Meilisearch vs. SearXNG: Self-Hosted Search Compared
Compare Meilisearch and SearXNG for self-hosted search — full-text search vs. meta-search, use cases, performance, and how they complement each other.
Search is a core capability for AI agents, but Meilisearch and SearXNG serve completely different purposes. Understanding the distinction helps you choose the right tool — or use both together for maximum capability. better-openclaw includes both as one-click services.
Meilisearch: Internal Search
Meilisearch is a full-text search engine for your own data. Feed it your documents, products, or knowledge base, and it provides typo-tolerant, instant search results. It's the engine behind search bars in web applications, documentation sites, and e-commerce platforms. With sub-50ms query times and a beautiful API, it's the easiest search engine to integrate.
SearXNG: Web Search
SearXNG is a meta-search engine that aggregates results from Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, and 70+ other sources — without tracking. It's a privacy-respecting alternative to using search engine APIs directly. For AI agents, SearXNG provides web research capability: ask a question, get aggregated web results, and feed them to your LLM for synthesis.
Using Both
The most powerful setup uses both: Meilisearch for internal knowledge search and SearXNG for external web research. An AI agent could first search your internal knowledge base via Meilisearch, then expand to the web via SearXNG if internal results are insufficient. better-openclaw's Research Agent skill pack includes SearXNG, and the Knowledge Hub pack includes Meilisearch.