Own your search.
Aquila is the independent guide to building private, self-hosted AI search — semantic search, RAG, and vector databases you run on your own terms. No gatekeepers. No ad auctions. Your data, your index.
Search you own, not rent
Self-host the full stack. Your embeddings, your index, your data — it never leaves your infrastructure.
Built for the AI era
Semantic search and RAG, the way modern apps actually search. Vendor-neutral, open-source-first.
No gatekeepers
Independent, no ad incentives, no lock-in. Honest guides and comparisons — the way Aquila was always meant to be.
Featured guides
Start here. Practical, vendor-neutral, self-hosted-first.
Open-Source Perplexity Alternatives: Self-Hosted AI Search (2026)
The best open-source, self-hosted Perplexity alternatives in 2026 — Vane (formerly Perplexica), Khoj, SurfSense and SearXNG compared, with setup and privacy notes.
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The Best Local Embedding Models for RAG (2026)
A practical comparison of local, self-hostable embedding models for RAG — nomic-embed-text, mxbai-embed-large, bge, e5, gte — with dimensions, licenses, and how to pick.
Read guide Build a Private RAG System on a VPS: A Step-by-Step Tutorial
A hands-on tutorial to build a private, self-hosted RAG system on a VPS: provision the box, run Ollama, stand up a vector store, build the pipeline, and ship a FastAPI.
Read guide Self-Host SearXNG: Your Own Private Metasearch Engine (No Tracking)
How to self-host SearXNG for private, ad-free metasearch — Docker setup, configuration basics, privacy benefits, and when to add an Ollama LLM for AI answers.
Read guide Self-Hosted RAG vs OpenAI + Pinecone: A Real Cost Breakdown
An honest, itemized cost comparison of self-hosted RAG versus OpenAI embeddings plus Pinecone — compute, embeddings, storage, hidden costs, and when managed wins.
Read guide Self-Hosted RAG: The Complete Guide to Private AI Knowledge Bases
Build a private, self-hosted RAG system you fully own. The reference stack, embedding and vector-store choices, VPS sizing, pitfalls, and when not to self-host.
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