Privacy-friendly search engine
An alternative to Google or Bing
Most search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo) are based on an ad-earning model and store all your searches. Then you are chased by your own searches (with ads, recommendations, etc.) and you end up in a so-called filter bubble.
Each search can reveal personal information about you, such as financial information, political beliefs and other private details. This data is collected, stored and linked to your profile. The only way to protect against this is to keep your data safe and out of the hands of data collectors.
A privacy-friendly search engine does not store your searches and returns results that are not based on previous searches. Your search history and assignments are therefore private.
Choose an alternative to Google or Bing here
Startpage
Based on the quality of the search results, Google is the most popular search engine in the world. But unfortunately, using Google products is harmful to your privacy. With Startpage you get the benefits of Google results without having to worry about privacy drawbacks. Startpage shows Google results via a detour. It works via a so-called proxy (secure connection). For example, Google cannot see what you are looking for and therefore cannot collect data from you. On the Startpage website you will find an explanation of how this works.
Your search history and IP address are not stored and no tracking cookies are placed on your device. Startpage is based in the Netherlands. According to their privacy policy, they only record data such as: operating system, browser type and language.
Startpage.com generates its revenue from advertisements. When you perform a search on Startpage, you may see up to three sponsored search results at the top of the results page.
Advantages
- Personal data and search history are not saved
- IP address is deleted
- No retargeting ads
- Anonymous View browsing masks the user’s identity on other websites
- Completely unprofiled search results
Cons
- Nine Eyes location
- Startpage collects some data (operating system, language)
The majority shareholder of Startpage is System1, an adtech company. This acquisition has caused some controversy. However, this doesn't have to be a problem because they have a clearly separate privacy policy.
DuckDuckGo
Duckduckgo (DDG) does not keep a profile of your searches.
Advantages
- Does not keep a profile of your searches
- So you don’t end up in a “filter bubble”
- No (personalized) advertising
- Bangs Shortcuts*
Cons
- Some of DuckDuckGo’s code is open source, but the core is Closed Source (proprietary)
- DDG stores searches to improve the search engine, but not in a personally identifiable way
*DuckDuckGo Bangs
Bangs are shortcuts that take you quickly to search results on other sites. For example, if you know you want to search for something on another site such as Wikipedia or Amazon, you can use such a shortcut to search directly on Wikipedia. For example, if you type !w privacy, this search will take you directly to Wikipedia.
SearX
Searx is an open source (meta) search engine, which aggregates results from other search engines and does not store any information about users. No logs, no ads and no tracking.
Advantages
- Customizable to your own needs
- No tracking
- Open Source
Cons
- Results can look a bit messy