I am about to launch a beta site, and heroku looks like a great option. The only think that is getting me down is that the only search option is $20/mth for the Websolr add-on.
I am sure that Websolr is great, but at this very early point in this project, I rather not light up that expense.
Are there any free search options to couple with heroku's Blossom (free) plan.
I feel like such a cheapskate!
No, I was looking for that too a week ago, and didn't find anything...
And I don't think there is any work in progress on another add-ons like this as they already have one, so they won't put another that is free... :/
Anyway, heroku is amazing, so try to make it work with code or just spend $20 :)
This post seems to have good options:
Leveraging the full text search of postgrSQL:
http://tenderlovemaking.com/2009/10/17/full-text-search-on-heroku/
Also explains the options of Ferret and Solr.
acts_as_ferret won't work as Heroku cleans up the /tmp directory regularly. Even i am in need of a full-text solution. Thinking of trying out the acts_as_tsearch plugin.
acts_as_tsearch works great. No configuration needed if you have postgresql > 8.3. Have to experiment with multiple tables though. Will use it on heroku till i can afford the WebSolr Add-on. I found it a better option compared to the texticle method as explained in the article link above (tendermaking).
acts_as_tsearch: http://github.com/pka/acts_as_tsearch