National Cyber Warfare Foundation (NCWF)

This post was originally published on 27 APR 2021; it has since been updated and revised.

Are you using Google, Bing, or Yandex? Tired of "biased" search results? Tired of seeing re-targeting ads that follow you around because you've searched for one term just once? Then perhaps you should look into using a private search engine.

These are avoidthehack's recommendations for privacy respecting (meta)search engines. There are many alternative search engines out there on the web, but not all of them necessarily have favorable privacy practices.

These search engines aren't listed in any particular order. Often, a specific search engine might be the better tool for a particular query. It's highly encouraged for you to actively try out these search engines for yourself; you might like the results!

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Mojeek

Highlights

Independent with its own web crawler, MojeekBot

Doesn't use tracking technology

Mojeek's search index doesn't use Bing or Google's search indexes

Mojeek is a unique and private search engine with its own web crawler, MojeekBot. Mojeek maintains their own search index as well. In other words, Mojeek "finds" web pages using its own infrastructure - it does not "borrow" from Bing nor Google's search indexes to serve results.

Mojeek doesn't place cookies on users' devices unless agreed to nor does it implement specific user tracking. Mojeek does log limited information such as time of visit and the page requested; data such as your IP address isn't logged. This rather standard logging data is anonymized and not tied to user identity.

Searching on Mojeek is a truly unique and independent experience - their search results are unique and totally independent from Bing and Google. In fact, Mojeek is probably the oldest and biggest direct rival to the Big Tech search engines. Mojeek's web crawler, MojeekBot, crawls the web to create Mojeek's search index regularly.

Mojeek is based in the UK. Considering the UK is a five-eyes country, this fact may concern some users. However, Mojeek doesn't use tracking technologies nor store identifying information, such as IP addresses.

Startpage

Highlights

Provides results similar to Google's

Anonymous View allows viewing of websites directly from search results

Doesn't track or tie your searches back to you

Startpage is a private search engine providing search results very similar to those would find during a Google search. It accomplishes this by stripping unnecessary metadata from your search and then proxying the search through Google.

Startpage doesn't collect personal data such as your IP addresses nor do they utilize tracking cookies. They also don't log your specific search queries. Interestingly, Startpage has an Anonymous View service, which allows you to visit websites from search results "anonymously."

It's worth mentioning that Startpage was originally founded as an independent company/project circa 2006. As of late 2019, Startpage received a large investment by System1, making System1 the majority investor in the company.

This alarmed many in the privacy community considering System1 is a marketing and analytics firm; however, Startpage has stated that its management team retains all rights and autonomy when it comes to user privacy-related dealings.

SearXNG

Highlights

Forked from SearX

Self-hostable, full control of your own instance (if desired)

Can aggregate results from other search engines, minus the tracking and logging

SearXNG is a open-source metasearch engine, forked from SearX. SearXNG follows a rolling release model, updates dependencies more frequently. Ultimately, SearXNG is easier to host and manage and has a more easy-to-use interface than SearX.

SearX is still a recommended private search engine, but primarily for users who would like to host their own locally used instances versus using/hosting a publicly used instance.

Be forewarned when using public SearX and SearXNG instances; they're anonymous to the user (read: you). This means that you'll have to trust whoever is running any public instance you're using because in theory a shady public instance could store, log, sell, or otherwise abuse your search information without your knowledge.

Search | Source

Whoogle

Highlights

Open source

Self-hostable, aims to be easier to deploy than SearX

Proxies Google results

Whoogle is an open-source and self-hostable search engine that proxies Google search results - minus the tracking technologies, naturally.

Whoogle shares many similarities with SearX and SearXNG. However, Whoogle is designed to be deployed easier and quicker than SearX and is on this front is on par with SearXNG.

There are a handful of public instances of Whoogle out there. Similar to SearX and SearXNG public instances, make sure to trust the instance you use.

Search | Source

Brave Search

Highlights

Has its own web crawler

Independent index (as of July 2023)

Claims to not rely on algorithms to serve biased/censored results

Brave Search is an independent search engine brought into existence by the same company behind the Brave Browser. Of the other private search engines listed on this post, Brave Search is the new kid on the block, partially made possible by Brave Software's acquisition of the Tailcat search engine.

Brave Search does not use Google's or Bing's search indices, therefore its search results are independent of Google's and Bing's. As of July 2023, Brave Search does not use fallback mixing for query results falling under a certain "quality" threshold.

According to Brave, Brave Search doesn't "filter, downrank, or censor search results" nor does it "change its search algorithm" in response to current events or other biases that may include political, religious, and ethical beliefs.

DuckDuckGo

Highlights

Primarily sources results from Bing

Doesn't log personally identifiable information

DuckDuckGo has a search agreement with Microsoft, allegedly allowing Microsoft to track users while using some of DuckDuckGo's other products, such as the DuckDuckGo browser. While this search engine is certainly better than using Google or Bing, it is advised to use this search engine with discretion.

Founded circa 2008, DuckDuckGo is a private metasearch engine based in the US. It's perhaps the most popular private search engine among privacy-conscious users - or even just users looking for an alternative to Google or Bing.

DuckDuckGo pulls from over 400 different sources, but most often pulls from Bing's index.

DuckDuckGo does not collect or share personal information. While DuckDuckGo doesn't store personal information, the service has stated that it does log searches.

DuckDuckGo has explained that searches aren't saved in a "personally identifiable way." It's highly encouraged to review their privacy policy for more information and to use this search engine with discretion.