Algolia AI Search & Discovery

If I could give Algolia 0 stars I would - THE WORST APP, THE WORST ORGANIZATION, DO NOT USE ALGOLIA!!!!! THEY OFFER ZERO SUPPORT - ONCE YOU ARE SIGNED UP YOU ARE ON YOUR OWN. TERRIBLE

I have used Algolia for the previous e-commerce sites on the companies that I worked for and it has always been the best option to get results, users can search for any type of product attributes and make it easier to convert. The spelling check and predictive text functionalities are something that no other search app has make work so well. I would recommend using without a doubt

A few early hiccups, but the developer fixed them. Everything works great! Great communications with the developer.

We tested almost every search app out there and spent countless hours finding the right search for our shopify store, robotvacuums.com. We also ported it to another site, freedomusasales.com
Algolia is not only better than all search engines, it completely blows all other apps out of the game.
I cannot understand any of the low reviews except A: Lazy ignorant people who do not understand what they are missing out on or B: Jealous competitors who know their goose is cooked.
Other search apps are just modifications of the built in shopify search, which is extremely lacking in features. Some are so backwards that you cannot even type a search term in middle of a sentence, it will not show results.
We are still new to algolia and learning how to harness it but seeing the bad reviews is so categorically false and wrong on so many levels that it just gets me angry and we had to write something...
Thanks!

No longer supported - plan to replace

From github: https://github.com/algolia/instantsearch.js/issues/3309

"Note that InstantSearch v1 is no longer supported. "

This is the version shopify uses.

In the last week. I have contacted algolia twice for help with things not working as expect. Both times they gave the impression that shopify is not important and would not help.

I wanted to add an exclude for some customers, so some product would be excluded from the search, but this feature does not work. When I asked for help they said the shopify version was not supported.

While the basic search is impressive, adding options as been a problem, with features not working for me.

Update: They plan upgrade shopify to InstantSearch v2 in a few months. This looks to fix my current issues. InstantSearch v2: https://codesandbox.io/s/l598wkxoy7

Great app, works seamlessly within your site. (Doesn't feel like a bolted on app as many do.) Good support too, they have helped us achieve some quite complex technical solutions on our store.

Very overpriced for our needs. Post-sales customer support is slow. The tool itself is pretty quick and slick (once setup, however you will need a professional developer to install it, certainly not a plug-and-play setup. Online documentation and knowledgbase is very technical. Support just send you links to the knowledgebase each time). We have been oversold a package for which we didn't come close to using the quota. Would only recommend for enterprise-level websites.

Unfortunately we were recommended this app by an old supplier and told it was easy to install and outside of the monthly fee it would not cost too much to configure. Upon installation this was in fact not true and we were quoted thousands of pounds to install the app. We then approached the app provider for help and to discuss the issues we were having. The app provider was less than helpful. We were told there was no option to end the contract early even though we have not been able to use the app so effectively we've paid for nothing with no help, support or understanding of the situation. We even suggested a breakout clause paying half of the yearly fee etc. but there was absolutely no flexibility or understanding from the app provider. This has had a huge impact on a growing small business like ours. As a result we would not recommend this app to anyone as ultimately the service for the amount you pay is not there.

Search is the most important feature on our online store with 15k+ products. And Algolia is the perfect solution for us. The indexing process works very well, and the Algolia dashboard gives us tons of features. We used InstantSearch.js to implement a custom search user experience.

After reading one of the bad reviews below, I checked and found I was experiencing the same issue on my iPhone. I contacted support and they got back pretty much straight away. After 2 days of some back and forth to try to troubleshoot the problem, Matthieu has been a pleasure to work with, and helped me fixed the problem (so yes, there is a quick and easy fix for it!). They have since written a public post with the resolution https://discourse.algolia.com/t/ios-issues-with-our-shopify-autocomplete/1653

Apart from this little problem, the app itself is great, and we've been able to manipulate it to work with our retail/wholesale store. This has really helped search for both our customers and customer support team, and also makes training new employees easier. Check it out on www.smai.com.au

Thanks Matthieu and Algolia Search! Great app and great service! :)