Distributed, RESTful search and analytics engine.
Search EnginesSSPL-1.0
Self-hosted Search Engines
SelfHostHub lists 16 open-source Search Engines projects you can host on your own server. The most-starred on GitHub are ElasticSearch (78,307 stars), MeiliSearch (59,599 stars) and SearXNG (38,564 stars). 15 of them document a Docker install, and 4 offer a live demo you can try first.
MeiliSearch
60kUltra relevant, instant and typo-tolerant full-text search API.
Search EnginesMIT
SearXNG
39kInternet metasearch engine which aggregates results from various search services and databases (Fork of Searx).
Search EnginesAGPL-3.0
Typesense
27kBlazing fast, typo-tolerant open source search engine optimized for developer happiness and ease of use.
Search EnginesGPL-3.0
OpenSearch
14kDistributed and RESTful search engine.
Search EnginesApache-2.0
Full-text search and data analytics, with fast response time for small, medium and big data (alternative to Elasticsearch).
Search EnginesGPL-3.0
Hister
6.1kPersonal web search engine with automatic indexing of visited websites. Supports offline local result previews, local files, multi-user handling and optional semantic search.
Search EnginesAGPL-3.0
bitmagnet
4.4kBitTorrent indexer, DHT crawler, content classifier and torrent search engine with web UI, GraphQL API and Servarr stack integration.
Archiving and Digital Preservation (DP)MIT
Yacy
4.1kPeer based, decentralized search engine server.
Search EnginesGPL-2.0
Aleph
2.4kTool for indexing large amounts of both documents (PDF, Word, HTML) and structured (CSV, XLS, SQL) data for easy browsing and search. It is built with investigative reporting as a primary use case.
Search EnginesMIT
Apache Solr
1.7kEnterprise search platform featuring full-text search, hit highlighting, faceted search, real-time indexing, dynamic clustering, and rich document (e.g., Word, PDF) handling.
Search EnginesApache-2.0
Websurfx
1.2kAggregate results from other search engines (metasearch engine) without ads while keeping privacy and security in mind. It is extremely fast and provides a high level of customization (alternative to SearX).
Search EnginesAGPL-3.0
Fess
1.1kPowerful and easily deployable Enterprise Search Server.
Search EnginesApache-2.0
Meme Search
762AI-powered meme search engine. Automatically extracts descriptions from images using vision-language models, then indexes with vector embeddings for semantic and keyword search.
Search EnginesApache-2.0
Amgix
10Hybrid search engine built for flexible deployment and real-world messy data.
Search EnginesAGPL-3.0
Selenium based search engine and crawler with offline archiving.
Search EnginesAGPL-3.0
How to choose self-hosted Search Engines software
- Check project health. Stars show popularity, not maintenance. Open the source repository and look at recent commits and releases.
- Match the licence to your use. 8 use a GPL-family licence (copyleft, including AGPL) and 7 use a permissive licence such as MIT, Apache-2.0 or BSD. AGPL matters if you modify the software and offer it to others over a network.
- Pick a stack you can run. The most common platforms here are Docker (15), K8S (7), Java (5) and deb (4). Docker is usually the easiest path for a home server or VPS.
- Try before you migrate. Use a live demo where one exists (4 here), or a throwaway container first, and confirm it can import your existing data before switching.
Frequently asked questions
What is the most popular self-hosted Search Engines software?
By GitHub stars, the top projects in this category are ElasticSearch (78,307 stars), MeiliSearch (59,599 stars) and SearXNG (38,564 stars).
How many open-source Search Engines tools are listed?
16 projects are currently listed in the Search Engines category on SelfHostHub.
Which licences do self-hosted Search Engines projects use?
The most common licences in this category are AGPL-3.0 (5), Apache-2.0 (4) and MIT (3).
Can I run these Search Engines tools with Docker?
15 of the 16 projects list Docker as a supported platform. Check each project's documentation for the exact install steps.