Vane 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 | Vane | Websurfx |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | ≈5-minute setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 96 · Excellent | 82 · Excellent |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | MIT | AGPL-3.0 |
| Language | TypeScript | Rust |
| Setup difficulty | Medium | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 1,024 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, bare-metal | docker, binary |
| GitHub stars | ★ 36,903 | ★ 1,200 |
| First released | 2024 | 2023 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search |
What are Vane and Websurfx?
Vane
Perplexica is an open-source AI-powered answer engine that searches the web and uses language models to provide sourced answers. It can run fully self-hosted alongside SearXNG and local LLMs.
- AI answers with cited sources
- Works with local LLMs
- Multiple focus modes
- Uses SearXNG as a backend
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
Vane vs Websurfx: key differences
Vane is written in TypeScript, while Websurfx is built with Rust. Licensing differs — MIT for Vane versus AGPL-3.0 for Websurfx. Websurfx is the lighter option, starting around 128 MB of RAM against 1,024 MB for Vane. Vane has the considerably larger community, at 36,903 GitHub stars versus 1,200.
Why pick each one
Choose Vane if…
- Self-hosted AI search
- Simple Docker deployment
- Free and open source
Watch out for
- LLM backend required
- Young project
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 Vane or Websurfx better?
Neither is universally better. Vane 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 Vane and Websurfx free and open-source?
Yes. Vane is licensed under MIT and Websurfx under AGPL-3.0. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Vane and Websurfx with Docker?
Vane: yes. Websurfx: yes.
Which is lighter on resources, Vane or Websurfx?
Websurfx has the smaller minimum footprint at 128 MB of RAM, compared to about 1,024 MB for Vane. Real-world usage depends on library size, user count, and enabled features.