Meilisearch vs YaCy

A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.

Not the right match-up?
FeatureMeilisearchYaCy
CategorySearch EnginesSearch Engines
LicenseMITGPL-2.0
LanguageRustJava
Setup difficultyEasyMedium
Min. RAM256 MB1,024 MB
Deploymentdocker, kubernetes, binarydocker, bare-metal
GitHub stars★ 58,904★ 3,999
First released20182003
ReplacesAlgolia, ElasticsearchGoogle Search, Bing

Why pick each one

Choose Meilisearch if…

  • Extremely easy to set up
  • Fast and lightweight
Meilisearch details

Choose YaCy if…

  • Truly decentralized
  • Censorship resistant
YaCy details

Frequently asked questions

Is Meilisearch or YaCy better?

Meilisearch is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider YaCy if its specific feature set fits your needs better.

Are Meilisearch and YaCy free and open-source?

Yes. Meilisearch is licensed under MIT and YaCy under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.

Can I run Meilisearch and YaCy with Docker?

Meilisearch: yes. YaCy: yes.

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