How does the search performance compare between standard and nested document structure

[mmaccou]

I’m exploring different ways to structure my indices. I found an article on the Elasticsearch blog about using nested documents. All else being equal, does this structure impact the speed or other performance/accuracy indicators compared to a more standard structure?

[carly.richmond]

Hi @mmaccou,

There are some limits in place for use of nested types. There is more details here in the documentation. There is a potential for performance issues and mapping explosion if the nested type is not used carefully.

I'm not sure which blog you're referencing, but this one does have some discussion around object versus nested types. If you are wanting to compare the performance based on your own data structures the Search Profiler could be useful for evaluating your queries.

Hope that helps!