Websurfx vs Whoogle Search
A side-by-side comparison of two self-hosted search engines options — licensing, setup difficulty, resource needs, and what each one replaces.
| Feature | Websurfx | Whoogle Search |
|---|---|---|
| Deploy effort | Under-an-hour setup | Under-an-hour setup |
| Health score | 82 · Excellent | 15 · At risk |
| Status | Actively maintained | Archived |
| Category | Search Engines | Search Engines |
| License | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Language | Rust | Python |
| Setup difficulty | Easy | Easy |
| Min. RAM | 128 MB | 128 MB |
| Deployment | docker, binary | docker, kubernetes, bare-metal |
| GitHub stars | ★ 1,200 | ★ 11,570 |
| First released | 2023 | 2020 |
| Replaces | Google Search | Google Search |
What are Websurfx and Whoogle Search?
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
Whoogle Search
Whoogle Search is a lightweight, self-hosted metasearch engine that returns Google results without ads, JavaScript, tracking or cookies. It offers a clean, minimal interface focused on privacy.
- Ad-free Google results
- No JavaScript or tracking
- Custom theming and config
- Works as a browser search engine
Websurfx vs Whoogle Search: key differences
The biggest difference is maintenance: Whoogle Search's repository is archived and no longer developed, while Websurfx is actively maintained. Websurfx is written in Rust, while Whoogle Search is built with Python. Licensing differs — AGPL-3.0 for Websurfx versus MIT for Whoogle Search. Whoogle Search is the more established project (first released 2020), while Websurfx arrived in 2023. Whoogle Search has the considerably larger community, at 11,570 GitHub stars versus 1,200.
Why pick each one
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)
Choose Whoogle Search if…
- Very lightweight
- Clean minimal results
Watch out for
- Depends on scraping Google
Frequently asked questions
Is Websurfx or Whoogle Search better?
Neither is universally better. Whoogle Search has the larger community; both share a easy setup difficulty, so the decision comes down to features and licensing.
Are Websurfx and Whoogle Search free and open-source?
Yes. Websurfx is licensed under AGPL-3.0 and Whoogle Search under MIT. Both can be self-hosted at no software cost.
Can I run Websurfx and Whoogle Search with Docker?
Websurfx: yes. Whoogle Search: yes.