LibreX vs Whoogle Search
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | LibreX | Whoogle Search |
|---|---|---|
| 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 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 846 | ★ 11,570 |
| First released | 2021 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search |
What are LibreX and Whoogle Search?
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
Whoogle Search
Whoogle Search is a lightweight, self-hosted metasearch engine that returns Google results without ads, JavaScript, tracking or cookies. It offers a clean, minimal interface focused on privacy.
- Ad-free Google results
- No JavaScript or tracking
- Custom theming and config
- Works as a browser search engine
LibreX vs Whoogle Search: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Whoogle Search's repository is archived and no longer developed, while LibreX is actively maintained. LibreX is written in PHP, while Whoogle Search is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for LibreX versus MIT for Whoogle Search. Whoogle Search has the considerably larger community, at 11,570 GitHub stars versus 846.
Why pick each one
Choose LibreX if…
- Simple to deploy
- Minimal footprint
Watch out for
- Smaller engine selection
Choose Whoogle Search if…
- Very lightweight
- Clean minimal results
Watch out for
- Depends on scraping Google
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreX or Whoogle Search better?
Neither is universally better. Whoogle Search has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are LibreX and Whoogle Search free and open-source?
Yes. LibreX is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Whoogle Search under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreX and Whoogle Search with Docker?
LibreX: yes. Whoogle Search: yes.