PeARS vs SearX
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | PeARS | SearX |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 0 · At risk | 65 · Good |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | HTML | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 256 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 38 | ★ 13,553 |
| First released | 2017 | 2014 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
What are PeARS and SearX?
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
SearX
SearX is the original open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple search engines while protecting user privacy. It paved the way for the modern SearXNG fork.
- Privacy-respecting metasearch
- No tracking of queries
- Configurable engine list
- JSON API output
PeARS vs SearX: key differences
PeARS is written in HTML, while SearX is built with Python. SearX is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 512 MB for PeARS. SearX is the more established project (first released 2014), while PeARS arrived in 2017. SearX has the considerably larger community, at 13,553 GitHub stars versus 38.
Why pick each one
Choose PeARS if…
- Very lightweight
- Community oriented
Watch out for
- Small project and index
Choose SearX if…
- Lightweight
- Foundational privacy search
Watch out for
- Largely superseded by SearXNG
Frequently asked questions
Is PeARS or SearX better?
SearX is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler easy setup. Consider PeARS if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are PeARS and SearX free and open-source?
Yes. PeARS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and SearX under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PeARS and SearX with Docker?
PeARS: yes. SearX: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, PeARS or SearX?
SearX has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 512 MB for PeARS. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.