LibreX vs Mwmbl
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | LibreX | Mwmbl |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 16 · At risk | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 846 | ★ 1,861 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are LibreX and Mwmbl?
LibreX
LibreX is a free, open-source metasearch engine that delivers private search results without ads or tracking. It aggregates results from multiple engines and proxies them for user privacy.
- Ad-free private search
- Aggregates multiple engines
- No JavaScript required
- Lightweight PHP implementation
Mwmbl
Mwmbl is a non-profit, ad-free and open-source web search engine with a community-curated index. Users can help crawl and rank pages, and the whole stack can be self-hosted.
- Community-curated search index
- Crowd-sourced crawling
- No ads or tracking
- Fully open and self-hostable
LibreX vs Mwmbl: key differences
LibreX is written in PHP, while Mwmbl is built with Python. LibreX is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Mwmbl. Mwmbl has the considerably larger community, at 1,861 GitHub stars versus 846.
Why pick each one
Choose LibreX if…
- Simple to deploy
- Minimal footprint
Watch out for
- Smaller engine selection
Choose Mwmbl if…
- Transparent non-profit model
- Community driven
Watch out for
- Index still growing
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreX or Mwmbl better?
Neither is universally better. Mwmbl has the larger community, while LibreX is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are LibreX and Mwmbl free and open-source?
Yes. LibreX is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Mwmbl under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreX and Mwmbl with Docker?
LibreX: yes. Mwmbl: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LibreX or Mwmbl?
LibreX has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Mwmbl. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.