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ElementvsSearXNG

Two self-hosted projects, compared on the numbers selfhost.directory tracks live: score, popularity, release cadence and setup effort.

ElementSearXNG
Score76/10086/100
Rank in category#2 of 13 in Instant Messaging#1 of 41 in Search Engines
GitHub stars13 62138 961
Stars, last 30 days+119+1 395
Stable releases, 12 months180
Latest releasev1.12.33 · 27 Oct 2026—
SetupModerateModerate
Official Docker imageYesYes
LicenseAGPL-3.0AGPL-3.0
Main languageTypescriptPython

Which one should you pick?

SearXNG scores 86/100 against 76/100 for Element, so it is the safer default.

Element ships more often: 18 stable releases in the past year, against 0 for SearXNG.

SearXNG is growing faster right now (+1 395 stars in 30 days).

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