How many sources does a discovery search vs. a federated search use?

Both federated search and discovery search is used to search multiple resources using a single interface. The discovery search tools can do better for you as they are mostly integrated with the federated search to improve the search results. The response time of the discovery search is better than the federated search. Also, the federated search can't access the databases that require user login.

Federated search is a technique that helps in searching multiple data at once. It allows you to retrieve diverse information located at different locations with just one search query. For instance, if your company has a vast database and maintains a separate database for each product added to your product catalog. This is where the federated search tool comes into the picture. When searched, it will present all the relevant data from all the locations.

On the other hand, discovery services only search and provide pre-indexed data; no live sources are searched. The terms "unified index" and "unified search index" are associated with discovery search. Generally, the discovery service is faster and responds faster than the federated search.