# What considerations to bear in mind when deciding on a document's type **URL:** \ **Category:** Elasticsearch\ **Created:** [October 17, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988 "2013-10-17T13:45:48Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brent\_Gracey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/brent_gracey/32/823_2.png) [@Brent\_Gracey](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Brent_Gracey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 1:45pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988/1 "2013-10-17T13:45:48Z")
Hi all, Are there performance or functional trade offs which should be considered when deciding on a documents type? I found an article which calls out some of the key considerations when deciding on how many indexes to use [http://www.elasticsearch.org/blog/what-is-an-elasticsearch-index/](http://www.elasticsearch.org/blog/what-is-an-elasticsearch-index/), but I haven't been able to find anything similar which discusses the type property. Thanks. Brent -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![shadyabhi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@shadyabhi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shadyabhi)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988/2 "2013-10-17T18:58:27Z")
If what you mean by "type" of a document in a index is [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/guide/en/elasticsearch/reference/current/glossary.html#glossary-type), it doesn't have any impact on performance. As explained in the link, it's just like a "table" in a RDBMS. On Thu, Oct 17, 2013 at 7:15 PM, Brent Gracey [brentgracey@gmail.com](mailto:brentgracey@gmail.com) wrote: > Hi all, > > Are there performance or functional trade offs which should be considered > when deciding on a documents type? > > I found an article which calls out some of the key considerations when > deciding on how many indexes to use > [Elasticsearch Platform — Find real-time answers at scale | Elastic](http://www.elasticsearch.org/blog/what-is-an-elasticsearch-index/), but I > haven't been able to find anything similar which discusses the type > property. > > Thanks. > Brent > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- Regards, Abhijeet Rastogi (shadyabhi) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Brent\_Gracey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/brent_gracey/32/823_2.png) [@Brent\_Gracey](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Brent_Gracey)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2013, 8:35pm UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988/3 "2013-10-17T20:35:16Z")
Thanks for the answer, and yup that's the type I was talking about. Is the main use of type to allow different mappings to be applied on the same index? Is there any other use for type? Please do point me in the correct direction if I've missed the relevant documentation, but my googling hasn't turned anything up Thanks -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![shadyabhi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/edb3f5/32.png) [@shadyabhi](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/shadyabhi)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 3:10am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988/4 "2013-10-18T03:10:39Z")
Yup, that's one use of it. You can have two different "kind" of documents in the same index and treat them differently. Try googling for "Index vs type in elasticsearch". For ex, [database - Elastic search, multiple indexes vs one index and types for different data sets? - Stack Overflow](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/14465668/elastic-search-multiple-indexes-vs-one-index-and-types-for-different-data-sets) [http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/More-indices-vs-more-types-td3999423.html](http://elasticsearch-users.115913.n3.nabble.com/More-indices-vs-more-types-td3999423.html) On Fri, Oct 18, 2013 at 2:05 AM, Brent Gracey [brentgracey@gmail.com](mailto:brentgracey@gmail.com) wrote: > Thanks for the answer, and yup that's the type I was talking about. > > Is the main use of type to allow different mappings to be applied on the > same index? > > Is there any other use for type? > > Please do point me in the correct direction if I've missed the relevant > documentation, but my googling hasn't turned anything up > > Thanks > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "elasticsearch" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). > For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). -- Regards, Abhijeet Rastogi (shadyabhi) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![Brent\_Gracey](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/user_avatar/discuss.elastic.co/brent_gracey/32/823_2.png) [@Brent\_Gracey](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/Brent_Gracey)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2013, 8:52am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988/5 "2013-10-18T08:52:11Z")
Great thanks for those links, thats the info I was looking for -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "elasticsearch" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com](mailto:elasticsearch+unsubscribe@googlegroups.com). For more options, visit [https://groups.google.com/groups/opt\_out](https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out). ---
**Author:** ![system](https://us1.discourse-cdn.com/elastic/original/3X/1/a/1ac57faf039f6b580b3f104ef42a2a89e41014de.png) [@system](https://discuss.elastic.co/u/system)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://discuss.elastic.co/t/what-considerations-to-bear-in-mind-when-deciding-on-a-documents-type/13988/6 "2017-07-06T02:11:47Z")