Benbusby Whoogle search by benbusby
A self-hosted, ad-free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine
About Benbusby Whoogle search
From the project's README at github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search. Lightly cleaned for readability; for the full source see the upstream repo.
>[!WARNING] > >Final Release Notice 14 Apr 2026 >Since early 2025, Google has been aggressively blocking search queries performed without JavaScript enabled by continuously banning working User-Agent strings. >This is THE fundamental part of how Whoogle works. All efforts to find and build a method to continue working have failed, and as a result, this will be the final release of Whoogle. > >Whoogle can theoretically continue to be used by bringing your own CSE Key (Custom Search Engine Key), or if you are able to find a working UA string, you can hardcode that. However, no additional efforts will be placed into finding a fix or maintaining workarounds unless someone stumbles upon a method that will work reliably and maintains a small, simple footprint.
[](https://github.com/benbusby/shoogle/releases) [](https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT) [](https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search/actions/workflows/tests.yml) [](https://github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search/actions/workflows/buildx.yml) [](https://hub.docker.com/r/benbusby/
Health score breakdown
6-dimension composite. See methodology for formula and weights.
Adoption signals
Real-world usage data, pulled from each registry. The bigger the numbers, the more battle-tested the project.
| Signal | Value | Source |
|---|---|---|
| GitHub stars | 11k | github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search |
| GitHub forks | 1.0k | github.com/benbusby/whoogle-search |
| Docker Hub pulls | 20M | hub.docker.com / benbusby |
| PYPI downloads (last month) | 1.0k | whoogle-search |
Release & maintenance
Is this project actively maintained, or about to die? Check the recency of last commit and last release.
| Project age | 6.4 years | since Jan 2020 |
| Last commit | 2 months ago | Apr 21, 2026 |
| Releases shipped | 41 | last: 2 months ago |
| Funding links | 1 | declared by maintainers |
Self-hosting cost across providers
Detected requirements: 4GB RAM, 40GB disk minimum. Cheapest plan per provider that meets the requirement.
| Provider | Plan | Specs | Monthly | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| hetzner | CAX11 | 2c · 4GB · 40GB | $4.13 USD | Deploy → |
| vultr | VC2 | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5 USD | Deploy → |
| linode | Nanode 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $5.12 USD | Deploy → |
| digitalocean | Basic Regular 1GB | 1c · 1GB · 25GB | $6 USD | Deploy → |
Security advisories
GHSA-2689-cw26-6cpj. What people say on Hacker News
Ready to self-host Benbusby Whoogle search?
Spin up a hetzner CAX11 (4GB RAM, 40GB disk) for $4.13/mo and follow the project's official install docs.
Data last refreshed Jun 21, 2026.
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