Privacy Ratings
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Open-source search engines

7 search engines whose code is public under an OSI-approved license, rated for privacy with evidence. Picks first, then by score.

  1. 4get Grade B

    Open-source metasearch engine and proxy that fetches results from other search engines and strips tracking, usable at 4get.ca or other public instances or self-hosted.

    AGPL-3.0. Source code

  2. SearXNG Grade B

    Free, open-source metasearch engine that combines results from many search services without storing information about its users. It can be self-hosted or used through public instances.

    AGPL-3.0. Source code

  3. YaCy Grade B

    Free search engine software that users run themselves, either as a personal or intranet search portal with its own crawler, or as a peer in a decentralized network that shares a web index.

    GPL-2.0-or-later, with some library code under LGPL. Source code

  4. PriEco Grade B

    Open-source web search engine written in Rust that combines its own index with results from other sources and supports result customization through Goggles.

    AGPL-3.0. Source code

  5. MetaGer Grade C

    Open-source metasearch engine run by the German non-profit SUMA-EV that combines results from several search providers, paid for with a prepaid anonymous key, and includes an anonymizing proxy for opening results.

    AGPL-3.0. Source code

  6. Marginalia Search Grade C

    Independent open-source search engine from Sweden with its own crawler and index, focused on finding small, non-commercial and text-heavy websites.

    AGPL-3.0. Source code

  7. Mwmbl Grade C

    Non-profit, open-source search engine with its own community-crawled index, where signed-in users can help curate search results.

    AGPL-3.0. Source code

Compare all 21 search engines, open source or not.