SHSelfHostIndex

Farfalle vs Vane

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?
FA Farfalle Open-source AI search engine with local model support VS VA Vane AI-powered search engine, formerly Perplexica
FeatureFarfalleVane
Deploy effortUnder-an-hour setup≈5-minute setup
Health score24 · At risk96 · Excellent
CategorySearch EnginesSearch Engines
LicenseApache-2.0MIT
LanguageTypeScriptTypeScript
Setup difficultyMediumMedium
Min. RAM1,024 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, bare-metaldocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 3,543★ 36,903
First released20242024
ReplacesGoogle SearchGoogle Search

What are Farfalle and Vane?

Farfalle

Farfalle is an open-source AI-powered search engine that can run with local language models. It provides conversational, sourced answers while keeping queries on your own infrastructure.

  • Run with local or cloud LLMs
  • Cited conversational answers
  • Self-hostable search pipeline
  • Expert agent modes

Read the full Farfalle guide →

Vane

Perplexica is an open-source AI-powered answer engine that searches the web and uses language models to provide sourced answers. It can run fully self-hosted alongside SearXNG and local LLMs.

  • AI answers with cited sources
  • Works with local LLMs
  • Multiple focus modes
  • Uses SearXNG as a backend

Read the full Vane guide →

Farfalle vs Vane: key differences

Both projects are written in TypeScript. Licensing differs — Apache-2.0 for Farfalle versus MIT for Vane. Vane has the considerably larger community, at 36,903 GitHub stars versus 3,543.

Why pick each one

Choose Farfalle if…

  • Supports fully local operation
  • Clean UI

Watch out for

  • Newer project with rough edges
Farfalle details

Choose Vane if…

  • Self-hosted AI search
  • Simple Docker deployment
  • Free and open source

Watch out for

  • LLM backend required
  • Young project
Vane details

Frequently asked questions

Is Farfalle or Vane better?

Neither is universally better. Vane has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.

Are Farfalle and Vane free and open-source?

Yes. Farfalle is licensed under Apache-2.0 and Vane under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Farfalle and Vane with Docker?

Farfalle: yes. Vane: yes.

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