Marginalia Search vs MetaGer
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Marginalia Search | MetaGer |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | PHP |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,157 | ★ 200 |
| First released | 2021 | 1996 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are Marginalia Search and MetaGer?
Marginalia Search
Marginalia Search is an open-source independent web search engine with its own crawler and index, designed to surface text-focused, non-commercial websites. It can be self-hosted to run a private instance.
- Independent web crawler and index
- Text-focused results
- Self-hostable
- Non-commercial bias
MetaGer
MetaGer is an open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple sources while protecting user privacy. Its core software can be deployed to run a self-hosted private search portal.
- Aggregated metasearch
- Privacy protection
- Result anonymization
- Configurable sources
Marginalia Search vs MetaGer: key differences
Marginalia Search is written in Java, while MetaGer is built with PHP. MetaGer is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Marginalia Search. MetaGer is the more established project (first released 1996), while Marginalia Search arrived in 2021. Marginalia Search has the considerably larger community, at 2,157 GitHub stars versus 200.
Why pick each one
Choose Marginalia Search if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (2.2k GitHub stars)
- Written in Java
Choose MetaGer if…
- Strong privacy stance
- Long-running project
Watch out for
- Heavier than minimal metasearch
- PHP stack
Frequently asked questions
Is Marginalia Search or MetaGer better?
Neither is universally better. Marginalia Search has the larger community, while MetaGer is simpler to set up (medium difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Marginalia Search and MetaGer free and open-source?
Yes. Marginalia Search is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and MetaGer under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Marginalia Search and MetaGer with Docker?
Marginalia Search: yes. MetaGer: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Marginalia Search or MetaGer?
MetaGer has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Marginalia Search. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.