What does HackerNews think of searxng?

I would first try SearXNG[0].

0. https://github.com/searxng/searxng

Okay, name aside, because I instantly got that and englisch isn't my first language.

But the crawler seems to be lacking quite a bit. For my first search (current work problem) "rust json diff" it only found 6 links, only one of which was a rust crate. Unfortunate.

Second Search: "black sabbath sleeping village lyrics" only gave 2 results, only one of which was correct.

Also the repo is missing the SearXNG[1] search engine.

[1] https://github.com/searxng/searxng

From the README,

> What is the difference between searx and SearxNG?

> TL;DR: SearXNG is for users that want more features and bugs getting fixed quicker. If you prefer a minimalist software and stable experience, use searx.

> SearxNG is a fork of searx, created by a former maintainer of searx. The fork was created because the majority of the maintainers at the time did not find the new proposed features privacy respecting enough. The most significant issue is with engine metrics.

> Searx is built for privacy conscious users. It comes with a unique set of challenges. One of the problems we face is that users rather not report bugs, because they do not want to publicly share what engines they use or what search query triggered a problem. It is a challenge we accepted.

> The new metrics feature collects more information to make engine maintenance easier. We could have had better and more error reports to benefit searx maintainers. However, we believe that the users of searx must come first, not the software. We are willing to compromise on the lack of issue reports to avoid violating the privacy of users.

> Furthermore, SearxNG is under heavy refactoring and dependencies are constantly updated, even if it is unnecessary. It increases the risk of introducing regressions. In searx we strive for stability, rather than moving fast and breaking things.

https://github.com/searxng/searxng

The quality of Google search results has been awful for many years now, but if you still want to use it, the only usable way is via a frontend like Searx[1]. Using any of Google's frontends for any of their services is an exercise in frustration from dodging ads and fighting their hostile UI.

[1]: https://github.com/searxng/searxng

What is the difference to a self-hosted version of: https://github.com/searxng/searxng ?

Good that I'm not using Google or Bing or any of the others directly but through Searx [1] since I have not noticed this downturn in quality. By now the arrangement of tools needed to traverse the 'net in a somewhat sensible manner is starting to resemble a suit of armour.

[1] https://github.com/searxng/searxng

I've been selfhosting SearXNG [0] for a few months and cannot complain. It's a meta search engine, i.e. collects results from a variety of underlying search engines including Google (if enabled).

The main selling points for me are:

- No ads

- Improved Privacy

- Open Source

- Customisability (Plugins, Search Engines)

I'm quite content with the search results even though they're not quite on par with the quality that Google used to have.

[0]: https://github.com/searxng/searxng

SearX - in my case SearXNG [1] - running on the server-under-the-stairs, pointed at a host of different search engines (including Google). It'll give you results returned by all of those engines, it makes clear which subjects are being censored by which search engine and it makes sure your search history does not end up feeding the data-hungry beasts of Google, Apple, Microsoft and all the others.

[1] https://github.com/searxng/searxng

You should donate this to Searx/ng, which is an open source meta search engine designed to search many things in the same time.

https://github.com/searxng/searxng

Searx, all in one and open source solution https://searx.space https://github.com/searxng/searxng https://github.com/searx/searx

FWIW, there is a fork of searx which has seen a lot of activity recently.

https://github.com/searxng/searxng