Coveo Being Problematic? Compare 6 Coveo Alternatives Here!

Spending thousands on Coveo every month, yet key products don’t show up when customers search for them?

Well, multiple existing Coveo users today are questioning whether Coveo’s complex search solutions still justify the cost, especially when faster, simpler, and more scalable platforms have emerged. 

With rising expectations around personalization, speed, and enterprise grade AI, businesses are exploring Coveo competitors for 2026 that meet modern experience standards. 

If you’re evaluating Coveo alternatives, this guide will help you uncover stronger, more flexible, and more cost-effective options.

Comparing Coveo’s Alternatives In 2026!

Before you decide whether migrating from Coveo is the right move, it is important to understand what other platforms like Coveo offer, especially in pricing, ratings, and suitability for different use cases. 

Below is a quick snapshot of the top Coveo alternatives for 2026 comparing the platforms across key decision criteria.

Before choosing between Coveo competitors, it’s important to understand how each platform performs in real-world eCommerce and enterprise search scenarios.

This breakdown highlights where the best Coveo alternatives outshine Coveo’s complex search solutions, especially for teams wanting simplicity, speed, and stronger personalization.

Here’s how the top platforms compare when evaluating alternatives to Coveo for search & discovery:

1. Experro - The Best Alternative to Coveo 🏆

Experro stands out as the best eCommerce search platform and the strongest Coveo alternative for both eCommerce and enterprise search brands. 

Unlike Coveo’s complex search solutions, Experro is designed for speed, agility, and merchandiser-friendliness without requiring heavy technical workflows. 

Experro offers built-in machine learning and artificial intelligence models fine-tuned for commerce specific intent, ensuring shoppers see the right product faster and with higher precision. 

Customers frequently note that its smart product browsing, and predictive discovery make it far easier for teams to launch changes instantly, something many Coveo customers struggle with. 

Experro also provides transparent usage, predictable pricing, and native performance dashboards, so teams can optimize without hunting for data across multiple enterprise search tools.

With built-in product feed optimization and multilingual AI, Experro cuts manual work and gives you one powerful search platform to grow your store.

Experro is the best Coveo AI alternative in 2026 because it gives brands faster control, smarter search capabilities, and a far easier path to scale. In the Experro vs Coveo comparison, Experro clearly comes out ahead on speed, usability, and cost-efficiency.

2. Luigi’s Box

Luigi’s Box is a solid option for SMBs but is not ideal for scaling beyond mid-market. Customers repeatedly express that its AI capabilities are entry-level compared to enterprise platforms, limiting growth for brands needing deeper product discovery. ¹

The platform’s existing user expressed concerns around advanced personalization, multilingual search depth, and hybrid AI relevancy are weaker than needed for enterprise grade use cases. 

For these reasons, Luigi's Box does not qualify as a strong Coveo competitor when it comes to large-scale enterprises. 

Overall, it is better suited for teams with minimal customization needs.

4. Algolia

Algolia is popular among engineering centric teams but requires heavy developer involvement. 

Reportedly, it has come to notice that brands switching from Coveo’s complex search solutions often face similar complexity with Algolia’s API-first model. Hence, neither Coveo nor Algolia is a good option to switch to. ²

Costs escalate quickly as traffic grows, and many users find the pricing over their budget. For teams already comparing Algolia and Coveo pricing models, this makes Algolia feel just as costly at scale. ³ 

Merchandising is not native, so eCommerce teams need additional tools. It is not the best fit if you want an all-in-one product discovery and site search solution without engineering overload.

5. Glean

Glean is a strong enterprise AI search alternative to Coveo, especially for internal knowledge search. 

However, it is not built for eCommerce, product discovery, or customer facing search which is a major limitation for retail and D2C brands. 

Merchandisers say the real complexity starts when data is incomplete or inconsistent. Missing attributes weaken filtering and make it harder for shoppers to find what they need. Integrating with identity systems, internal data sources and security layers adds more work, making the setup costly and IT-heavy for mid-sized teams. ⁴

It is powerful for internal enterprise intelligence and stands as a relevant Coveo alternative specifically for basic search use cases. However, it’s not suitable for eCommerce-focused search and discovery on web stores.

6. Bloomreach

Bloomreach offers deep personalization but comes with heavy implementation and high costs similar to Coveo pricing. 

Its feature depth is strong, but the platform is often overpowered for brands not fully invested in CDP-level data maturity. 

Merchandising tools and search tuning require significant onboarding time. Some users even draw parallels to common Coveo complaints, especially around platform rigidity and slow support response times. ⁵

It is best suited for large enterprises with complex ecosystems.

7. Athos Commerce

Searchspring, Klevu, and Intelligent Reach have joined hands to form a new company under ‘Athos Commerce’.

Athos Commerce is great for small businesses but lacks the AI technology sophistication needed to replace enterprise search solutions like Coveo. 

Its personalization capabilities are lighter, and search for relevancy tuning requires manual effort. Analytics and insights are limited compared to unified AI platforms. 

Many users mention that Athos Commerce still does not deliver deep enterprise merchandising and recommendations functionality. It is better for straightforward catalog search rather than advanced AI driven discovery. ⁶

Now that we have come across all the Coveo alternatives, let's now check out which all areas does Coveo lack in.

Where Coveo Struggles to Support Merchandisers?

Many teams evaluating Coveo alternatives highlight recurring challenges that slow down search, relevance tuning, and merchandising adjustments. 

These gaps often push businesses to consider switching to platforms that offer easier control and better visibility. 

• Steep learning curve – Users report that it takes significant time and effort to understand and operate Coveo’s features. This slows down onboarding and makes teams dependent on external help for even routine tasks. ⁷
• Requires deep technical expertise – User reviews portray that even simple configurations often require advanced technical support, making it difficult for non-technical teams to operate independently. This creates workflow bottlenecks and prevents merchandisers from making quick changes. ⁸
• Complicated new features & updates – Users often say that teams struggle with both the complexity of existing features and missing features in Coveo platform, which makes managing daily operations and staying current with updates frustrating and time-consuming. ⁹
• Complex setup & high query consumption – Some users mention that setup is difficult, and query consumption can become expensive and restrictive. This often leads to unpredictable costs, especially for growing eCommerce businesses. ¹⁰
• Weak semantic search performance – Users report that semantic search does not always deliver the expected accuracy compared to modern AI-native platforms. This limits the quality of product discovery and frustrates teams aiming for higher search relevance. ¹¹

These challenges slow down merchandisers and make it hard to run search and product discovery without constant technical help. As frustrations build, many teams start questioning if Coveo is still the right fit.  

To make your decision easier, the next section breaks down what real users have experienced.

Is Coveo Worth It for Merchandisers? Here’s What Users Say 

After facing multiple issues with Coveo, many users begin to wonder if the platform is still worth it for merchandisers.  

This frustration is also why more teams are actively exploring Coveo search competitors and alternatives that offer easier controls and better eCommerce flexibility. 

And honestly, that’s where the real question comes up in conversations: “Why switch from Coveo in the first place?” 

Here’s why:

1. Coveo Users Raising Concerns About Relevance and Pricing