Marginalia Search
Independent open-source search engine that favours small, non-commercial and older websites.
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About Marginalia Search
Marginalia Search is a one-person, open-source search engine from Sweden that deliberately looks for the parts of the web big engines ignore: personal sites, hobby pages, old forums and text-heavy blogs. It runs its own crawler and index, filters out heavily tracked and commercial pages, and offers an Explore mode for wandering between related sites. There is no AI layer and no personalisation. It is free, funded by donations, grants and API deals with other search engines, and runs on very modest infrastructure. Privacy is strong: it collects no personal information and keeps access logs only briefly. The source code is AGPL-licensed. Marginalia is not meant to replace Google for everyday questions; it is a discovery tool for people who miss the old, independent web and want results that are not optimised for ads.
Best for: Curious readers looking for personal sites and the independent, non-commercial web.
Pros and cons
What works
- Surfaces small sites big engines bury
- Own crawler and index, open source
- No tracking or personalisation
Why people leave
- Not useful for shopping, news or local searches
- Small index with limited coverage
- Run largely by one developer
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Marginalia Search: common questions
Is Marginalia Search free?
Yes, Marginalia Search is free to use.
Is Marginalia Search open source?
Yes. The source code is on GitHub at MarginaliaSearch/MarginaliaSearch.
What platforms does Marginalia Search run on?
Marginalia Search is available for Web.
What are the best alternatives to Marginalia Search?
The highest-ranked Marginalia Search alternatives right now are Mojeek, Mwmbl and Kagi. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.