Full-Text Search (Beta) Comes to MongoDB Atlas Free and Shared Tiers

One of the most exciting announcements we made at MongoDB World 2019 was the beta for Full-Text Search. Today, we’re making it easy for anyone to try out this new service by making it available on any free or shared tier (M0, M2, or M5) cluster in MongoDB Atlas.

What’s MongoDB Atlas Full-Text Search?

MongoDB Atlas Full-Text Search makes it easy to build simple, integrated search capabilities on top of your cloud data.

Full-Text Search is native to Atlas and fully managed, so you can keep your data in one place - there’s no need to set up, maintain, and scale a separate search platform. It’s easy to get started - you can create a search index in just three clicks in the Atlas UI. Finally, it’s based on Apache Lucene 8, which means you get a rich and diverse feature set optimized for natural language search.

You can now test these search capabilities on a free (M0) or shared (M2 or M5) tier clusters in Atlas. Free tier (M0) clusters support up to 3 search indexes per collection, while M2 and M5 clusters support up to 5 and 10 search indexes, respectively.

We also added support for date and numerical ranges in addition to text fields, giving you the ability to query a wider variety of data types.

Great! How do I get started with Full-Text Search?

It only takes three steps to get started with Full-Text Search:

1. Create a free tier (M0) cluster on MongoDB Atlas

Choose a Starter cluster to create a free tier cluster in any of 19 regions across AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure.

If you already have an account, you can use an existing free tier cluster. (If you already have an M0 cluster but want to use a different one, you can create a new Atlas Project to have multiple M0 clusters on your account.)

2. Load data into your cluster

To build a search index, you’ll need to have data in your cluster. Import your own or load our free sample dataset from the Atlas UI. With it, you’ll get several databases and collections to test out Full-Text Search and other Atlas features.

3. Build a search index on your collection

In the Collections view, go to the collection you want to use and click on the "SearchBETA" tab. Click on the green "Create a Search Index" button and you'll see a modal appear with instructions on how to build your first index.

You’ll need to give your index a name and define which fields to index. By default, the index definition will use dynamic field mappings, which allows Full-Text Search to dynamically assign data types for your fields.

Once you’re done, the index will take a few minutes to load (depending on the size of the collection). You can see the status of the index on the Search tab.

And that’s it! Now you’re ready to run and test search queries using the mongo shell.

Can I see an example of Full-Text Search in action?

Absolutely! Our end-to-end tutorial walks you through how to build a sample search app built on top of the movie data collection provided in the free Atlas sample dataset.

Here’s a quick preview of what the app looks like:

Democratizing Search for Everyone

Make the most of your cloud data by making it easy for you and your users to find what they need, without the hassle of duplicating your infrastructure and operational costs. Atlas Full-Text Search gives everyone the opportunity to test and build simple search features for free - create your first cluster today!

If you’re interested in more advanced search functionality (like custom analyzers), get access to the complete feature set by creating an M30 or higher cluster in Atlas. For more information, visit the Full-Text Search Docs.

Questions? Comments? Let us know in the comments below!