LibreY 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 | LibreY | Mwmbl |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 63 · Good | 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 | ★ 322 | ★ 1,861 |
| First released | 2023 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are LibreY and Mwmbl?
LibreY
LibreY is a free and open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple sources without tracking users or showing ads. It is a lightweight, self-hostable front end for private web searching.
- Aggregates multiple sources
- No tracking or ads
- Lightweight and fast
- Instance federation
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
LibreY vs Mwmbl: key differences
LibreY is written in PHP, while Mwmbl is built with Python. LibreY is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Mwmbl. Mwmbl is the more established project (first released 2021), while LibreY arrived in 2023. Mwmbl has the considerably larger community, at 1,861 GitHub stars versus 322.
Why pick each one
Choose LibreY if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Written in PHP
Choose Mwmbl if…
- Transparent non-profit model
- Community driven
Watch out for
- Index still growing
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreY or Mwmbl better?
Neither is universally better. Mwmbl has the larger community, while LibreY is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are LibreY and Mwmbl free and open-source?
Yes. LibreY is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Mwmbl under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreY and Mwmbl with Docker?
LibreY: yes. Mwmbl: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LibreY or Mwmbl?
LibreY 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.