SearXNG vs Whoosh
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?
SearXNG
Privacy-respecting metasearch engine aggregating many sources
VS
Whoosh
Pure-Python full-text indexing and search library
| Feature | SearXNG | Whoosh |
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | BSD-2-Clause |
| Language | Python | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 64 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | source |
| GitHub stars | ★ 35,091 | ★ 358 |
| First released | 2021 | 2008 |
| Replaces | Google Search, Bing | Elasticsearch |
Why pick each one
Frequently asked questions
Is SearXNG or Whoosh better?
Neither is universally better. SearXNG has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are SearXNG and Whoosh free and open-source?
Yes. SearXNG is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Whoosh under BSD-2-Clause. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SearXNG and Whoosh with Docker?
SearXNG: yes. Whoosh: check the project docs for container support.