Stract vs Websurfx
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Stract | Websurfx |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 82 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | Rust | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,371 | ★ 1,200 |
| First released | 2023 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Google Search, Bing | Google Search |
What are Stract and Websurfx?
Stract
Stract is an open-source web search engine built from scratch in Rust. It includes its own crawler and index and aims to give users more transparency and control over ranking.
- Independent web crawler and index
- Customizable ranking signals
- Optic-based result filtering
- Modern Rust implementation
Websurfx
Websurfx is an open-source, privacy-respecting, fast metasearch engine written in Rust that aggregates results from multiple search engines. It is self-hosted with a hot-reloadable theming engine.
- Rust metasearch engine
- Privacy-respecting
- Hot-reloadable themes
- Lightweight
Stract vs Websurfx: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Stract's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Websurfx is actively maintained. Both projects are written in Rust. Websurfx is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Stract.
Why pick each one
Choose Stract if…
- Transparent ranking
- Independent index
Watch out for
- Large hardware requirements for full crawl
Choose Websurfx if…
- Released under the AGPL-3.0 license
- Easy to set up — beginner-friendly
- First-class Docker support for quick deployment
- Active community (1.2k GitHub stars)
Frequently asked questions
Is Stract or Websurfx better?
Neither is universally better. Stract has the larger community, while Websurfx is simpler to set up (easy difficulty). Choose based on the comparison table above and your own setup.
Are Stract and Websurfx free and open-source?
Yes. Stract is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Websurfx under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Stract and Websurfx with Docker?
Stract: yes. Websurfx: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Stract or Websurfx?
Websurfx has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Stract. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.