Where to Download Elasticsearch: Official Sources and Installation Methods

Elasticsearch is distributed from elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch and the artifacts repository at artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/. Both are operated by Elastic. Choose the format that matches your platform and deployment style: tar.gz archive for portable installs, deb/rpm packages for systemd-integrated production, MSI for Windows services, Docker images for containers, or apt/yum repositories for automated package management. As of 2026, Elasticsearch is distributed under the AGPLv3 license following Elastic's August 2024 license change.

Official Download Sources

For older versions, the artifacts repository keeps every release back to 1.x. Security updates are only applied to currently-supported branches.

Linux Downloads

tar.gz Archive (any distribution)

VERSION="8.15.3"
curl -L -O "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "elasticsearch-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz"
cd "elasticsearch-${VERSION}/"
./bin/elasticsearch

For ARM64 / Apple Silicon Linux:

curl -L -O "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-${VERSION}-linux-aarch64.tar.gz"

DEB Package (Debian / Ubuntu)

One-shot install:

wget "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-${VERSION}-amd64.deb"
sudo dpkg -i "elasticsearch-${VERSION}-amd64.deb"

Repository-based install (recommended for fleets):

wget -qO - https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/elasticsearch-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/elasticsearch-keyring.gpg] \
  https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/8.x/apt stable main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/elastic-8.x.list
sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install elasticsearch

RPM Package (RHEL / CentOS / Fedora / Rocky)

sudo rpm --import https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/yum.repos.d/elasticsearch.repo
[elasticsearch]
name=Elasticsearch repository for 8.x packages
baseurl=https://artifacts.elastic.co/packages/8.x/yum
gpgcheck=1
gpgkey=https://artifacts.elastic.co/GPG-KEY-elasticsearch
enabled=1
autorefresh=1
type=rpm-md
EOF
sudo yum install elasticsearch

macOS

# Intel
curl -L -O "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-${VERSION}-darwin-x86_64.tar.gz"
# Apple Silicon (M1/M2/M3)
curl -L -O "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-${VERSION}-darwin-aarch64.tar.gz"
tar -xzf "elasticsearch-${VERSION}-darwin-"*.tar.gz

Homebrew (community-maintained):

brew tap elastic/tap
brew install elastic/tap/elasticsearch-full
brew services start elastic/tap/elasticsearch-full

Windows

ZIP archive:

$version = "8.15.3"
$url = "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-$version-windows-x86_64.zip"
Invoke-WebRequest -Uri $url -OutFile "elasticsearch.zip"
Expand-Archive elasticsearch.zip -DestinationPath .
cd "elasticsearch-$version"
.\bin\elasticsearch.bat

MSI installer (available from elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch) provides:

• Windows service registration
• PATH integration
• Start menu shortcuts

Chocolatey package:

choco install elasticsearch

Docker

docker pull docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.15.3
docker run -d --name elasticsearch \
  -p 9200:9200 -p 9300:9300 \
  -e "discovery.type=single-node" \
  docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch:8.15.3

Full setup details in the Elasticsearch Docker Guide.

Cloud / Managed Options

No download needed:

Note that Amazon OpenSearch Service is OpenSearch, not Elasticsearch - they diverged in 2021. See OpenSearch vs Elasticsearch.

Verifying Downloads

Every artifact has a SHA-512 checksum file beside it. Always verify before installing in production:

curl -L -O "https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.sha512"
shasum -a 512 -c "elasticsearch-${VERSION}-linux-x86_64.tar.gz.sha512"

For GPG signatures (more thorough), verify against the Elastic signing key.

Version Selection

Match minor versions across the Elastic Stack: Elasticsearch, Kibana, Logstash, and Beats should all be the same minor. Mixed minors are unsupported and break in subtle ways.

License Note (2024 Change)

Until 7.10, Elasticsearch was Apache 2.0. From January 2021 through August 2024 it was dual-licensed Elastic License v2 (ELv2) and SSPL. As of Elasticsearch 8.16 (August 2024), Elastic added AGPLv3 as a third option - so current Elasticsearch is AGPLv3 / ELv2 / SSPL. The default distribution includes X-Pack features; basic features are free, advanced features require a paid subscription.

For a pure Apache 2.0 fork of the pre-license-change codebase, see OpenSearch at opensearch.org/downloads.html.

Quick Verification After Install

./bin/elasticsearch --version
./bin/elasticsearch                # foreground start
curl http://localhost:9200/         # query the cluster (with security off)

Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Where can I download Elasticsearch?
A: The official sources are elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch (manual) and artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/ (direct). Linux package repositories are at artifacts.elastic.co/packages/<version>/. Docker images come from docker.elastic.co/elasticsearch/elasticsearch.

Q: Is Elasticsearch free to download?
A: Yes. The default distribution is free to download and includes both open-source and basic commercial features. Advanced features (machine learning, advanced security, alerting) require a paid subscription, but the base download is free.

Q: Which format should I use for production?
A: Use deb/rpm packages with the official repositories on Linux, MSI on Windows, or the Docker image in container environments. These integrate with system services, support automated updates, and follow Elastic's recommended install paths.

Q: How do I download a specific older version of Elasticsearch?
A: All released versions are at https://artifacts.elastic.co/downloads/elasticsearch/elasticsearch-<version>-<platform>.<ext>. Only currently-supported branches receive security updates.

Q: Do I need to install Java separately?
A: No. Elasticsearch 7.x and later bundles its own JDK. Don't override the bundled JDK unless you have a specific compliance requirement.

Q: What's the difference between Elasticsearch and OpenSearch?
A: OpenSearch is an Apache 2.0 fork of Elasticsearch 7.10.2 created by AWS in 2021 after Elastic changed Elasticsearch's license. The two projects have diverged in features since. See OpenSearch vs Elasticsearch for details.

Q: Can I download Elasticsearch for an air-gapped environment?
A: Yes. Download the archive or package and the corresponding signature/checksum, transfer them to the offline host, verify integrity, and install.

Related Reading

• Elasticsearch Docker Guide: Run Elasticsearch in containers
• Elasticsearch Tutorial: First steps after install
• OpenSearch vs Elasticsearch: Choose the right distribution
• Elasticsearch Documentation: Full KB index
• Elastic Subscriptions for Elasticsearch: Licensing tiers