Yacy
Peer based, decentralized search engine server.
- Search Engines
- Java
- GPL-2.0
- Docker
- Actively maintained
GitHub stats
- GitHub stars
- 4,055
- Forks
- 504
- Open issues
- 214
- Commits, last 12 months
- 208
- Last commit
- Sep 23, 2026
- Latest release
- No releases
- Created
- Mar 22, 2015
Data from the GitHub API, refreshed daily.
About Yacy
Peer based, decentralized search engine server. Yacy is open source under the GPL-2.0 license and written mainly in Java, so you can read the code, run it on your own hardware and keep full control of your data.
The project has 4,055 stars and 504 forks on GitHub, with 208 commits over the last year. It ships a Docker image, which makes it a good fit for a small VPS or a home server running Docker Compose.
Topics
- decentralized
- p2p
- p2p-network
- privacy
- privacy-protection
- search-engine
- searchengine
- web
- web-search-engine
- websearch
Repository preview
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What is Yacy?
Yacy is a free, open-source app you can host on your own server, listed in our Search Engines category. Peer based, decentralized search engine server. The source code lives at github.com/yacy/yacy_search_server, where it has 4,055 stars.
Is Yacy free and open source?
Yes. Yacy is open-source software released under the GPL-2.0 license, so you can self-host it at no cost. You only pay for the server it runs on, and some projects also offer an optional paid cloud plan.
Can I run Yacy with Docker?
Yes. Yacy provides a Docker image, so you can run it on any Linux server with Docker and Docker Compose installed. The project README lists the image name and the environment variables to set.
What are the best alternatives to Yacy?
Popular open-source alternatives to Yacy include ElasticSearch, MeiliSearch and SearXNG.
Is Yacy actively maintained?
The most recent commit to Yacy was on Sep 23, 2026 with 208 commits in the past twelve months. Check the open issues on GitHub to gauge how quickly maintainers respond.