Are you ChatGPT visible? 

Algolia is fast and infinitely customizable if you have engineers to build it. Searchspring gives merchandisers manual control over everything. Both are built for keyword matching.

That was fine when search meant typing "blue shirt" and getting blue shirts.

Now people ask ChatGPT, "What should I wear to a casual Friday at a tech startup?" and expect actual recommendations. They are starting to expect the same from on-site search.

Algolia and Searchspring were not built for that.  Atomz was.

Traditional Search vs Intent-Based Discovery

Traditional search is transactional:
Customer types words → system matches words → results ranked by keyword relevance.

Intent-based discovery is contextual:
Customer expresses intent → system understands the meaning → guides them to the right product.

Example:

• “Running shoes” (traditional search) returns 400 results sorted by popularity.
• “Running shoes for flat feet that won’t hurt my knees” (intent-based discovery) returns 3-5 curated options, with reasoning behind each.

That’s the shift from searching to understanding, from keywords to intent.

Algolia

Great for teams with engineers who want total control.

Algolia is genuinely excellent infrastructure- fast, scalable, reliable. If you can build and maintain a custom implementation, it’s a powerful tool.

But the catch:

• It demands engineering bandwidth.
• Pricing is usage-based, so costs can spike unpredictably.
• It has no concept of AI visibility, it wasn’t built for a world where ChatGPT recommends products.

Algolia still dominates the keyword era. But it doesn’t bridge to the AI commerce era.

Searchspring

Great for: merchandising teams who want manual control.

Searchspring gives merchandisers total freedom, powerful dashboards for boosting products, creating landing pages, and controlling visibility. If manual merchandising and rule-based control are central to your strategy, Searchspring is a great fit.

But again, the catch:

• It’s labor-intensive.
• Rules-based systems break when customers use language they haven’t seen before.
• And, like Algolia, it’s not thinking about ChatGPT or Gemini.

Searchspring thrives when you want to curate manually, not when you need systems to learn autonomously.

Atomz: AI-Native Discovery for Shopify Merchants

Great for Shopify merchants who want AI-native discovery without dev work, and who care about visibility in ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity.

Atomz is built for the AI commerce era. The Catalog Agent enriches your product data for both on-site discovery and external AI platforms, the same optimization that helps your internal search also boosts your visibility in ChatGPT Shopping.

The Discovery Agent uses intent-based prompts to guide customers to products instead of dumping endless results.

• No dev required.
• Flat monthly pricing.
• Native Shopify integration.

Atomz is not just a search engine. It’s a commerce intelligence layer that understands how AI sees your catalog, and helps you win there.

Why AI Platforms Change Everything

This is the part most comparisons miss.

Algolia is built to optimize on-site keyword search. Searchspring focuses on merchandising-driven on-site search. Neither is designed for what happens when a customer asks ChatGPT to recommend a product.

In AI-driven shopping, discovery no longer stops at your site. The same product data that powers on-site discovery is now being interpreted by external AI platforms. When that data is structured correctly, it doesn’t just improve internal search, it increases your visibility across ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity as well.

This isn’t two separate optimization problems. It’s one shared ecosystem. Your catalog, once enriched and structured properly, works everywhere AI is making recommendations.

We break down how this works and what actually drives visibility in AI Shopping for Shopify.

Choose the Right Search Platform

If you have engineers and want maximum customization: Algolia.

If you have merchandisers and want manual control: Searchspring.

If you want AI-native discovery that’s future-proof for ChatGPT, Gemini, and Perplexity, without dedicated technical resources: Atomz

Bottom Line

The next generation of ecommerce search is conversational. If your platform can’t understand context, it can’t convert intent.

Atomz was built for this shift, not just to search better, but to make your products visible everywhere AI recommends.

Related:

• Discovery Prompts: Future of Ecommerce Search
• AI Shopping for Shopify Guide