.