> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://meilisearch-6b28dec2-add-platform-documentation.mintlify.site/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Cloud infrastructure

> Understand Meilisearch Cloud projects, available regions, and resource tiers for hosting your search instances.

Infrastructure is the foundation of Meilisearch Cloud. Every search experience you build starts with a **project**: a fully isolated Meilisearch instance with its own indexes, API keys, settings, and resource allocation.

## Projects

A project is a Meilisearch Cloud instance, a dedicated and fully isolated Meilisearch deployment:

* Each project has its own indexes and documents
* Each project has its own API keys and security settings
* Each project is either resource-based or usage-based (see below)

You can create multiple projects in the same account, for example one per application or one per environment (production, staging).

## Resource-based vs usage-based projects

When creating a project, you choose a billing model:

**Resource-based** projects give you a fixed allocation of CPU, RAM, and storage. You have full control over the resources available to your instance, and billing is predictable: you pay for what you provision, regardless of traffic.

**Usage-based** projects scale automatically. Instead of choosing a resource tier, you pay based on the number of searches performed and documents indexed. Meilisearch Cloud provisions the resources needed to serve your workload without you managing capacity. This model is simpler to get started with, but costs are harder to predict since they vary with your usage.

|                      | Resource-based                          | Usage-based                       |
| -------------------- | --------------------------------------- | --------------------------------- |
| Billing              | Fixed resources (CPU, RAM, storage)     | Searches and documents            |
| Scaling              | Manual (you choose the tier)            | Automatic                         |
| Price predictability | High                                    | Depends on traffic                |
| Best for             | Production workloads with known traffic | Variable or early-stage workloads |

## Regions

Meilisearch Cloud is available in multiple regions across the world. Choose the region closest to your users for the lowest latency.

| Code  | Location                     | Recommended for                                                       |
| ----- | ---------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `FRA` | Frankfurt, Germany           | European users                                                        |
| `PAR` | Paris, France                | European users; low-carbon region on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud |
| `LON` | London, United Kingdom       | UK and Western Europe                                                 |
| `SGP` | Singapore                    | Southeast Asia and APAC                                               |
| `JPN` | Japan                        | Japan and Northeast Asia                                              |
| `SYD` | Sydney, Australia            | Australia and Oceania                                                 |
| `SFO` | San Francisco, United States | US West Coast                                                         |
| `NYC` | New York, United States      | US East Coast and global default                                      |
| `SAO` | São Paulo, Brazil            | South America and Latin America                                       |

`PAR` runs on the AWS European Sovereign Cloud and is a [low-carbon region](/resources/help/carbon_footprint), making it a good default for European workloads with strict data sovereignty or sustainability requirements. For full region details and latency guidance, see [Cloud regions](/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/regions).

## Resource tiers

Each project runs on a resource tier that defines its CPU, RAM, and storage allocation. Choose a tier based on:

* **Index size**: Larger indexes require more RAM for fast search
* **Query volume**: High QPS benefits from more CPU
* **Vector search**: Storing and searching vectors requires additional RAM proportional to the number of dimensions and documents

You can change the resource tier at any time from the project settings.

## Dedicated Resources

Dedicated Resources is a class of dedicated infrastructure available on Enterprise plans. Compared to standard resource tiers, Dedicated Resources offers:

* Dedicated physical resources (no shared CPU or memory with other tenants)
* Higher-performance CPUs with better single-thread and multi-thread throughput
* Faster disk I/O for index reads and writes
* Optimized builds tuned for search workloads

Dedicated Resources is suited for production workloads with strict latency requirements or large indexes. Contact [sales@meilisearch.com](mailto:sales@meilisearch.com) to enable it.

## Next steps

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Create a project" href="/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/create_a_project">
    Step-by-step guide to creating your first project
  </Card>

  <Card title="Regions" href="/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/regions">
    Detailed region reference and latency guidance
  </Card>

  <Card title="Manage resources" href="/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/manage_resources">
    Scale CPU and RAM to match your workload
  </Card>

  <Card title="Version management" href="/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/version_management">
    View and upgrade your Meilisearch version
  </Card>

  <Card title="Sharding and replication" href="/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/sharding_and_replication">
    Scale to large datasets with high availability
  </Card>

  <Card title="Backups" href="/capabilities/platform/infrastructure/backups">
    Automatic weekly backups with Enterprise customization options
  </Card>
</CardGroup>