searxng/searx/help/en/about.md

2.9 KiB

About SearXNG

SearXNG is a fork from the well-known searx metasearch engine, aggregating the results of other [search engines][url_for:preferences] while not storing information about its users.

More about SearXNG ...

  • [SearXNG sources][brand.git_url]
  • weblate

Why use it?

  • SearXNG may not offer you as personalised results as Google, but it doesn't generate a profile about you.

  • SearXNG doesn't care about what you search for, never shares anything with a third party, and it can't be used to compromise you.

  • SearXNG is free software, the code is 100% open and you can help to make it better. See more on [SearXNG sources][brand.git_url].

If you do care about privacy, want to be a conscious user, or otherwise believe in digital freedom, make SearXNG your default search engine or run it on your own server

Technical details - How does it work?

SearXNG is a metasearch engine, inspired by the seeks project. It provides basic privacy by mixing your queries with searches on other platforms without storing search data. Queries are made using a POST request on every browser (except Chromium-based browsers*). Therefore they show up in neither our logs, nor your url history. In the case of Chromium-based browser users there is an exception: searx uses the search bar to perform GET requests. SearXNG can be added to your browser's search bar; moreover, it can be set as the default search engine.

How to set as the default search engine?

SearXNG supports OpenSearch. For more information on changing your default search engine, see your browser's documentation:

Where to find anonymous usage statistics of this instance ?

[Stats page][url_for:stats] contains some useful data about the engines used.

How can I make it my own?

SearXNG appreciates your concern regarding logs, so take the code from the [SearXNG project][brand.git_url] and run it yourself!

Add your instance to this [list of public instances][brand.public_instances] to help other people reclaim their privacy and make the Internet freer! The more decentralized the Internet is, the more freedom we have!

Where are the docs & code of this instance?

See the [SearXNG docs][brand.docs_url] and [SearXNG sources][brand.git_url]