Araa Search vs Stract
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 | Stract |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 54 · Fair | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | GPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 334 | ★ 2,371 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are Araa Search and Stract?
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
Stract
Stract is an open-source web search engine built from scratch in Rust. It includes its own crawler and index and aims to give users more transparency and control over ranking.
- Independent web crawler and index
- Customizable ranking signals
- Optic-based result filtering
- Modern Rust implementation
Araa Search vs Stract: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Stract's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Araa Search is actively maintained. Araa Search is written in Python, while Stract is built with Rust. Licensing differs — GPL-3.0 for Araa Search versus AGPL-3.0 for Stract. Araa Search is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Stract. Stract has the considerably larger community, at 2,371 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 Stract if…
- Transparent ranking
- Independent index
Watch out for
- Large hardware requirements for full crawl
Frequently asked questions
Is Araa Search or Stract better?
Neither is universally better. Stract has the larger community, while Araa Search is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Araa Search and Stract free and open-source?
Yes. Araa Search is licensed under GPL-3.0 and Stract under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Araa Search and Stract with Docker?
Araa Search: yes. Stract: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Araa Search or Stract?
Araa Search has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Stract. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.