diff --git a/bakerydemo/settings/production.py b/bakerydemo/settings/production.py
index 469e216..8208cd2 100644
--- a/bakerydemo/settings/production.py
+++ b/bakerydemo/settings/production.py
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ if ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT:
     from elasticsearch import RequestsHttpConnection
     WAGTAILSEARCH_BACKENDS = {
         'default': {
-            'BACKEND': 'wagtail.search.backends.elasticsearch2',
+            'BACKEND': 'wagtail.search.backends.elasticsearch5',
             'HOSTS': [{
                 'host': ELASTICSEARCH_ENDPOINT,
                 'port': int(os.getenv('ELASTICSEARCH_PORT', '9200')),
diff --git a/docker-compose.yml b/docker-compose.yml
index ad0efae..04968d3 100644
--- a/docker-compose.yml
+++ b/docker-compose.yml
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ services:
     expose:
       - "6379"
   elasticsearch:
-    image: elasticsearch:2.3
+    image: elasticsearch:5.4
     restart: always
     expose:
       - "9200"
diff --git a/requirements/production.txt b/requirements/production.txt
index e0e5a5c..16b2792 100644
--- a/requirements/production.txt
+++ b/requirements/production.txt
@@ -1,7 +1,5 @@
 -r base.txt
-# elasticsearch==2.x.x chosen for compatibility with t2.micro.elasticsearch and t2.small.elasticsearch
-# instance types on AWS (Elasticsearch 2.3). Adjust for your deployment as needed.
-elasticsearch==2.4.1
+elasticsearch==5.5.3
 # Additional dependencies for Heroku, AWS, and Google Cloud deployment
 dj-database-url==0.4.1
 uwsgi>=2.0.17,<2.1