Do we use a search provider?

No, we don't.

Why we do not use a search provider

There isn't anything specifically wrong with most search providers - they don't have the same ethical issues as 'AI detection' providers, for instance. There are two reasons we don't use a search provider:

Cost

Search providers generally aren't all that cheap. Most of the time you have to run them in the cloud with dedicated servers or APIs, where you pay for the number of requests made and records stored, among other things.

For Deserted Chateau, minimising unnecessary costs was an important part of the plan for building the site, and a heavyweight search function was not necessary.

Customisation

Search providers are made to provide a broad, all-purpose kind of search functionality. That makes sense for most websites, but for Deserted Chateau, a much more customisable option was needed, and many of the search functions providers offer weren't suited to us.

As a result, I implemented searches myself with some complex database queries and server-side caching. Definitely a lot of hassle, but it means it can be changed more easily in future to accommodate user needs, and allows for complicated search behaviour that can be tricky to implement in third-party search software and then integrate into local code.

Generally speaking, for most sites it makes more sense to use a search provider, as implementing custom search is a massive pain, and has a lot of pitfalls. It's mostly a question of the use case and desired functionality.