Replace / Perplexity
Replace Perplexity with Perplexica + SearXNG
The best open-source alternative to Perplexity is Perplexica or SearXNG, self-hosted on Railway. Cited answers you host. Perplexica is MIT; SearXNG is AGPL-3.0 — Perplexity without the answer in someone else's log.
Estimated save $1,200 a year.
Open the stackStart on Railway
How Perplexity compares
| Perplexity | Perplexica + SearXNG | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Hosted subscription | Open-source or fair-code license; you pay the host |
| Hosting | Vendor cloud | Self-hosted on Railway or any VPS |
| Rough monthly cost | Public list price not verified this run | Hosting only — no SaaS seat meter in this repo |
- Perplexica
MIT self-hosted cited-answer engine
- SearXNG
AGPL-3.0 metasearch backend Perplexica queries
FAQ
- Is it free?
- The Perplexica + SearXNG licenses are open source or fair-code. You still pay hosting (Railway or any VPS) and any APIs the stack calls. There is no Perplexity seat or task bill on this path.
- Can I migrate from Perplexity?
- Yes. Start with the workflows or data you actually use, then cut over. The Perplexica + SearXNG stack page has the agent prompt and the cost table; most teams rebuild the slice that matters and leave old Perplexity links until they expire.
- How do I deploy it?
- Open the Perplexica + SearXNG stack, copy the agent prompt, and deploy on Railway (one service, PORT, and a volume when the app needs disk). Placeholder: Perplexica + SearXNG (JSON enabled) plus your model endpoint. No one-click template in this repo yet — Start on Railway. Plain chat stays on /stacks/open-webui-litellm.
- What does this replace?
- Perplexity. The published small-team estimate on this stack is $1,200 a year.
Related pages
Stack of the Week
Get one stack a week that replaces a SaaS bill.