Hound vs MindSearch
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?
Hound
Lightning-fast code search across many Git repositories
VS
MindSearch
LLM-based multi-agent framework for web search answers
| Feature | Hound | MindSearch |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | Apache-2.0 |
| Language | JavaScript | JavaScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 2,048 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 5,865 | ★ 6,912 |
| First released | 2015 | 2024 |
| Replaces | GitHub Code Search | Perplexity AI |
Why pick each one
Choose Hound if…
- Released under the MIT license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 5.9k GitHub stars
Choose MindSearch if…
- Released under the Apache-2.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Mature project with 6.9k GitHub stars
- Written in JavaScript
Frequently asked questions
Is Hound or MindSearch better?
Neither is universally better. MindSearch has the larger community, while Hound is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Hound and MindSearch free and open-source?
Yes. Hound is licensed under MIT and MindSearch under Apache-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Hound and MindSearch with Docker?
Hound: yes. MindSearch: yes.