The internet often feels like a minefield of targeted ads, appearing everywhere after a simple search. Major search engines track user searches, locations, and clicks, using this data to display advertisements. Many users find this constant tracking intrusive, feeling that their online activity is constantly monitored. Google and Bing are the dominant search engines.
While Google uses your activity to target ads, several other search engines are built with a strong focus on user privacy. These alternative search engines do not utilize your search data for advertising purposes.
DuckDuckGo: DuckDuckGo emphasizes ‘Privacy, Simplified.’ It neither stores personal information nor tracks search queries. The company offers tracker protection within its apps and browsers to prevent third-party tracking.
Swisscows: Swisscows markets itself as a no-tracking search engine, operating on its own search index. It collaborates with Brave to improve the quality of search results. While Swisscows displays ads, funded by Bing, it emphasizes that user data is not shared with advertising partners.
Brave Search: Brave Search operates on its own web index. It reduces its dependence on Google or Bing, helping to avoid user tracking. Brave also features an optional privacy-preserving web discovery project, allowing users to contribute data for index improvement, but only with their consent. Brave Search is compatible with all browsers.
This search engine also offers an AI-powered feature for answers, similar to Google’s AI Mode. Users can enter a query and click the star icon to get detailed information. This delivers comprehensive AI-driven search results.
Startpage: The Anonymous View feature provided by Startpage helps maintain online privacy. The company does not save or sell user search history. Startpage uses its own personal data protection technology to display Google search results. It also removes user IP addresses from all global servers and restricts third-party access to personal data to prevent targeted advertising.