PeARS 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?
PeARS
Lightweight distributed web search you can host yourself
VS
YaCy
Decentralized peer-to-peer web search engine
| Feature | PeARS | YaCy |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | HTML | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 512 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 38 | ★ 3,999 |
| First released | 2017 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search, Bing |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is PeARS or YaCy better?
Neither is universally better. YaCy has the larger community; both share a medium setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are PeARS and YaCy free and open-source?
Yes. PeARS is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and YaCy under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run PeARS and YaCy with Docker?
PeARS: yes. YaCy: yes.