Stract vs YaCy
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Stract | YaCy |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 15 · At risk | 86 · Excellent |
| Status | Archived | Actively maintained |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | GPL-2.0 |
| Language | Rust | Java |
| Setup difficulty | Hard | Medium |
| Min. RAM | 4,096 MB | 1,024 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary, source | docker, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 2,371 | ★ 4,044 |
| First released | 2023 | 2003 |
| Replaces | Google Search, Bing | Google Search, Bing |
What are Stract and YaCy?
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
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
Stract vs YaCy: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Stract's repository is archived and no longer developed, while YaCy is actively maintained. Stract is written in Rust, while YaCy is built with Java. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Stract versus GPL-2.0 for YaCy. YaCy is the lighter option, starting around 1,024 MB of RAM against 4,096 MB for Stract. YaCy is the more established project (first released 2003), while Stract arrived in 2023.
Why pick each one
Choose Stract if…
- Transparent ranking
- Independent index
Watch out for
- Large hardware requirements for full crawl
Choose YaCy if…
- Truly decentralized
- Censorship resistant
Watch out for
- Index quality varies
- Java resource use
Frequently asked questions
Is Stract or YaCy better?
YaCy is the stronger all-round pick: it has both the larger community and the simpler medium setup. Consider Stract if its specific feature set fits your needs better.
Are Stract and YaCy free and open-source?
Yes. Stract is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and YaCy under GPL-2.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Stract and YaCy with Docker?
Stract: yes. YaCy: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Stract or YaCy?
YaCy has the smaller minimum footprint at 1,024 MB of RAM, compared to about 4,096 MB for Stract. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.