Araa Search vs SearX
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Araa Search | SearX |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 54 · Fair | 65 · Good |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 334 | ★ 13,553 |
| First released | 2023 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are Araa Search and SearX?
Araa Search
Araa Search is a privacy-respecting, ad-free, self-hosted Google metasearch engine with full API support. It uses Qwant for images and DuckDuckGo for autocomplete, and runs as a small container.
- Privacy metasearch
- No ads or tracking
- Full API support
- Self-hostable
SearX
SearX is the original open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple search engines while protecting user privacy. It paved the way for the modern SearXNG fork.
- Privacy-respecting metasearch
- No tracking of queries
- Configurable engine list
- JSON API output
Araa Search vs SearX: key differences
Both projects are written in Python. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Araa Search versus AGPL-3.0 for SearX. SearX is the more established project (first released 2014), while Araa Search arrived in 2023. SearX has the considerably larger community, at 13,553 GitHub stars versus 334.
Why pick each one
Choose Araa Search if…
- Released under the GPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in Python
Choose SearX if…
- Lightweight
- Foundational privacy search
Watch out for
- Largely superseded by SearXNG
Frequently asked questions
Is Araa Search or SearX better?
Neither is universally better. SearX has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Araa Search and SearX free and open-source?
Yes. Araa Search is licensed under GPL-3.0 and SearX under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Araa Search and SearX with Docker?
Araa Search: yes. SearX: yes.