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YaCy

Free software for running your own search engine, alone or in a peer-to-peer network.

Open sourceSelf-hostableSearch engines
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About YaCy

YaCy is free search engine software you install yourself. It can work in three ways: as a node in a decentralised peer-to-peer network where many users share a common index with no central server, as a standalone web search portal with its own crawls, or as an intranet search engine for an organisation's sites and file shares. It includes a crawler, an index and a web interface, and does not collect personal data or phone home. YaCy is written in Java, runs on Windows, macOS and Linux, and is released under the GPL 2.0 or later; the project is non-profit and relies on community donations. It is a good fit for tinkerers, researchers and companies wanting private intranet search. As a public web search engine, the peer-to-peer index is small and results are slow and patchy compared with commercial engines.

Best for: Tinkerers and organisations wanting their own crawler, index and intranet search.

Pros and cons

What works

  • Runs your own crawler and index, no central provider
  • Works for intranet and file-share search too
  • No data collection or phoning home

Why people leave

  • Peer-to-peer web results are slow and patchy
  • Needs a machine running continuously
  • Interface feels dated

Top YaCy alternatives

See all 4
  1. 1SearXNG logo
    SearXNG

    Easier self-hosted search that queries big engines instead of crawling.

    66.5
  2. 2Marginalia Search logo
    Marginalia Search

    Hosted independent index if you don't want to run your own.

    62.6
  3. 3Mwmbl logo
    Mwmbl

    Community-built open-source index without running a node.

    59.6
  4. 4Mojeek logo
    Mojeek

    A hosted independent crawler and index with far broader coverage.

    57.2

Why people left YaCy

In reviewers' own words, from reviews of the apps they moved to. These are their opinions, not ours.

No switching stories yet. If you moved away from YaCy, review the app you switched to and tell us why.

Reviews

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YaCy: common questions

Is YaCy free?

Yes. YaCy is free, open-source software that you can host yourself.

Is YaCy open source?

Yes. The source code is on GitHub at yacy/yacy_search_server. You can also run it on your own server.

What platforms does YaCy run on?

YaCy is available for Windows, macOS, Linux and Self-hosted.

What are the best alternatives to YaCy?

The highest-ranked YaCy alternatives right now are SearXNG, Marginalia Search and Mwmbl. See the full ranked list for pricing, platforms and verified facts.

See all 4 YaCy alternatives