diff --git a/archivebox/config.py b/archivebox/config.py
index a3444f07..d3e34151 100644
--- a/archivebox/config.py
+++ b/archivebox/config.py
@@ -161,6 +161,7 @@ CONFIG_DEFAULTS: Dict[str, ConfigDefaultDict] = {
         'USE_CHROME':               {'type': bool,  'default': True},
         'USE_NODE':                 {'type': bool,  'default': True},
         'USE_YOUTUBEDL':            {'type': bool,  'default': True},
+        'USE_RIPGREP':              {'type': bool,  'default': True},
         
         'CURL_BINARY':              {'type': str,   'default': 'curl'},
         'GIT_BINARY':               {'type': str,   'default': 'git'},
@@ -170,6 +171,7 @@ CONFIG_DEFAULTS: Dict[str, ConfigDefaultDict] = {
         'MERCURY_BINARY':           {'type': str,   'default': 'mercury-parser'},
         'YOUTUBEDL_BINARY':         {'type': str,   'default': 'youtube-dl'},
         'NODE_BINARY':              {'type': str,   'default': 'node'},
+        'RIPGREP_BINARY':           {'type': str,   'default': 'rg'},
         'CHROME_BINARY':            {'type': str,   'default': None},
 
         'POCKET_CONSUMER_KEY':      {'type': str,   'default': None},
@@ -312,6 +314,8 @@ DERIVED_CONFIG_DEFAULTS: ConfigDefaultDict = {
     'SAVE_WARC':                {'default': lambda c: c['USE_WGET'] and c['SAVE_WARC']},
     'WGET_ARGS':                {'default': lambda c: c['WGET_ARGS'] or []},
 
+    'USE_RIPGREP':              {'default': lambda c: c['USE_RIPGREP']},
+    'RIPGREP_VERSION':          {'default': lambda c: bin_version(c['RIPGREP_BINARY']) if c['USE_RIPGREP'] else None},
 
     'USE_SINGLEFILE':           {'default': lambda c: c['USE_SINGLEFILE'] and c['SAVE_SINGLEFILE']},
     'SINGLEFILE_VERSION':       {'default': lambda c: bin_version(c['SINGLEFILE_BINARY']) if c['USE_SINGLEFILE'] else None},
@@ -827,6 +831,13 @@ def get_dependency_info(config: ConfigDict) -> ConfigValue:
             'enabled': config['USE_CHROME'],
             'is_valid': bool(config['CHROME_VERSION']),
         },
+        'RIPGREP_BINARY': {
+            'path': bin_path(config['RIPGREP_BINARY']),
+            'version': config['RIPGREP_VERSION'],
+            'hash': bin_hash(config['RIPGREP_BINARY']),
+            'enabled': config['USE_RIPGREP'],
+            'is_valid': bool(config['RIPGREP_VERSION']),
+        },
     }
 
 def get_chrome_info(config: ConfigDict) -> ConfigValue:
diff --git a/archivebox/search/backends/ripgrep.py b/archivebox/search/backends/ripgrep.py
index e2e03c9b..b37eca20 100644
--- a/archivebox/search/backends/ripgrep.py
+++ b/archivebox/search/backends/ripgrep.py
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import re
 from subprocess import run, PIPE, DEVNULL
 from typing import List, Generator
 
-from archivebox.config import ARCHIVE_DIR
+from archivebox.config import ARCHIVE_DIR, RIPGREP_BINARY
 from archivebox.util import enforce_types
 
 RG_IGNORE_EXTENSIONS = ('css','js','orig','svg')
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ def flush(snapshot_ids: Generator[str, None, None]):
 
 @enforce_types
 def search(text: str) -> List[str]:
-    is_rg_installed = run(['which', 'rg'], stdout=DEVNULL, stderr=DEVNULL)
+    is_rg_installed = run(['which', RIPGREP_BINARY], stdout=DEVNULL, stderr=DEVNULL)
     if is_rg_installed.returncode:
         raise Exception("ripgrep binary not found, install ripgrep to use this search backend")