Open source web search MCP

FATSEARCH

Local CLI + MCP server, your own provider key. Measured: outline, then one filter, then one section (plain HTTP, $0).

1,384 tokens across three reads. First lines:

= j11.u46 Rust (programming language) - Wikipedia · en.wikipedia.org · 57 sections · 6 photos · 2 videos · 40.9ktok · pl…
u46#0 info | author Contributors to Wikimedia projects · published 2010-10-30T22:30:54Z · modified 2026-10-15T20:56:59Z
m1 photo 250x167 png | A bright orange crab icon → https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/2/20/Rustacean-or…
m2 photo 250x314 png | (no alt) → https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/af/Rust_standard_libraries.svg/5…
m3 photo 250x193 png | (no alt) → https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/6c/Cargo_clippy_hello_world_exam…
… +10 media → fats u46 media
u46#1 (top) (9) | Jump to content
u46#9 Syntax and features (9.2k, 27 sub) | [edit [l175] ] Main article: Rust syntax [l176] Rust's syntax [l177] is simil…

Price: $0.001–0.0065 per hard page, $0 plain pages (github.com, checked 2026-10-21)

Install, from its own docs (github.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19):

npm i -g fatsearch
claude mcp add --scope user fats -- fats mcp

mcp-server-fetch

Reference fetch server from the MCP project, runs on your machine. Measured: fetch tool, default max_length of 5,000 characters: one call, the top of the page, cut with a hint to read on from start_index 5000.

2,373 tokens, 2× what FATSEARCH used. The answer was not in it. First lines:

Contents of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language):
| Rust | |
| --- | --- |
| [Rust logo: a capital letter R attached inside a sprocket with teeth on the outside, both black on a white background]…
| [Paradigms](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_paradigm "Programming paradigm") | * [Multi-paradigm](https://en…
| [Developer](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_developer "Software developer") | The Rust Team |
| First appeared | January 20, 2012; 14 years ago[[1]](#cite_note-Rust0.1a-1) |
|  | |

Price: Free and open source (MIT). Runs on your machine; no API key. (github.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19)

Install, from its own docs (github.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19):

{"command": "uvx", "args": ["mcp-server-fetch"]}

When it’s better: You only read pages and want the smallest setup. It is the reference fetch server from the MCP project: one uvx line, no account, no Docker. Its README says the tool cuts long pages and the model reads on with start_index, or you raise max_length. At the default length the answer to our question was not in the text.

Crawl4AI

Self-hosted crawler in Docker with an MCP endpoint. Measured: Docker server 0.9.5, MCP md tool, default filter fit.

74,896 tokens, 54× what FATSEARCH used. First lines:

{"url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language)", "filter": "fit", "query": null, "cache": "0", "mark…

Price: Free and open source (Apache-2.0 with an added attribution requirement). You run the Docker server; no API key (it asks you to set your own server token). (github.com, docs.crawl4ai.com, checked 2026-10-19)

Install, from its own docs (docs.crawl4ai.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19):

docker run -d -p 11235:11235 --name crawl4ai --shm-size=1g \
  -e CRAWL4AI_API_TOKEN="$CRAWL4AI_API_TOKEN" unclecode/crawl4ai:latest
claude mcp add --transport sse c4ai-sse http://localhost:11235/mcp/sse

When it’s better: You want to crawl, not just read. Crawl4AI runs a real browser in Docker on your machine. Its MCP tools crawl many pages, take screenshots and PDFs, run JavaScript on a page, and can filter a page by a query. It is also a Python library. The open-source server has no web search; FATSEARCH has no crawler.

SearXNG + mcp-searxng

Local MCP server (mcp-searxng) over a SearXNG instance you run. Measured: web_url_read, default (whole page as Markdown).

117,088 tokens, 85× what FATSEARCH used. First lines:

[Jump to content](#bodyContent)
Main menu
Main menu
move to sidebar hide
Navigation
* [Main page](/wiki/Main%5FPage "Visit the main page [z]")
* [Contents](/wiki/Wikipedia:Contents "Guides to browsing Wikipedia")
* [Current events](/wiki/Portal:Current%5Fevents "Articles related to current events")

Price: Free and open source: mcp-searxng is MIT, SearXNG is AGPL-3.0. You run SearXNG yourself; no API key. (github.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19)

Install, from its own docs (github.com, docs.searxng.org, checked 2026-10-19):

{"command": "npx", "args": ["-y", "mcp-searxng"],
 "env": {"SEARXNG_URL": "https://search.example.com"}}

When it’s better: You want private search with no API key and no bill. SearXNG is a metasearch engine you host: it asks many search services at once, and its docs say users are neither tracked nor profiled. mcp-searxng adds a page reader that can list a page's headings and read one section, close to how FATSEARCH reads.

open-webSearch

Local MCP server: keyless search on several engines, plus page fetch. Measured: fetchWebContent, default maxChars of 30,000 (cut, and it says truncated).

11,609 tokens, 8× what FATSEARCH used. First lines:

  "url": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language)",
  "finalUrl": "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language)",
  "contentType": "text/html; charset=utf-8",
  "title": "Rust (programming language) - Wikipedia",
  "retrievalMethod": "request",
  "truncated": true,
  "content": "Toggle the table of contents\n\n\t\t\t\t\tRust (programming language)\n\n59 languages\n\n\t\t\t\tAfrikaans…

Price: Free and open source (Apache-2.0). Runs on your machine; no API key. (github.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19)

Install, from its own docs (github.com, github.com, checked 2026-10-19):

{"command": "npx", "args": ["open-websearch@latest"],
 "env": {"MODE": "stdio", "DEFAULT_SEARCH_ENGINE": "duckduckgo",
         "ALLOWED_SEARCH_ENGINES": "duckduckgo,bing,exa"}}

When it’s better: You want keyless search without running a server. open-webSearch scrapes results from several engines (Bing, DuckDuckGo, Brave, Startpage and more) from one npx line, and fetches pages and GitHub READMEs too. Its README says it is for personal use only and that engines may block you if you search too often.

Firecrawl self-hosted

Firecrawl's open-source server in Docker Compose, firecrawl-mcp on top. Measured: v2.11.162 from the self-host guide, /v2/scrape, markdown, default settings.

107,332 tokens, 78× what FATSEARCH used. First lines:

[](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language)#)
Rust (programming language)
===========================
*   [Article](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rust_(programming_language))
*   [Talk](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Rust_(programming_language))
**Rust** is a [general-purpose programming language](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General-purpose_programming_language …
 that emphasizes [performance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_performance "Computer performance")
, [type safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_safety "Type safety")

Price: Free and open source (the server is AGPL-3.0). You run the Docker stack; no API key on the guide's local default. (github.com, docs.firecrawl.dev, checked 2026-10-19)

Install, from its own docs (docs.firecrawl.dev, github.com, checked 2026-10-19):

git clone https://github.com/firecrawl/firecrawl.git && cd firecrawl
git checkout v2.11.162   # .env as in the guide, then:
docker compose up --build -d
export FIRECRAWL_API_URL=http://localhost:3002
npx -y firecrawl-mcp

When it’s better: You want Firecrawl's API on your own machine, without a bill. The default stack keeps scrape, crawl, map and search local, under the AGPL, and firecrawl-mcp points at it with one variable. Its guide says screenshots, page actions and the anti-bot engine are not in the default stack, and you own the upgrades.