Hosting your own is optional.
SearXNG can be added to your browser’s search bar; moreover, it can be set as the default search engine.
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This website shows the SearXNG public instances. It is updated every 24 hours, except the response times which are updated every 3 hours…
Public instances listed here may yield less accurate results as they have much higher traffic and consequently have a higher chance of being blocked by search providers such as Google, Qwant, Bing, Startpage, etc. Hosting your own instance or using an instance that isn’t listed here may give you a more consistent search experience.
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Have you checked out the following issue case: