Sites like PCRE

01 · Entity

About PCRE

PCRE pcre.org

PCRE - Perl Compatible Regular Expressions

The PCRE library is a set of functions that implement regular expression pattern matching using the same syntax and semantics as Perl 5. PCRE has its own native API as well as a set of wrapper functions that correspond to the POSIX regular expression API.

Top 10K · #4,592 English 1 technologies Crawled Nov 6, 2026

Visit PCRE

Summary by Claude

Project site for PCRE and PCRE2, a free open-source C library implementing Perl 5 compatible regular expression pattern matching, with a native API and POSIX wrapper functions, plus downloads, ports and documentation.

Who it’s for

Software developers and open source projects

Business model

None (free open source)

• open source software library
• regular expression library
• PCRE2
• Perl compatible regex
• POSIX regex API
• C library
• pattern matching
• regex documentation

02 · Embedding space

Competitor map

Each alternative by how close its vector is to PCRE’s (x) and how much traffic it gets, how much of the stack it shares, or where it sits in the embedding space itself (y). Lines split each axis at the median. Hover for the numbers, click to jump to it in the list.

1. 01
   Lothar lothar.com Top 10K

   Lothar of the Webspace

   • Google Search Console

   0 say Lothar is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Lothar isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.886
2. 02
   Perl perl.org Top 10K English

   The Perl Programming Language - www.perl.org

   The Perl Programming Language at Perl.org. Links and other helpful resources for new and experienced Perl programmers.

   • Bootstrap
   • Fastly
   • GlobalSign
   • Google Analytics
   • Google Fonts
   • Google Search Console

   0 say Perl is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Perl isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.879
3. 03
   PHP php.net Top 1K English

   PHP

   PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world.

   • bunny.net
   • Font Awesome
   • Google Search Console
   • jQuery
   • Matomo

   0 say PHP is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say PHP isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.879
4. 04
   Cygwin cygwin.com Top 10K English

   Cygwin

   Unix subsystem for Windows machines

   • nginx
   • NS1

   0 say Cygwin is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Cygwin isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.873
5. 05
   libpng.org Top 10K

   libpng.org: top level

   • nginx

   0 say libpng.org is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say libpng.org isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.873
6. 06
   Syncthing syncthing.net Top 10K English

   Syncthing

   open source continuous file synchronization software

   • Bootstrap
   • cdnjs
   • Fastly
   • Font Awesome
   • GitHub Pages
   • Hetzner DNS

   0 say Syncthing is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Syncthing isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.873
7. 07
   PostgreSQL postgresql.org Top 10K English

   PostgreSQL: The world's most advanced open source database

   The official site for PostgreSQL, the world's most advanced open source database

   • nginx
   • Font Awesome
   • Google Search Console

   0 say PostgreSQL is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say PostgreSQL isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.872
8. 08
   zlib zlib.net Top 10K

   zlib Home Site

   lossless compression library

   • Apache HTTP Server

   0 say zlib is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say zlib isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.870
9. 09
   nginx nginx.org Top 100

   nginx

   open source web server and a reverse proxy server

   • nginx
   • Google Search Console

   0 say nginx is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say nginx isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

   Comment
   Close cos 0.870
10. 10
    CPAN cpan.org Top 10K English

    The Comprehensive Perl Archive Network - www.cpan.org

    Perl package repository

    • Apache HTTP Server
    • Fastly
    • GlobalSign
    • Google Analytics
    • Google Search Console

    0 say CPAN is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say CPAN isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.868
11. 11
    Ollama ollama.com Top 10K

    Ollama · Run AI models locally and in the cloud

    Ollama is the easiest way to run and build with open AI models locally or in the cloud on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

    • Apple Business
    • Cloudflare DNS
    • Google Cloud
    • Google Search Console
    • Google Workspace
    • OpenAI

    0 say Ollama is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Ollama isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.869
12. 12
    Linux kernel kernel.org Top 10K English

    The Linux Kernel Archives

    Unix-like operating system kernel, basis for all Linux operating systems

    • nginx
    • Google Search Console

    0 say Linux kernel is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Linux kernel isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.868
13. 13
    curl curl.se Top 10K English

    curl

    command line tool and library for transferring data with URL syntax

    • nginx
    • Fastly

    0 say curl is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say curl isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.865
14. 14
    Creative Commons creativecommons.org Top 1K English

    Building tools for shared knowledge - Creative Commons

    family of public copyright licenses for allowing free use of a work

    • Cloudflare
    • Cloudflare DNS
    • Google Analytics
    • Google Workspace
    • Microsoft 365
    • PHP

    0 say Creative Commons is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Creative Commons isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.865
15. 15
    Html5 up html5up.net Top 10K

    HTML5 UP! Responsive HTML5 and CSS3 Site Templates

    Responsive HTML5 and CSS3 site templates designed by @ajlkn.

    • Cloudflare
    • Cloudflare DNS
    • Google Analytics

    0 say Html5 up is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Html5 up isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.866
16. 16
    Libero libero.it Top 10K Italian

    Libero: Mail, Ricerca e News con aggiornamento quotidiano

    Entra su Libero.it: Mail e Email PEC, Login, le Ultime Notizie con aggiornamento quotidiano, Video, Motore di Ricerca e tanto altro

    • Amazon Publisher Services
    • Apache HTTP Server
    • Amazon CloudFront
    • Comscore
    • Google Ad Manager
    • Google Search Console

    0 say Libero is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say Libero isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.867
17. 17
    doxygen.org Top 10K English

    Doxygen homepage

    Source code documentation and analysis tool

    • Bootstrap
    • Cloudflare
    • Cloudflare DNS
    • Cloudflare Web Analytics
    • Google AdSense

    0 say doxygen.org is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say doxygen.org isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.866
18. 18
    OSF osf.io Top 10K English

    OSF

    tools that make open science practice easier

    • Google Cloud DNS
    • Google Search Console
    • Mailchimp
    • Mailgun
    • Mailchimp Transactional

    0 say OSF is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say OSF isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.866
19. 19
    NLnet Labs nlnetlabs.nl Top 10K English

    NLnet Labs - Home

    Research & Development, Internet architecture, DNS, Routing, Stability and Security.

    • nginx
    • Adobe Fonts
    • Bootstrap
    • Font Awesome
    • Google Workspace
    • jQuery

    0 say NLnet Labs is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say NLnet Labs isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.864
20. 20
    GZIP gzip.org Top 10K English

    The gzip home page

    file format

    • Apache HTTP Server

    0 say GZIP is a good alternative to PCRE 0 say GZIP isn’t a real alternative to PCRE

    Comment
    Close cos 0.864

Ranked by score: the cosine similarity of each site’s vector to pcre.org’s, less a small penalty for generic sites that are close to everything. Highlighted technologies are ones PCRE uses too. Votes and comments come from visitors and don’t change the ranking.

04 · Fingerprints

Technology

What PCRE is built with, and what its closest competitors use, from its homepage’s code and its DNS records.