> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://documentation.ajaxsearchpro.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://documentation.ajaxsearchpro.com/general-settings/search-engine.md).

# Search Engine

Regular and Index table engine - what are the main differences?

The plugin offers two separate search engines, the **regular** and the **index table** engines.

![](https://1706764988-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2F-L9jkFgNo4lpUof35gvS%2Fuploads%2F7ZNa2S5mrc3tykNfOjgZ%2Fimage.png?alt=media\&token=1da7d31c-f10f-4562-82e1-73c81b341c0b)

We generally recommend using the [Index Table engine](/index-table.md) for all installations, the regular engine will do just fine for regular use-cases.

Please check the [Index Table](/index-table.md) documentation on how to configure it.

| Regular Engine                                                | Index Table Engine                                                                |
| ------------------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Okay for smaller databases (>1000 items)                      | For any database size, but excellent for performance for bigger ones              |
| Slower, as it uses the WordPress tables for search            | Very Fast - as it uses the custom generated database for the keyword search       |
| Can do Exact Matches on consecutive keywords                  | Exact matches are only possible per keyword                                       |
| Can **not** search shortcode contents                         | **Can extract and search** shortcode contents                                     |
| Only simple relevance calculation due to database limitations | Excellent relevance calculation - as matched keyword occurences can be calculated |