Self-host SearXNG on a VPS: your own private metasearch engine

Mainstream search engines profile every query, tie it to your identity and monetise the result. SearXNG is a self-hosted metasearch engine — it queries many engines on your behalf, merges the results, and strips the tracking and ads. Run it on a VPS and your searches leave from your server, with no profiling and no logs. Pay for the server in crypto, no KYC.

What SearXNG needs

• A dedicated IPv4, a domain and HTTPS. You open https://search.yourdomain.com, which needs a domain, valid TLS and inbound 443 — a dedicated-IP plan. NAT plans don't take inbound. Nano-IP or Small-IP is plenty.
• Very light resources. SearXNG is small; personal use barely registers on CPU or RAM.
• Optional Valkey/Redis for rate-limiting and caching, as in the stack below.

Set it up (Ubuntu 24.04, Docker)

# docker-compose.yml — SearXNG (privacy metasearch) + Valkey behind a TLS reverse proxy
services:
  searxng:
    image: searxng/searxng:latest
    restart: always
    ports: ["127.0.0.1:8080:8080"]
    environment:
      SEARXNG_BASE_URL: "https://search.yourdomain.com/"
    volumes: ["/srv/searxng:/etc/searxng"]
    depends_on: [redis]
  redis:
    image: valkey/valkey:8-alpine
    restart: always
    command: valkey-server --save 30 1 --loglevel warning
    volumes: ["searxng-redis:/data"]
volumes: { searxng-redis: {} }

Put a TLS reverse proxy in front:

# TLS + reverse proxy (dedicated IPv4 + domain + inbound 443)
apt install -y caddy
echo 'search.yourdomain.com { reverse_proxy 127.0.0.1:8080 }' > /etc/caddy/Caddyfile
systemctl restart caddy && ufw allow 80,443/tcp

Open https://search.yourdomain.com, then set it as the default search engine in your browser — every query now goes through a server you own.

Make it yours

• Choose your engines — enable/disable sources, set categories and languages.
• No profiling, no logs by default; add a login for a strictly personal instance.
• Bangs and preferences synced via URL, no account needed.
• Keep Valkey on localhost; expose only 443.

Why EQVPS for SearXNG

• Dedicated IPv4 from $8/mo, domain + HTTPS friendly, all ports, self-service rDNS.
• EU locations (Germany, Finland) — clean routes, real data-protection law.
• No KYC, crypto payment. Email to register, USDC/USDT to pay — fitting for a privacy tool.
• Root in ~60 seconds, NVMe. Bring up the stack, add Caddy, and your private search is live.

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