Performance compared to Apachesolr module?

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Created on 13 June 2015, about 10 years ago

Updated 28 June 2025, 2 months ago

I've seen some old threads and discussions (like this one) comparing Facet API with Solr backend to the Apachesolr Drupal module, which indicate that Facet API only indexes entity ids, meaning that to get access to other fields (for example, thumbnail images) during a search, a full entity load is required, which is a significant performance implication.

My understanding is that this is no longer true for in the most recent 7.x versions of Facet API: that other fields can now be indexed and fetched directly from Solr, no longer requiring an entity load. Can anyone verify this?

Is it safe to say that at this point in time, there should be little/no performance difference between the Apachesolr module and the Facet API module with Solr backend (for loading a faceted search page like this one)?

💬 Support request

Status

Fixed

Version

4.0

Component

Code

Created by

🇺🇸United States JordanMagnuson

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Comment 2 months ago →
🇩🇰Denmark ressa Copenhagen
Just revisiting this here in 2025, since it's still a relevant question, and wondering if there are recent benchmarks, comparing Search API vs. Search API Solr set up with no entity loads in the View, as described on https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/modules/search-api-solr/search-api-solr-ho... → ?

I tried to find the benchmark issue mentioned, could it be #1135270: Performance comparison with Apachesolr module and Search API module (with benchmarks) → ?

It would be nice with some sort of general recommendations when to consider to use Search API Solr, as well as if it's worth going through the extra steps, to bypass the entity load, for users who are not sure, so I added a new section "When to consider other backends, such as Solr or Elasticsearch" under https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/modules/search-api/getting-started/frequen... → .

I also added a "Caching considerations" section on https://www.drupal.org/docs/8/modules/search-api-solr/search-api-solr-ho... → based on your comments here.

Feel free to correct wrong info, add more details if needed, etc. Thanks!

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