SearXNG vs YaCy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
SearXNG
Privacy-respecting metasearch engine aggregating many sources
VS
YaCy
Decentralized peer-to-peer web search engine
| Feature | SearXNG | YaCy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 98 · Excellent | 86 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Python | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 256 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 37,570 | ★ 4,044 |
| First released | 2021 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Google Search, Bing | Google Search, Bing |
What are SearXNG and YaCy?
SearXNG
SearXNG is a free, open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from more than 70 search services without tracking or profiling users. It is the actively maintained fork of the original SearX project.
- Aggregates 70+ search engines
- No tracking or user profiling
- Customizable engines and categories
- Optional result proxying
YaCy
YaCy is a free, decentralized search engine built on peer-to-peer networking. Each installation crawls the web and shares its index with other peers, creating a search network with no central authority.
- Peer-to-peer decentralized index
- Built-in web crawler
- No central server or censorship
- Can run as a private intranet search
SearXNG vs YaCy: key differences
SearXNG is written in Python, while YaCy is built with Java. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for SearXNG versus GPL-2.0 for YaCy. SearXNG is the lighter option, starting around 256 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for YaCy. YaCy is the more established project (first released 2003), while SearXNG arrived in 2021. SearXNG has the considerably larger community, at 37,570 GitHub stars versus 4,044.
Why pick each one
Choose SearXNG if…
- Strong privacy guarantees
- Highly configurable
Watch out for
- Public instances can be rate limited
Choose YaCy if…
- Truly decentralized
- Censorship resistant
Watch out for
- Index quality varies
- Java resource use
Frequently asked questions
Is SearXNG or YaCy better?
SearXNG 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 SearXNG and YaCy free and open-source?
Yes. SearXNG is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and YaCy under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run SearXNG and YaCy with Docker?
SearXNG: yes. YaCy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, SearXNG or YaCy?
SearXNG has the smaller minimum footprint at 256 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for YaCy. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.