Blast vs SearXNG
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
Not the right match-up?
Blast
Distributed full-text search server in Go
VS
SearXNG
Privacy-respecting metasearch engine aggregating many sources
| Feature | Blast | SearXNG |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | Apache-2.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Go | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,074 | ★ 35,091 |
| First released | 2017 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Elasticsearch | Google Search, Bing |
Why pick each one
Choose Blast if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.1k GitHub stars)
- Written in Go
Frequently asked questions
Is Blast or SearXNG better?
SearXNG is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Blast if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Blast and SearXNG free and open-source?
Yes. Blast is licensed under Apache-2.0 and SearXNG under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Blast and SearXNG with Docker?
Blast: yes. SearXNG: yes.