Elasticsearch & Inverted Indices — The Death of SQL ILIKE (2026)

Rethinking Search: From SQL to Elasticsearch When tasked with adding a search bar to an application, many developers instinctively turn to their trusty SQL database. However, this approach can lead to performance issues and scalability problems. The reason lies in how SQL databases are designed to handle queries. The Limitations of SQL SQL databases utilize B-Trees for indexing, which excel at finding specific values, such as IDs or dates. However, when it comes to searching for text patterns, e