Amazon Kendra vs SWIRL AI Search

Amazon Kendra9.0Visit SWIRL AI Search9.0Visit

Amazon Kendra #4 in AI Enterprise Search Software 9.0/10 From $1.12 · 30-day trial ✓ 3 of 3 features Visit AWS

vs

SWIRL AI Search #6 in AI Enterprise Search Software 9.0/10 Free plan · paid from $24,000/yr Free plan✓ 3 of 3 features Try SWIRL AI Search

• Amazon Kendra fits best

  AWS teams wanting transparent enterprise search pricing

• SWIRL AI Search fits best

  Teams needing live federated search without indexing

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Side by side

Feature	Amazon Kendra 9.0/10 Visit ↗	SWIRL AI Search 9.0/10 Visit ↗
At a glance
Editor score	9.0	9.0
Ranking	#4 in AI Enterprise Search Software	#6 in AI Enterprise Search Software
Best for	AWS teams wanting transparent enterprise search pricing	Teams needing live federated search without indexing
Pricing model	Paid	Free plan + paid
Starting price	Not published	Not published
Free plan	—	✓ (best)
Free trial	—	—
Deployment	Cloud	Cloud, Self-hosted
Platforms	Web	Web
Support	Docs	Email, Tickets, Docs
Integrations	32+ integrations	150+ integrations
Built for	Mid-market, Enterprise	Mid-market, Enterprise
Features Amazon Kendra 3/3 · SWIRL AI Search 3/3
Permission sync	✓	✓
Answer citations	✓	✓
Admin controls	✓	✓
Specs
Source connectors	5	Not published
Deployment options	Cloud	Hybrid
Indexed content limit	3 GB (best)	0 GB
Our review
Pros	Natural-language answers with extracted passages and citations ACL filtering, scheduled connectors, and semantic relevance tuning Retriever API supports retrieval-augmented generation workflows	Queries connected systems live without copying or indexing content Inline citations and source-level permissions support accountable answers MCP, REST API, workspaces, SSO, and hybrid deployment are included options
Cons	Cloud-only deployment No longer open to new customers Usage limits vary substantially by edition	Paid plans begin at $24,000 annually The Departmental plan is limited to one business unit or workspace Advanced deployment and support features require the Enterprise plan
Our verdict	Amazon Kendra is a managed enterprise search service for organizations that need to find answers across structured and unstructured content. It combines machine learning, natural-language question answering, semantic ranking, FAQ matching,… Read the review →	SWIRL AI Search is a federated enterprise search and retrieval-augmented generation platform for teams that need live search across connected business systems without copying or indexing content. It combines ranked search, semantic… Read the review →

Strengths and trade-offs

• Amazon Kendra — where it wins

  • Natural-language answers with extracted passages and citations
  • ACL filtering, scheduled connectors, and semantic relevance tuning
  • Retriever API supports retrieval-augmented generation workflows

  Where it doesn't

  • Cloud-only deployment
  • No longer open to new customers
  • Usage limits vary substantially by edition

• SWIRL AI Search — where it wins

  • Queries connected systems live without copying or indexing content
  • Inline citations and source-level permissions support accountable answers
  • MCP, REST API, workspaces, SSO, and hybrid deployment are included options

  Where it doesn't

  • Paid plans begin at $24,000 annually
  • The Departmental plan is limited to one business unit or workspace
  • Advanced deployment and support features require the Enterprise plan

• Amazon Kendra9.0/10 · From $1.12 · 30-day trial

  A capable AWS search service with clear hourly pricing, but it is cloud-only and closed to new customers.

  Visit AWSFull verdict →
• SWIRL AI Search9.0/10 · Free plan · paid from $24,000/yr

  Live federated search with citations, permissions, and hybrid deployment.

  Try SWIRL AI SearchFull verdict →