diff --git a/changelog.d/3-bug-fixes/search-order-fix b/changelog.d/3-bug-fixes/search-order-fix
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..9525ebc091
--- /dev/null
+++ b/changelog.d/3-bug-fixes/search-order-fix
@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+Make searches more consistenty return exact name matches first
diff --git a/libs/brig-types/src/Brig/Types/Search.hs b/libs/brig-types/src/Brig/Types/Search.hs
index e660ae504f..4c4a8144b6 100644
--- a/libs/brig-types/src/Brig/Types/Search.hs
+++ b/libs/brig-types/src/Brig/Types/Search.hs
@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ module Brig.Types.Search
 where
 
 import Data.Id (TeamId)
+import Imports
 import Wire.API.User.Search
 
 data TeamSearchInfo
@@ -38,3 +39,4 @@ data TeamSearchInfo
     TeamOnly TeamId
   | -- | When searching user is part of a team and 'Brig.Options.setSearchSameTeamOnly' is False
     TeamAndNonMembers TeamId
+  deriving (Show)
diff --git a/services/brig/src/Brig/User/API/Search.hs b/services/brig/src/Brig/User/API/Search.hs
index ecaccf457b..67aa61e669 100644
--- a/services/brig/src/Brig/User/API/Search.hs
+++ b/services/brig/src/Brig/User/API/Search.hs
@@ -31,15 +31,12 @@ import qualified Brig.IO.Intra as Intra
 import qualified Brig.Options as Opts
 import Brig.Team.Util (ensurePermissions)
 import Brig.Types.Search as Search
-import Brig.User.API.Handle (contactFromProfile)
-import qualified Brig.User.API.Handle as HandleAPI
 import Brig.User.Search.Index
 import qualified Brig.User.Search.SearchIndex as Q
 import Brig.User.Search.TeamUserSearch (RoleFilter (..), TeamUserSearchSortBy (..), TeamUserSearchSortOrder (..))
 import qualified Brig.User.Search.TeamUserSearch as Q
 import Control.Lens (view)
 import Data.Domain (Domain)
-import Data.Handle (parseHandle)
 import Data.Id
 import Data.Predicate
 import Data.Range
@@ -150,23 +147,10 @@ searchLocally searcherId searchTerm maybeMaxResults = do
   let maxResults = maybe 15 (fromIntegral . fromRange) maybeMaxResults
   teamSearchInfo <- mkTeamSearchInfo
 
-  maybeExactHandleMatch <- exactHandleSearch teamSearchInfo
+  esResult <- Q.searchIndex searcherId teamSearchInfo searchTerm maxResults
 
-  let exactHandleMatchCount = length maybeExactHandleMatch
-      esMaxResults = maxResults - exactHandleMatchCount
-
-  esResult <-
-    if esMaxResults > 0
-      then Q.searchIndex searcherId teamSearchInfo searchTerm esMaxResults
-      else pure $ SearchResult 0 0 0 []
-
-  -- Prepend results matching exact handle and results from ES.
-  pure $
-    esResult
-      { searchResults = maybeToList maybeExactHandleMatch <> searchResults esResult,
-        searchFound = exactHandleMatchCount + searchFound esResult,
-        searchReturned = exactHandleMatchCount + searchReturned esResult
-      }
+  -- Move exact matches to the beginning of the list
+  pure $ esResult {searchResults = sortResults teamSearchInfo (searchResults esResult)}
   where
     handleTeamVisibility :: TeamId -> TeamSearchVisibility -> Search.TeamSearchInfo
     handleTeamVisibility t Team.SearchVisibilityStandard = Search.TeamAndNonMembers t
@@ -186,21 +170,20 @@ searchLocally searcherId searchTerm maybeMaxResults = do
               -- For team users, we need to check the visibility flag
               handleTeamVisibility t <$> Intra.getTeamSearchVisibility t
 
-    exactHandleSearch :: TeamSearchInfo -> Handler (Maybe Contact)
-    exactHandleSearch teamSearchInfo = do
-      let searchedHandleMaybe = parseHandle searchTerm
-      exactHandleResult <-
-        case searchedHandleMaybe of
-          Nothing -> pure Nothing
-          Just searchedHandle ->
-            contactFromProfile
-              <$$> HandleAPI.getLocalHandleInfo searcherId searchedHandle
-      pure $ case teamSearchInfo of
-        Search.TeamOnly t ->
-          if Just t == (contactTeam =<< exactHandleResult)
-            then exactHandleResult
-            else Nothing
-        _ -> exactHandleResult
+    sortResults :: TeamSearchInfo -> [Public.Contact] -> [Public.Contact]
+    sortResults tinfo = uncurry (<>) . partition (isExactMatch tinfo)
+
+    -- A match is considered "exact" if the name or handle are the same as the
+    -- search term.
+    -- However, for team searches, exact name matches for non-team members are
+    -- not considered exact
+    isExactMatch tinfo c =
+      isExactHandleMatch c || (isExactNameMatch c && includeExact tinfo c)
+    includeExact (Search.TeamOnly t) c = contactTeam c == Just t
+    includeExact (Search.TeamAndNonMembers t) c = contactTeam c == Just t
+    includeExact _ _ = True
+    isExactHandleMatch c = contactHandle c == Just searchTerm
+    isExactNameMatch c = contactName c == searchTerm
 
 teamUserSearchH ::
   ( JSON
diff --git a/services/brig/src/Brig/User/Search/SearchIndex.hs b/services/brig/src/Brig/User/Search/SearchIndex.hs
index 5ec9005a51..76af31f7ce 100644
--- a/services/brig/src/Brig/User/Search/SearchIndex.hs
+++ b/services/brig/src/Brig/User/Search/SearchIndex.hs
@@ -122,9 +122,7 @@ defaultUserQuery u teamSearchInfo (normalized -> term') =
             { ES.boolQueryMustMatch =
                 [ ES.QueryBoolQuery
                     boolQuery
-                      { ES.boolQueryShouldMatch = [matchPhraseOrPrefix, legacyPrefixMatch],
-                        -- This removes exact handle matches, as they are fetched from cassandra
-                        ES.boolQueryMustNotMatch = [termQ "handle" term']
+                      { ES.boolQueryShouldMatch = [matchPhraseOrPrefix, legacyPrefixMatch]
                       }
                 ],
               ES.boolQueryShouldMatch = [ES.QueryExistsQuery (ES.FieldName "handle")]