Searchify, Running the full open sourced IndexTank Search as a Service API
HoundSleuth, IndexTank Compatible API
IndexTanktoGO, IndexTank Compatible API
Bimaple, IndexTank Compatible API
IndexDen, IndexTank Compatible APIThere's also my own http://websolr.com/ running Apache Solr. Some other Solr services are mentioned elsewhere on the page.
I've also recently launched http://bonsai.io/ for a hosted ElasticSearch service. Because ElasticSearch is actually quite awesome (and I'm happy to answer questions about why).
For Sphinx, there's Flying Sphinx (by Pat Allen of Thinking Sphinx Ruby client fame, great guy), and IndexDen (which is Sphinx, not IndexTank).
Here's a good video on the subject from ElasticSearch's creator: http://vimeo.com/26710663
ElasticSearch has very little ceremony around creating a new index and getting started with using it. You will eventually need to do some configuration to tune its behavior for your specific application, but the learning curve is nice and gradual. This makes ES great for exploration.
The JSON document store aspect of ElasticSearch is indeed very nice. The RESTful API is simple enough that you don't really need a client, just grab your favorite HTTP client library and start integrating. Plus, coupled with solid distribution, you're looking at a pretty viable standalone data store, IMO.
Also, very good documentation. And its user/developer community is all full of the really smart, enthusiastic early-adopter types right now :)
Not least, Lucene itself is hands down the last word when it comes to search.
Elasticsearch
This tightly couples Sphinx to your application and your schema, and creates serious issues for your ops team since every app change potentially needs to modify the Sphinx config. It gets particularly hairy when you want to host multiple applications using a single Sphinx daemon.
We started out with Sphinx for our apps but quickly discarded it in favour of ElasticSearch, a much more elegant and orthogonal piece of software.
You send data to sphinx (when you update it), and its indexed right away.
The original disk-indexes (updated by a batch process is still available)
Also, I can't programmatically get a list of all "words" in the index with their frequency and the inverse dod freq, etc. With anything lucene based this kind of thing is really easy.
Yahoo! BOSS (http://developer.yahoo.com/search/boss/)
PS It looks like it's initially available only in US East Region
Are you saying it is too much? WebSolr etc have options that are cheaper.
http://www.midwesternmac.com/services/hosted-solr-search
http://www.netaphorsearch.com/products/solr-hosting
http://www.acquia.com/products-services/acquia-network/cloud...
(they're mainly targeted to drupal)
anything else?
Lucid Imagination is run by some of the most experienced Solr and Lucene devs. Specifically Yonik Seeley, who created Solr.
When I looked at WebSolr, the cost exceeded my entire VPS structure, even for their cheapest plans.
Not to mention, we've got transparent replicated redundancy on all our indexes—one of our better-kept secrets, I really need to update our marketing materials—so double your VPSs there.
For side projects I'd be okay with indexing being less aggressive, sizes being more restrictive, and response times being higher if that made the pricing more accessible.
I'd be happy to give you guys more money when I've got the traffic to justify it, but it'd be nice to be able to flip that on when I need it.