SHSelfHostIndex

Best Lightweight Search Engines for self-hosting

The 28 best Lightweight search engines you can self-host, ranked by community traction.

At a glance

AppDeploy effortDifficultyMin. RAMLicense★ Stars
MeilisearchUnder-an-hour setupEasy256 MBMIT59,562
SearXNG≈5-minute setupEasy256 MBAGPL-3.038,366
TypesenseUnder-an-hour setupEasy512 MBGPL-3.026,871
SonicUnder-an-hour setupMedium32 MBMPL-2.021,357
TantivyRead-the-docs projectHard128 MBMIT16,213
SearXUnder-an-hour setupEasy256 MBAGPL-3.013,556
Manticore SearchUnder-an-hour setupMedium256 MBGPL-3.012,056
bleveRead-the-docs projectMedium128 MBApache-2.011,235
OramaRead-the-docs projectEasy128 MBApache-2.010,574
Lunr.jsRead-the-docs projectEasy64 MBMIT9,204

Quick picks

Every option here is open-source and self-hostable, tagged Lightweight within the search engines category. Deploy effort is graded from published container recipes, not vendor claims — see the methodology.

Keep exploring

All Search EnginesEasiest Search Engines to self-hostHow to choose search engine: the Search Engines buyer's guide

Head-to-head: Lightweight search engines