Self-Hosted Alternatives to Google Search
Why Replace Google Search?
Privacy: Google tracks every search query and uses it to build an advertising profile. They know what you search, when, and where. Self-hosted search proxies keep your queries private.
No ads: Google search results are increasingly cluttered with ads — often the entire first screen is sponsored content. Self-hosted alternatives strip all ads.
No filter bubble: Google personalizes results based on your history, location, and profile. This creates a filter bubble where you only see what Google thinks you want. Self-hosted search shows everyone the same results.
Data sovereignty: Your search history is one of the most intimate datasets about your life. Self-hosting keeps it on your infrastructure, not in Google’s databases.
Best Alternatives
SearXNG — Best Overall Replacement
SearXNG is a metasearch engine that aggregates results from 70+ search engines (including Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Brave). Your queries go from your browser to your SearXNG server, then from your server to the search engines — they see your server’s IP, not yours. No tracking, no ads, no personalization.
Why SearXNG over Google: You still get Google-quality results (since Google is one of the source engines) but without any tracking. Plus you get results from multiple engines, giving you a broader view.
Whoogle — Best Google-Only Experience
Whoogle proxies Google specifically, stripping ads, tracking, and JavaScript. If you want pure Google results without the Google surveillance, Whoogle delivers exactly that — the same search page, minus the data collection.
Caveat: Google actively fights scrapers. Whoogle may encounter CAPTCHAs or blocks from datacenter IPs. SearXNG is more resilient since it distributes queries across many engines.
SearXNG + Whoogle Together
Run both. Use SearXNG as your primary search engine for aggregated results. Use Whoogle when you specifically want Google-only results for a particular query.
Migration Guide
Setting SearXNG as Your Default Search Engine
Firefox:
- Open SearXNG in a tab
- Right-click the address bar → “Add Search Engine”
- Go to Settings → Search → Default Search Engine → select SearXNG
Chrome/Brave:
- Go to Settings → Search Engine → Manage search engines
- Add:
http://your-searxng:8080/search?q=%s - Set as default
Mobile browsers: Most mobile browsers support custom search engines. Add your SearXNG URL as the default.
Cost Comparison
| Google Search | SearXNG | Whoogle | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | Free (ads) | Free (self-hosted) | Free (self-hosted) |
| Your data | Sold to advertisers | Stays on your server | Stays on your server |
| Ads | Prominent | None | None |
| Tracking | Everything | None | None |
| Server cost | $0 | $3-5/month VPS | $3-5/month VPS |
| Search quality | Best | Very good (aggregated) | Same as Google |
| Setup time | None | 5 minutes | 5 minutes |
What You Give Up
- Google features: Knowledge panels, AI Overviews, Google Maps integration, Shopping results, and other Google-specific features don’t exist in self-hosted alternatives.
- Speed: Google is faster than proxied results. SearXNG adds a small latency overhead from aggregating multiple engines.
- Reliability: Google has 99.999% uptime. Self-hosted search depends on your server. Whoogle can be blocked by Google’s anti-scraping measures.
- Mobile apps: No native mobile app for SearXNG or Whoogle (browser-based only).
- Personalization: Some people find personalized results helpful. Self-hosted search shows the same results to everyone.
For most searches — finding information, research, technical queries — self-hosted search works just as well as Google. For Google-specific features (Maps, Shopping, Knowledge Graph), you’ll still need to visit Google directly.
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