LibreX 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 | LibreX | Stract |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 16 · At risk | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | PHP | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Hard |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 4,096 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary, source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 846 | ★ 2,371 |
| First released | 2021 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are LibreX and Stract?
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
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
LibreX vs Stract: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Stract's repository is archived and no longer developed, while LibreX is actively maintained. LibreX is written in PHP, while Stract is built with Rust. LibreX is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Stract. LibreX is the more established project (first released 2021), while Stract arrived in 2023. Stract has the considerably larger community, at 2,371 GitHub stars versus 846.
Why pick each one
Choose LibreX if…
- Simple to deploy
- Minimal footprint
Watch out for
- Smaller engine selection
Choose Stract if…
- Transparent ranking
- Independent index
Watch out for
- Large hardware requirements for full crawl
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreX or Stract better?
Neither is universally better. Stract 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 Stract free and open-source?
Yes. LibreX is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Stract under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreX and Stract with Docker?
LibreX: yes. Stract: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LibreX or Stract?
LibreX has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Stract. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.