Limitations of Javascript

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While Javascript has the advantage of having no server-side requirements, it does have some significant disadvantages due to the fact that it is a relatively basic, browser scripting language.

Capacity: The amount of resources (both memory, and CPU) made available to the script interpreter is often very limited. As such, it can not deal with large volumes of data in memory and can only handle around 5 MB of indexed data (that is, the generated .js files can total around 5 MB in size), which may be approximately around 50 MB of site content. Your mileage may vary depending on the browser you are using.
Performance and functionality: Due to the fact that the script runs inside a browser, more intricate processing methods are restricted, making it unfeasible to implement certain features (listed below).

Search features not available in the Javascript version are:

Context descriptions
Exact phrase matching
Spelling Suggestions
Search word logging

Note that all of the above features are available with the server-side search options available: PHP, ASP, and CGI (see "Server-side search engine"). If you wish to publish your search function without a web server, but require the features available in the server-side search options, take a look at “Using the CGI or PHP version without a web server”.