LibreY 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 | LibreY | Whoogle Search |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 63 · Good | 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 | ★ 322 | ★ 11,570 |
| First released | 2023 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search |
What are LibreY and Whoogle Search?
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
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
LibreY vs Whoogle Search: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Whoogle Search's repository is archived and no longer developed, while LibreY is actively maintained. LibreY is written in PHP, while Whoogle Search is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for LibreY versus MIT for Whoogle Search. Whoogle Search is the more established project (first released 2020), while LibreY arrived in 2023. Whoogle Search has the considerably larger community, at 11,570 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 Whoogle Search if…
- Very lightweight
- Clean minimal results
Watch out for
- Depends on scraping Google
Frequently asked questions
Is LibreY 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 LibreY and Whoogle Search free and open-source?
Yes. LibreY is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Whoogle Search under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run LibreY and Whoogle Search with Docker?
LibreY: yes. Whoogle Search: yes.