Marginalia Search vs SearXNG
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
SearXNG
Privacy-respecting metasearch engine aggregating many sources
| Feature | Marginalia Search | SearXNG |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | ≈5-minute setup |
| Health score | 68 · Good | 98 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Java | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, source | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,157 | ★ 37,570 |
| First released | 2021 | 2021 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are Marginalia Search and SearXNG?
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
SearXNG
SearXNG is a free, open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from more than 70 search services without tracking or profiling users. It is the actively maintained fork of the original SearX project.
- Aggregates 70+ search engines
- No tracking or user profiling
- Customizable engines and categories
- Optional result proxying
Marginalia Search vs SearXNG: key differences
Marginalia Search is written in Java, while SearXNG is built with Python. SearXNG is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Marginalia Search. SearXNG has the considerably larger community, at 37,570 GitHub stars versus 2,157.
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 SearXNG if…
- Strong privacy guarantees
- Highly configurable
Watch out for
- Public instances can be rate limited
Frequently asked questions
Is Marginalia Search or SearXNG better?
SearXNG is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider Marginalia Search if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Marginalia Search and SearXNG free and open-source?
Yes. Marginalia Search is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SearXNG under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Marginalia Search and SearXNG with Docker?
Marginalia Search: yes. SearXNG: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Marginalia Search or SearXNG?
SearXNG has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Marginalia Search. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.