Mwmbl vs PeARS
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Mwmbl | PeARS |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 82 · Excellent | 0 · At risk |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Python | HTML |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 512 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,861 | ★ 38 |
| First released | 2021 | 2017 |
| Replaces | Google Search, Bing | Google Search |
What are Mwmbl and PeARS?
Mwmbl
Mwmbl is a non-profit, ad-free and open-source web search engine with a community-curated index. Users can help crawl and rank pages, and the whole stack can be self-hosted.
- Community-curated search index
- Crowd-sourced crawling
- No ads or tracking
- Fully open and self-hostable
PeARS
PeARS is a lightweight, distributed web search engine designed to run on modest hardware. It lets communities index and share parts of the web without a central server.
- Runs on low-power hardware
- Community-shared indexes
- Decentralized search
- Privacy preserving
Mwmbl vs PeARS: key differences
Mwmbl is written in Python, while PeARS is built with HTML. PeARS is the lighter option, starting around 512 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Mwmbl. PeARS is the more established project (first released 2017), while Mwmbl arrived in 2021. Mwmbl has the considerably larger community, at 1,861 GitHub stars versus 38.
Why pick each one
Choose Mwmbl if…
- Transparent non-profit model
- Community driven
Watch out for
- Index still growing
Choose PeARS if…
- Very lightweight
- Community oriented
Watch out for
- Small project and index
Frequently asked questions
Is Mwmbl or PeARS better?
Neither is universally better. Mwmbl has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Mwmbl and PeARS free and open-source?
Yes. Mwmbl is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and PeARS under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Mwmbl and PeARS with Docker?
Mwmbl: yes. PeARS: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Mwmbl or PeARS?
PeARS has the smaller minimum footprint at 512 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Mwmbl. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.