Yes, Google is the best search engine out there – I won’t argue about that. But, it’s not the most privacy-friendly search platform.
Surprise, surprise!
In case you didn’t know, Google records almost everything when you visit a site and type in a keyword. Of course, to give you the best experience – one would need your data in order to provide relevant details.
However, it is not a good thing to be tracked – because your information is potentially being shared with the advertisers and companies are making money off your data.
So, if you are a privacy buff and you do not like someone tracking your location, search preference, website browsing activities, etc., you will need to look for Google search alternatives for better privacy.
Fret not, you don’t have to look anywhere else, we’ve got you covered! We’ll keep this article updated with new privacy-focused search engines that you’d like as Google search alternatives, let us check them out:
List of Google Search Alternatives
1. DuckDuckGo
You might have already heard about this one. DuckDuckGo is the most popular and successful privacy-focused search engine. It is the default search engine for Mozilla Firefox – which also promotes privacy protection and user experience.
DuckDuckGo implements no trackers when you search something or when you click on a search result. It just lets you search the web without sharing your personal preferences and information.
In addition, you will not encounter any advertisements. So, there are no ad trackers either. When compared to other privacy-focused search engines, you would prefer using this.
2. Search Encrypt
Want a better alternative than DuckDuckGo? Well, that can be argued upon. But, search encrypt is an interesting Google search alternative with more focus on security. It will aggregate search results from different search engines – but will redirect them through their service to keep us protected.
It provides local encryption – so that your search data remains encrypted on your computer. You could observe DuckDuckGo remember your clicks – even if they try their best to anonymize the data. But, Search Encrypt does not remember your clicks – so it’s more privacy-oriented, you could say.
3. Startpage
I was surprised to learn that there’s a privacy-focused search engine that utilizes Google to give us the best results and yet keep the tracks/logs at bay. Well, Startpage is definitely one such amazing Google search alternative.
I compared this to DuckDuckGo and found the search results to be more relevant – in my personal use-case. Obviously, you should try out every google search alternative mentioned in this article to suit your requirement.
In addition to private search results, it also offers a feature called ‘Anonymous View’ which acts as a free proxy when you want to visit a site but you don’t want them to know your real IP address/information.
4. Gibiru
Gibiru is yet another interesting google search alternative. Unlike Startpage, Gibiru utilizes a proxy connection across the entire search engine. It is based on a modified Google search algorithm – in a way how Google used to operate back then, without collecting your information.
The user experience while using Gibiru isn’t impressive – but similar to when you use a Google search widget on a website. It tries to provide you the best – yet uncensored search results. So, give it a try.
5. Swisscows
It is a family-friendly privacy-focused search engine. Well, the name sounds funny – but it’s a good one. The company which owns it is a Switzerland-based firm – so that guarantees some privacy data benefits.
You might observe some sponsored ads. It utilizes Bing as its core – to fetch the results from. It’s quite good for most of the cases – but not the best out there. You can try it out to see if you’d like it as your default search engine.
6. Qwant
If you want the best google search alternative in terms of user experience while respecting your privacy – Qwant will be my favorite – in that category. It offers a really clean and fast experience when you search for something.
It does not contain any advertisements. Unlike other privacy-focused search engines, Qwant offers an alternative to Google News as well in the search results – in the sidebar. Of course, you shouldn’t be missing out on the news – so that’s a plus here. It also offers a separate search engine just for the kids – that’s nice!
If that wasn’t enough, it also has a Qwant lite service – for people with poor Internet connectivity.
7. Yippy
Yippy is something that you probably haven’t heard of. It’s a simple privacy-focused Google search alternative. Although it utilizes Yahoo as its base for the search results – it is still a good one.
It lets you filter the results according to the niche you want to look for. The user interface isn’t impressive but it is actively maintained.
8. Desearch
Desearch does not technically boast about being a privacy-oriented search engine. But, it’s definitely a privacy-friendly search engine, for a specific purpose i.e searching about crypto.
So, if you happen to have an interest in that field, Desearch is something unique which you can utilize.
9. Discrete Search
Discrete search is yet another google search alternative that is a privacy-focused search engine. However, the user experience isn’t the best. If we keep the user interface aside for a moment, then we can talk about its security while it provides local encryption to keep your browsing history safe as well.
That’s about it. Encryption and privacy, which you can count on here.
10. Oscobo
Oscobo is a simple Google search alternative that can do the trick. No fancy features – but it does keep your information private. There’s nothing exceptional here – but if you do not want a lot of things – and just want to get rid of the search trackers, you can use this.
Wrapping Up
Privacy should be respected. Of course, you do not expect everyone to switch. Some people prefer personalized experience and the rest could opt for private search results.
We’ve mentioned the best ones available out there. And, I’m sure there could be more popping up. So, if we missed any of the newer Google search alternatives, let us know in the comments!