What is the effect of a replica on the number of records?

Number of records

Algolia counts the number of records differently depending on the type of replica - that is whether it’s standard or virtual replica.

Standard replicas

Standard replica indices “replicate” or copy the primary index’s records; standard replicas have the same content but can have their own configuration.

Because of this, if your primary has 1,000 records and you create two standard replicas, you end up with 3,000 Algolia records.

Essentially, the total number of records stored for a specific index equals the number of records in its primary index multiplied by its replica count.

• total records size = number of records in primary index * (1 + number of standard replicas).

Virtual replicas

As virtual replicas are a “view” of their primary indices they don’t increase the number of records.

Indexing operations

Whether you are using standard or virtual replicas, only operations on the primary index counts as indexing operations.

• When you send data to a primary index, or update existing data, the changes are automatically forwarded to your replica indices. The changes on the replica indices don’t add anything to your operation count.
• Forwarding settings from your primary index to your replicas using the forwardToReplicas setting won’t add additional operation counts.
• Adding settings directly to your standard or virtual replicas count as one operation.
• Adding synonyms and Rules to your standard or virtual replicas count as operations.

What happens when you detach a replica from its primary?

If you turn a standard or virtual replica into a regular index by separating it from its primary index, all indexing operations from that point forward are counted and added to your monthly operations count.