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Any recommendations for meta search engines? (feddit.it)
submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it to c/foss@beehaw.org
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Soo, i was searching for a SearXNG alternative since it's an hassle to customize the UI, it's also slow and i didn't found much to be honest

The only things i found is Websurfx which look like vibecoded (at least, the readme look like it was wrote by a clanker and in the contributions there is an AI agent)

Do anyone have any suggestion?

Edit: i'd like to not spend money on a search engine tbh...that's why i'd like to self-host or use a public instance

Edit 2: i found out about those:

https://github.com/Ahwxorg/LibreY (kinda dead tbh)

https://git.bwaaa.monster/omnisearch (works but some engines don't)

Edit 3: parentesis

Edit 4: Degoog may be the solution, i am still open to other solutions tho

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[–] Svinhufvud@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago (2 children)

I moved to degoog from SearXNG. It's quite neat!

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 6 points 1 month ago (2 children)
[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 3 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago) (1 children)

Apparently they use coderabbit to review PRs which then they get reviewed by a human, so it's not that bad, they also have a claude.md to make AIs add a comment so then the author can see if it was AI coded or not https://github.com/degoog-org/degoog/blob/main/CLAUDE.md

So it may be safe

Edit: They also said on reddit that they do not vibe code: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1u0hq7f/degoog_is_my_take_on_a_meta_search_aggregator/

[–] Svinhufvud@sopuli.xyz 1 points 3 weeks ago

Thanks for doing the research on this!

[–] Svinhufvud@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thanks, didn't know.

[–] heliotrope@retrofed.com 1 points 1 month ago

No worries. It's tricky finding decent software these days!

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 3 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Looks good but some other used talked about it being vibecoded, they linked to other 3 meta search engines (aside from searxng) so it was still useful!

[–] Svinhufvud@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I tried omnisearch (in the links) too but 3 out of the 4 engines didn't work out of the box. Otherwise it looked good.

LibreY seems to be unmaintained.

So this leaves 4get. While it worked, it seemed to only search one engine at a time, which I didn't like. This might also be a configuration error on my part.

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

LibreY looks like it hasn't been mantained for 3 weeks, i'd wait a little more to see if yhey mantain it, heck, they have a matrix room so i may just ask in there, i'il edit the comment if they answer

[–] Svinhufvud@sopuli.xyz 0 points 1 month ago (2 children)

Yeah the last commit is fron 3 weeks ago, but if you look at the commit history, it has been really sparse, and mostly consists of updating the public instances list.

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 2 points 3 weeks ago

Btw, they sent back an email, it says:

Hi, the probject is not really maintained anymore. I think you'd be better off using SearXNG or something along those lines.

💔

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 2 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Oh damn, i didn't check that, idk why i didn't thought of it, that's very sad since LibreY looked promising

We may need LibreZ XD

[–] Svinhufvud@sopuli.xyz 1 points 1 month ago

Yeah I too liked the look lf LibreY on the first glance.

[–] Marija@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Depends whether privacy or relevance matters to you more.

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

It's 50/50

[–] Marija@lemmy.zip 1 points 3 weeks ago

That's probably the hardest balance to optimize for today.

[–] SuspiciousCarrot78@aussie.zone 1 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

I like Degoog and 4get.

https://github.com/degoog-org/degoog

https://git.lolcat.ca/lolcat/4get

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 2 points 3 weeks ago* (last edited 3 weeks ago)

Someome already suggested degoog, sadly it looks like they use AI* so it leaves 4get which i wanna try soon

*i'il ask in their server discord how much they use AI, i hope they don't straight up vibecode

Edit: someone answered, apparently they use coderabbit to review PRs which then they get reviewed by a human, so it's not that bad, they also have a claude.md to make AIs add a comment so then the author can see if it was AI coded or not https://github.com/degoog-org/degoog/blob/main/CLAUDE.md

So it may be safe

They also said on reddit that they do not vibe code: https://www.reddit.com/r/selfhosted/comments/1u0hq7f/degoog_is_my_take_on_a_meta_search_aggregator/

[–] jay2@beehaw.org 1 points 1 month ago

I also have had very little success with SearXNG when I tried it. The results were limited and success was dependent on which instance you were on. I had better results using my usual web based. There were a few instances that were far better than other instances and supplied successful results. A lot of odd and weird results on certain instances that had the vibe of being a front for something else. I eventually stopped using it altogether after determining that to me it was worse.

It's said a lot that if your need is dire, Kagi is worth the money. My need has not ever been that dire.

[–] hexagonwin@lemmy.today 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

etools.ch is the least worst one i found

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 1 points 1 month ago

I'il try it thx!

[–] biotin7@sopuli.xyz 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Does MetaGer qualify ?

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 1 points 2 weeks ago

Is it self-hostable? I'd rather not pay if i can just self-host, especially considering that there is no demo or anything to test MetaGer

[–] newton@feddit.online 0 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) (1 children)

Theire 71 instances for searx , result are slow ? ,and it didn work for you ? Explain more please .
Did you just degoogled ?
Otherwise give Metager a try .

https://osint.link/

[–] Axolotl_cpp@feddit.it 1 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

No, i didn't fully degoogled yet (still use their shit cuz i need it for professional life) but i try to use only FOSS software when i can

Searx compared to any other search emgine is kinda slower (but i can overlook it if i try to host it with better hardware i guess) and it's harder than it should be to personalize it

Also, isn't Metager paid? I'd like to not spend money for service i don't self-host, is it self-hostable?

I'il look in the link you sent, thx