diff --git a/docker/start_db.sh b/docker/start_db.sh
index 168ce96b5..02f48db2e 100755
--- a/docker/start_db.sh
+++ b/docker/start_db.sh
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@
 
 # Configuration environment variables:
 #   STARTER_MODE:             (single|cluster|activefailover), default single
-#   DOCKER_IMAGE:             ArangoDB docker image, default gcr.io/gcr-for-testing/arangodb/arangodb:latest
+#   DOCKER_IMAGE:             ArangoDB docker image, default docker.io/arangodb/arangodb:latest
 #   SSL:                      (true|false), default false
 #   DATABASE_EXTENDED_NAMES:  (true|false), default false
 #   ARANGO_LICENSE_KEY:       only required for ArangoDB Enterprise
@@ -11,11 +11,11 @@
 # STARTER_MODE=cluster SSL=true ./start_db.sh
 
 STARTER_MODE=${STARTER_MODE:=single}
-DOCKER_IMAGE=${DOCKER_IMAGE:=gcr.io/gcr-for-testing/arangodb/arangodb:latest}
+DOCKER_IMAGE=${DOCKER_IMAGE:=docker.io/arangodb/arangodb:latest}
 SSL=${SSL:=false}
 DATABASE_EXTENDED_NAMES=${DATABASE_EXTENDED_NAMES:=false}
 
-STARTER_DOCKER_IMAGE=gcr.io/gcr-for-testing/arangodb/arangodb-starter:latest
+STARTER_DOCKER_IMAGE=docker.io/arangodb/arangodb-starter:latest
 
 # exit when any command fails
 set -e
diff --git a/src/main/java/com/arangodb/entity/arangosearch/analyzer/StopwordsAnalyzerProperties.java b/src/main/java/com/arangodb/entity/arangosearch/analyzer/StopwordsAnalyzerProperties.java
index f114b641f..a82374b31 100644
--- a/src/main/java/com/arangodb/entity/arangosearch/analyzer/StopwordsAnalyzerProperties.java
+++ b/src/main/java/com/arangodb/entity/arangosearch/analyzer/StopwordsAnalyzerProperties.java
@@ -24,6 +24,7 @@
 import java.util.ArrayList;
 import java.util.List;
 import java.util.Objects;
+import java.util.stream.Collectors;
 
 /**
  * @author Michele Rastelli
@@ -38,26 +39,89 @@ private static String stringToHex(String str) {
         return hex.toString();
     }
 
+    private static String hexToString(String hex) {
+        final StringBuilder result = new StringBuilder();
+        for (int i = 0; i < hex.length() - 1; i += 2) {
+            String tempInHex = hex.substring(i, (i + 2));
+            int decimal = Integer.parseInt(tempInHex, 16);
+            result.append((char) decimal);
+        }
+        return result.toString();
+    }
+
     public StopwordsAnalyzerProperties() {
         stopwords = new ArrayList<>();
+        hex = true;
     }
 
-    private List<String> stopwords;
+    private final List<String> stopwords;
+    private final boolean hex;
 
     /**
-     * @return array of hex-encoded strings that describe the tokens to be discarded.
+     * @return list of hex-encoded strings that describe the tokens to be discarded.
+     * @deprecated use {@link #getStopwordsAsHexList()} instead
      */
+    @Deprecated
     public List<String> getStopwords() {
-        return stopwords;
+        return getStopwordsAsHexList();
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return list of verbatim strings that describe the tokens to be discarded.
+     */
+    public List<String> getStopwordsAsStringList() {
+        if (hex) {
+            return stopwords.stream()
+                    .map(StopwordsAnalyzerProperties::hexToString)
+                    .collect(Collectors.toList());
+        } else {
+            return stopwords;
+        }
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @return list of hex-encoded strings that describe the tokens to be discarded.
+     */
+    public List<String> getStopwordsAsHexList() {
+        if (hex) {
+            return stopwords;
+        } else {
+            return stopwords.stream()
+                    .map(StopwordsAnalyzerProperties::stringToHex)
+                    .collect(Collectors.toList());
+        }
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @return if false each string in {@link #stopwords} is used as verbatim, if true as hex-encoded.
+     */
+    public boolean getHex() {
+        return hex;
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * @param value stopword as verbatim string
+     * @return this
+     */
     public StopwordsAnalyzerProperties addStopwordAsString(final String value) {
-        stopwords.add(stringToHex(value));
+        if (hex) {
+            stopwords.add(stringToHex(value));
+        } else {
+            stopwords.add(value);
+        }
         return this;
     }
 
+    /**
+     * @param value stopword as hex string
+     * @return this
+     */
     public StopwordsAnalyzerProperties addStopwordAsHex(final String value) {
-        stopwords.add(value);
+        if (hex) {
+            stopwords.add(value);
+        } else {
+            stopwords.add(hexToString(value));
+        }
         return this;
     }
 
@@ -66,11 +130,11 @@ public boolean equals(Object o) {
         if (this == o) return true;
         if (o == null || getClass() != o.getClass()) return false;
         StopwordsAnalyzerProperties that = (StopwordsAnalyzerProperties) o;
-        return Objects.equals(stopwords, that.stopwords);
+        return hex == that.hex && Objects.equals(stopwords, that.stopwords);
     }
 
     @Override
     public int hashCode() {
-        return Objects.hash(stopwords);
+        return Objects.hash(stopwords, hex);
     }
 }
diff --git a/src/test/java/com/arangodb/ArangoSearchTest.java b/src/test/java/com/arangodb/ArangoSearchTest.java
index c3650185c..76e9aa953 100644
--- a/src/test/java/com/arangodb/ArangoSearchTest.java
+++ b/src/test/java/com/arangodb/ArangoSearchTest.java
@@ -870,15 +870,21 @@ public void stopwordsAnalyzer() {
                 .addStopwordAsHex("616e64")
                 .addStopwordAsString("the");
 
-        assertThat(properties.getStopwords(), hasItem("616e64"));
-        assertThat(properties.getStopwords(), hasItem("746865"));
+        assertThat(properties.getStopwordsAsStringList(), hasItem("and"));
+        assertThat(properties.getStopwordsAsHexList(), hasItem("746865"));
 
         StopwordsAnalyzer analyzer = new StopwordsAnalyzer();
-        analyzer.setName("test-" + UUID.randomUUID().toString());
+        String name = "test-" + UUID.randomUUID().toString();
+        analyzer.setName(name);
         analyzer.setProperties(properties);
         analyzer.setFeatures(features);
 
         createGetAndDeleteTypedAnalyzer(analyzer);
+        db.createSearchAnalyzer(analyzer);
+        String res = db.query("RETURN FLATTEN(TOKENS(SPLIT('the fox and the dog and a theater', ' '), @aName))",
+                Collections.singletonMap("aName", name), String.class).next();
+        assertThat(res, is("[\"fox\",\"dog\",\"a\",\"theater\"]"));
+        db.deleteSearchAnalyzer(name);
     }
 
     @Test