The Best Open Source Google Search AlternativesTop Web Search & Image Search Engines like Google Search

The best open source alternative to Google Search is Searx. If that doesn't suit you, our users have ranked more than 100 alternatives to Google Search and many of them is open source so hopefully you can find a suitable replacement. Other interesting open source alternatives to Google Search are SearXNG, YaCy, MetaGer and Stract.

filter to find the best alternatives

Google Search alternatives are mainly Web Search Engines, but if you're looking for Image Search Engines or Privacy Tools you can filter on that. Other popular filters include Open Source, EU, Android, Online and Web Search Engine. You can also filter by region, for example EU-based alternatives if you prefer software developed in the European Union. These are just examples - use the filter bar below to find more specific alternatives to Google Search.
More about Google Search
Copy a direct link to this comment to your clipboard
Google Search alternatives page was last updated

Alternatives list

  1. Searx icon

    Searx

     294 likes

    Searx is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from more than 70 search services. Users are neither tracked nor profiled. Additionally, searx can be used over Tor for online anonymity.

    101 Searx alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Searx screenshot 1
     
    |
    5
    Searx vs Google Search Comments
    Top Positive Comment
    John Fastman
    7

    Searx is open-source. Its business model doesn't involve recording everything you search for and using this to build a profile of all your browsing and then selling that information. Searx is a privacy-respecting search engine, similar in its goals to DuckDuckGo and Startpage.

    Guest
    Positive
    4

    Customizable, protect you from tracking and still provide good search result.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    Guest
    Positive
    3

    Multiple search engines, including ones you run yourself (like YaCy or Solr) can be plugged into it. The API also makes it possible to carry out your own linguistic analyses of search results to improve accuracy.

    Review by a new / low-activity user.
    3 of 5 comments
    • Searx is Free and Open SourceGoogle Search is Free and Proprietary
    • Searx is Customizable and Privacy focusedGoogle Search is not according to our users
  2. SearXNG icon

    SearXNG

     127 likes

    SearXNG is a free internet metasearch engine which aggregates results from various search services and databases. Users are neither tracked nor profiled.

    104 SearXNG alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • Arch Linux
    • Fedora
    • Ubuntu
    • Debian
    • Docker
    • Red Hat Enterprise Linux
    • Cloudron
    SearXNG screenshot 1
     
    |
    1
    SearXNG vs Google Search Comments
    Third Opinion
    Positive
    0

    Works without javascript. One just have to find a good instance and tune it a bit. All instances have occasional outages but then you can blame google (again!)...

    • SearXNG is Free and Open SourceGoogle Search is Free and Proprietary
    • SearXNG is Privacy focused and LightweightGoogle Search is not according to our users
  4. YaCy icon

    YaCy

     145 likes

    YaCy is a free search engine that anyone can use to build a search portal for their intranet or to help search the public internet. When contributing to the world-wide peer network, the scale of YaCy is limited only by the number of users in the world and can index billions of...

    89 YaCy alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    YaCy screenshot 1
     
    |
    1
    YaCy vs Google Search Comments
    paulodelgado
    Negative
    3

    Doesn't work out of the box.

    • YaCy is Free and Open SourceGoogle Search is Free and Proprietary
    • YaCy is Privacy focused and LightweightGoogle Search is not according to our users
  5. MetaGer icon

    MetaGer

     58 likes

    MetaGer is an open source metasearch engine focused on protecting users' privacy. Based in Germany, and hosted as a cooperation between the German NGO 'SUMA-EV - Association for Free Access to Knowledge' and the University of Hannover, the system is built on 24...

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Android
    • F-Droid
    • Tor
    Homepage. With dark mode.
     
    |
    2
    MetaGer vs Google Search Comments
    roseygarlins
    Negative
    0

    Unfortunately you need to sign in / use a token to search. I think their SERP provider rug pulled them or something.

    Adder
    Positive
    0

    As per there policy. Only cookies that would be used are those for any setting changes user makes (language, family setting's, etc.) Being Germany based can refuse authority info request but why. MetGer has no data to give you anyway. ??

    • MetaGer is Paid and Open SourceGoogle Search is Free and Proprietary
    • MetaGer is Privacy focused and CustomizableGoogle Search is not according to our users
  6. Stract icon

    Stract

     37 likes

    Stract is an open source search engine where the user has the ability to see exactly what is going on and customize almost everything about their search results. It's a search engine made for hackers and tinkerers just like ourselves.

    66 Stract alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Stract screenshot 1
     
  7. Whoogle Search icon

    Whoogle Search

     34 likes

    Ad-free, privacy-focused meta-search providing Google results without tracking, JavaScript, cookies, or AMP links, supporting proxies and autocomplete. Customizable, Docker-deployable, mobile-ready, with theme options and additional privacy features.

    90 Whoogle Search alternatives

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source (MIT)

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Mac
    • Windows
    • Linux
    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    Whoogle Search screenshot 1
     
  9. 4get icon

    4get

     23 likes

    This is a metasearch engine that gets results from other engines, and strips away all of the tracking parameters and Microsoft bullshit they add. Most of the other alternatives to Google jack themselves off about being ""privacy respecting"" or whatever the...

    64 4get alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Tor
    Search settings retrieved from main instance.
     
  10. Marginalia Search icon

    Marginalia Search

     14 likes

    This is an independent DIY search engine that focuses on non-commercial content, and attempts to show you sites you perhaps weren't aware of in favor of the sort of sites you probably already knew existed.

    Cost / License

    • Free
    • Open Source

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Marginalia Search screenshot 1
     
  11. Wiby icon

    Wiby

     12 likes

    In the early days of the web, pages were made primarily by hobbyists, academics, and computer savvy people about subjects they were personally interested in. Later on, the web became saturated with commercial pages that overcrowded everything else.

    61 Wiby alternatives

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Wiby screenshot 1
     
  12. Mwmbl Search icon

    Mwmbl Search

     14 likes

    Mwmbl is a non-profit, ad-free, free-libre and free-lunch search engine with a focus on useability and speed. At the moment it is little more than an idea together with a proof of concept implementation of the web front-end and search technology on a small index.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    Main Page
     
  13. LibreX icon

    LibreX

     10 likes

    LibreX gives you results from Google, Qwant, Ahmia and popular torrent sites without spying on you.

    Cost / License

    Application types

    Alerts

    • Discontinued

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    LibreX screenshot 1
     
  14. Araa icon

    Araa

     6 likes

    A privacy-respecting, ad-free, self-hosted Google metasearch engine with strong security that offers full API support and utilizes Qwant for images, and DuckDuckGo for auto-complete.

    Cost / License

    Application type

    Platforms

    • Online
    • Self-Hosted
    • NGINX
    Araa screenshot 1
     
12 of 26 Google Search alternatives