LibreY vs Vane
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | LibreY | Vane |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 63 · Good | 96 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | PHP | TypeScript |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 322 | ★ 36,903 |
| First released | 2023 | 2024 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search |
What are LibreY and Vane?
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
Vane
Perplexica is an open-source AI-powered answer engine that searches the web and uses language models to provide sourced answers. It can run fully self-hosted alongside SearXNG and local LLMs.
- AI answers with cited sources
- Works with local LLMs
- Multiple focus modes
- Uses SearXNG as a backend
LibreY vs Vane: key differences
LibreY is written in PHP, while Vane is built with TypeScript. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for LibreY versus MIT for Vane. LibreY is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Vane. Vane has the considerably larger community, at 36,903 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 Vane if…
- Self-hosted AI search
- Simple Docker deployment
- Free and open source
Watch out for
- LLM backend required
- Young project
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreY or Vane better?
Neither is universally better. Vane 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 Vane free and open-source?
Yes. LibreY is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Vane under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreY and Vane with Docker?
LibreY: yes. Vane: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, LibreY or Vane?
LibreY has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Vane. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.