---
title: "MongoDB Queryable Encryption: Prefix, Suffix, and Substring Queries Are Now GA"
description: "MongoDB announced general availability of prefix, suffix, and substring query support in Queryable Encryption, extending beyond equality and range queries to production workloads at no additional cost in Atlas, Enterprise Advanced, and Community Edition. These capabilities enable expressive text searches on encrypted data without decryption, with the database server never seeing plaintext during query processing. The open-source encryption scheme is independently verifiable, works without specialized hardware, and protects data at rest, in transit, and in use. The new query types enable partial-name lookups, autocomplete, and partial-word filtering on encrypted fields via the native query engine, requiring no external indexes or middleware. This helps meet HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR compliance by protecting data in use — a stage other encryption methods cannot cover — reducing audit gaps and eliminating workarounds."
---

# MongoDB Queryable Encryption: Prefix, Suffix, and Substring Queries Are Now GA

[MongoDB](https://yomu.fyi/company/mongodb) · Oct 5, 2026

**Type:** Announcement

## Summary

MongoDB announced general availability of prefix, suffix, and substring query support in Queryable Encryption, extending beyond equality and range queries to production workloads at no additional cost in Atlas, Enterprise Advanced, and Community Edition. These capabilities enable expressive text searches on encrypted data without decryption, with the database server never seeing plaintext during query processing. The open-source encryption scheme is independently verifiable, works without specialized hardware, and protects data at rest, in transit, and in use. The new query types enable partial-name lookups, autocomplete, and partial-word filtering on encrypted fields via the native query engine, requiring no external indexes or middleware. This helps meet HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR compliance by protecting data in use — a stage other encryption methods cannot cover — reducing audit gaps and eliminating workarounds.

## Context

Traditional encryption protects data at rest and in transit but makes it unreadable for search, forcing organizations to either leave sensitive fields unencrypted or build external search indexes, both increasing operational overhead and security risk. Regulatory standards like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR increasingly require data protection during active use, a stage most encryption approaches cannot address. MongoDB Queryable Encryption closes this gap by enabling expressive queries on encrypted data without decryption.

## Approach / What changed

MongoDB Queryable Encryption uses a structured encryption scheme that keeps data encrypted during query processing on the server, without relying on specialized hardware like secure enclaves. The scheme is fully open source and independently verifiable. Prefix, suffix, and substring queries are implemented through MongoDB’s native query engine and drivers, requiring no external search indexes or middleware.

## Takeaways

- MongoDB Queryable Encryption now supports prefix, suffix, and substring queries on encrypted fields in production, enabling partial-name lookups, autocomplete, and partial-word filtering without decrypting data.
- The encryption scheme is fully open source and independently verifiable, not relying on specialized hardware like secure enclaves, and protects data at rest, in transit, and in use.
- These capabilities help meet regulatory compliance requirements like HIPAA, PCI-DSS, and GDPR by protecting data during query processing, a stage other encryption methods cannot address.

## FAQ

### How do prefix, suffix, and substring queries work without decrypting data?

They use a structured encryption scheme that keeps data encrypted during query processing on the server. The database never sees plaintext, and queries are run on encrypted data using MongoDB's native query engine and drivers.

### What are the limitations on substring queries?

Substring search covers short, structured fields up to 50 characters, searching 2- to 6-character terms. For example, searching for 'eng' within an encrypted job title field matches both 'Engineer' and 'Engineering Manager'.

### Is Queryable Encryption available at additional cost?

No, Queryable Encryption is available at no additional cost in MongoDB Atlas, MongoDB Enterprise Advanced, and MongoDB Community Edition.

**Tags:** [Database](https://yomu.fyi/topic/database), [Encryption](https://yomu.fyi/topic/encryption), [MongoDB](https://yomu.fyi/topic/mongodb), [Queryable Encryption](https://yomu.fyi/topic/queryable-encryption), [Security](https://yomu.fyi/topic/security)

- Source: [MongoDB](https://www.mongodb.com/company/blog/product-release-announcements/queryable-encryption-prefix-suffix-substring-queries-are-now-ga)
- Source URL: https://www.mongodb.com/company/blog/product-release-announcements/queryable-encryption-prefix-suffix-substring-queries-are-now-ga
- Ingested by Yomu: 2026-10-06T15:00:12.142Z

[Read original post](https://www.mongodb.com/company/blog/product-release-announcements/queryable-encryption-prefix-suffix-substring-queries-are-now-ga)