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What It Is

SearXNG is an open-source metasearch engine designed to provide search services by aggregating results from other search engines while strongly protecting user privacy. It is a fork of the well-known metasearch engine searx and is driven by an open community. Unlike mainstream commercial search engines, SearXNG does not store users’ search data, build user profiles, or share any information with third parties.

Core Dimensions

• Core feature set: As a metasearch engine, SearXNG’s core value lies in cross-platform search aggregation and privacy protection. It mixes users’ queries with searches from other platforms to provide basic privacy protection, and supports the OpenSearch protocol so it can be added directly to a browser’s search bar or set as the default search engine.
• Data security and compliance: This is SearXNG’s biggest strength. It explicitly states that it does not care what users search for, does not store search data, and does not create personalized profiles, helping prevent users from being tracked or compromised.
• Deployment options: SearXNG offers a high degree of flexibility. Users can either use community-maintained public instances or download the code and run it on their own servers via self-hosting, achieving full control over their data.
• API and developer support: As 100% open-source free software, SearXNG welcomes community code contributions and issue reports, supports translation improvements through Weblate, and allows developers to perform deep customization through its source repository.

Pricing

SearXNG is completely free and open-source, with no plans or paid versions. Users can use public instances for free or deploy it themselves.

Pros and Cons

• Pros: Strong privacy protection with zero data storage; fully open-source and free; supports self-hosting for complete data control; decentralized architecture improves censorship resistance.
• Cons: Search results are less personalized than commercial engines such as Google; the stability and speed of public instances can vary; self-hosting requires a certain level of server operations expertise.

Best For

Users who care deeply about personal privacy and data security, open-source enthusiasts pursuing digital freedom, and technical teams or businesses capable of building and maintaining their own search service.

Access from China

Unknown. Because SearXNG is a decentralized metasearch engine, accessibility depends on the specific public instance used or the network environment of the self-hosted server. If it aggregates search engines such as Google that are restricted in mainland China, and the instance is hosted overseas, access may be limited.