What is the Best Search Engine for Privacy

What is a private search engine?

First off, let’s get a definition sorted so we’re all on the same page. A private search engine is a search engine that doesn’t store or collect user data, and definitely doesn’t track your browsing history. They give you a completely unbiased view of the web, providing you with neutral results and a safe way to search for things online.

Mainstream search engines, on the other hand, are always collecting and tracking your data to serve up targeted ads and personalized results – not exactly what you’d call “private”. Private search engines do none of that.

In a nutshell, privacy-focused search engines don’t store user data or track your browsing history, and don’t create profiles based on your search history or behaviour.

What are you looking for

So, how do you pick a search engine that’s actually private? Here are a few key things to look for:

1. It needs to deliver decent search results\
2. It should be reliable and have high search quality\
3. It shouldn’t track or store data, and keep your privacy safe\
4. It should use only tracking cookies\
5. It should be run by a reputable team or firm

Other things, like having a user-friendly interface or options for customizing your experience, are nice but not essential – but they do go a long way to making privacy and user satisfaction more enjoyable.

Benefits of private search engines

Switching to a private search engine has its perks – especially if you’re concerned about keeping your online activities private. Unlike traditional search engines, which love to track your search history and collect personal data to serve up targeted ads, private search engines are designed to protect your info. This means your search experience is based just on your search query, not on some profile built from your browsing behaviour or past searches.

Using a private search engine means you get a more organic, unbiased set of search results, free from the influence of what you looked at previously. Many private search engines also block trackers, encrypt your searches, and have features like anonymous view – making it much harder for third parties to follow your online activity. Ultimately, private search engines put you back in control of your online privacy and give you a safer, more private way to search the web – without the constant worry of being bombarded with targeted ads or having your personal data stored.

How private search engines work

So, how do private search engines keep your searches on the down low? Some search engines like Mojeek and Brave Search build their own search indexes using web crawlers, so they don’t need to rely on Google or Bing for results. Others, like Startpage, act as anonymous proxies – forwarding your search queries to Google or Bing after stripping away any identifying info, so your searches remain private.

Some private search engines even use a combination of both approaches, using both their own indexes and results from other search engines to provide comprehensive and relevant search results while keeping your data safe. Many also use search encryption and block trackers to make sure your search queries and user data aren’t shared with third parties. By choosing a private search engine, you can search the web without having to worry about your personal data being collected, stored or used to build a profile about you.

Private search engines: Top picks – Brave Search

• Brave Search is a private browser for desktop and mobile
• Can easily be set as the default search engine in most major browsers
• Results get categorized neatly into “All”, “Images”, “News” and “Videos”
• Has the Goggles feature – lets you mess around with the ranking of search resultsBrave Search looks out for the user first, not some big tech company. It’s a brand most people know for it’s private web browser – and fittingly, it’s just released it’s own search engine called Brave Search last year as a beta. And with privacy being at the heart of what they do, it’s a search engine that doesn’t track you, and isn’t reliant on Google or Bing. But here’s the thing – for certain searches, Brave can quietly check out how other search engines are doing things and then give you a mix of the results on the page. That’s a pretty different approach to some of the other alternatives we’ll be looking at later – they’re metasearch engines that scrounge around for results from lots of different websites.

A bit of a drag is that Brave is based out of the US – and the hard truth is, the US still hasn’t got decent laws to protect consumers when it comes to online privacy.

DuckDuckGo

• default search engine for Tor users
• Chrome extension, and has Android and iOS apps
• gives you the option to sort search results into “All,” “Images,” “News,” “Videos”
• sells ads for affiliate websites

If you’re on the hunt for a private search engine, chances are you’ve already come across DuckDuckGo – or DDG for short. It’s easily the most well-known private search engine that doesn’t store a single bit of your data – not even your IP address – and that’s got around 100 million searches every single day. Unlike Brave Search, DuckDuckGo is a metasearch engine that gets its results from over 400 different sources, including Bing and Wikipedia. Now, it does save your searches, but they’re not tied to your personal info: no IP address or user agent string is stored to keep it all anonymous.

Like Brave Search, though, putting your trust in DuckDuckGo might be a bit of a problem for people who are really into internet privacy, as it’s also based in the US.

MetaGer

• part of the Tor network
• can be set as default in Chrome and Vivaldi
• Firefox add-on & Android app
• organizes search results into “Web,” “Pictures,” “Shopping,” “News/Politics”
• sells ads for affiliate sites

Headquartered in Germany, MetaGer is run by a non-profit organisation called SuMa-eV. As you might expect from a German company with a focus on internet safety, MetaGer is largely a metasearch engine that relies on up to 50 other search engines including Yahoo and Bing. But what makes it stand out is that it acts as a proxy to open up links anonymously, so your IP address is kept hidden from the destination site. Which is nice.

Mojeek

• can be set as default in your browser, and mobile phone browsers too
• organises search results into “Web,” “Images,” “News”

Mojeek is a UK-based search engine.

Now Mojeek doesn’t mess around when it comes to online privacy – it doesn’t collect any user data at all, not even an IP address, and it does its own indexing so it doesn’t have to rely on any other search engines. That makes it more appealing to people who want to avoid the likes of Google and Bing. The downside is that the results might not be as refined – the upside is that Mojeek has got an index of over 3 billion web pages. They’re also hosted in a eco-friendly data center in the UK.

Qwant

• Chrome extension & Firefox add-on & apps for iOS & Android
• organises search results by “News,” “Images,” “Videos,” “Shopping”

France is home to Qwant, a search engine that doesn’t track you at all or sell your data, and in Europe, that counts for a lot. Qwant’s a metasearch engine that mainly relies on Bing search results – but it’s also got its own indexing capabilities, and it’s got a pretty strong commitment to GDPR. And of course, it’s also making sure it isn’t tracking you, and doesn’t store your search history. Qwant makes its cash from non-personalised, private ads – places like eBay and Trip Advisor get a deal, so every now and then, you might see them appear at the top of your search results page.

Startpage Extensions for Chrome and Firefox – and apps for iOS and Android

• Makes it super easy to get your search results sorted by “Web,” “Images,” “Videos,” “News”

This Netherlands-based metasearch engine is one of the best Google alternatives you can use. What makes it so great is that it takes its results from Google, but Startpage makes Google work for you in a way that’s totally private. Since it acts as a proxy server, you can browse through Google search results without them tracking you. You can still access Google results and use Google searches through Startpage without them collecting your personal data. Some of the other privacy-focused search engines, like Startpage, act as a proxy to Google or Bing, so you can access their search results and still keep your personal data private. You will still see search ads, but they’re contextual and not targeted at you, which keeps your privacy safe and lets you enjoy the same Google search ads experience you’re used to. So, that’s a win-win. Just click on Anonymous View next to the result if you want to visit the website you found. Another great feature is HTTPS support, which means you only get results from trusted websites.

Note: When System1, a US ad-tech firm, ended up owning a big chunk of Startpage in October 2019, people started wondering if it was still safe. But don’t worry – the company confirmed they were still based in the EU and following those tough data privacy laws.

Private.sh

• Extensions for your Chrome and Firefox browsers
• Lets you filter the search results by “Web” and “News”

Private.sh is another one of the newer search engines that’s all about protecting your privacy. It’s an open-source service that doesn’t rely on any closed technologies and gets audited all the time. What this means is that the search data is encrypted locally on your computer before it gets sent to the search provider (which happens to be Gigablast in this case). These data packets then get sent through a proxy that strips away all the identifying stuff about you and encrypts the query. Privacy-focused search engines like Private.sh use this kind of encryption so no one has access to both your IP address and the search you’re looking for.

Searx

• You can use it with the Firefox add-on or the Android app
• It filters search results into all sorts of categories, like “General,” “Files,” “Images,” “News,” “Social media,” and more

Searx is an open-source metasearch engine run by a non-profit organization, so you won’t see any ads popping up when you use it. What this means is that Searx can pull results from all sorts of different search engines to give you both the best results and the best privacy. Searx is collecting results from over 80 search engines, including Google, Bing and Yahoo, without keeping your IP address or search history – and it blocks all those nasty tracking cookies too. It also has a proxy option that lets you hide your identity when you click through to a website.

Swisscows

• You can set it as your default search engine in most browsers
• There are Chrome extensions, iOS and Android apps, and you can categorize search results into “Web,” “Images,” “Video,” “Music”

Swisscows is based in Switzerland, which is a great place for a search engine since they have really tough data protection laws. They don’t collect or track any of your personal user information, including your IP address or search queries. Although they have their own search index, Swisscows partners with Bing, so most of your search results are from there. But what really sets them apart is the way they deliver search results – using semantic technology to find the best results for you.

This company relies on donations from users and businesses, so you won’t see any ads popping up. And another cool thing about Swisscows is that they’re not just about privacy – they’re also family-friendly. They filter out all the adult content and violence, so parents can feel confident letting their kids use the search engine.

Ecoasia

• Chrome Extension & iOS and Android apps
• You can set it as a default search engine in Chrome, and it categorizes search results into “All,” “Images,” “News,” “Videos”

Ecoasia wants to plant trees, not collect your data. They make money by generating search ad revenue, but they use that income to plant trees and support environmental causes. Many search engines focus on protecting your privacy, and Ecosia is one of them – even though they don’t call themselves a private search engine. So, how do they keep your data safe? Well:

1. You don’t have to create a profile to use their search
2. Every search is anonymized for a week
3. They encrypt all your searches
4. They don’t use any third-party tracking tools to get at your data

Note that they do have their own trackers, but you can easily turn them off if you want to.

Data protection and privacy practices

One of the main reasons users who care about their privacy turn to private search engines is the fact that these search engines are totally committed to data protection and privacy. Unlike mainstream search engines, a private search engine won’t be snooping around on you, collecting, storing or sharing your personal data. They have strict policies against tracking users, building up user profiles or selling your info to third-party advertisers. Instead, they focus on delivering private search results without compromising your user privacy – no sneaky stuff going on.

Many private search engines, like Brave Search and DuckDuckGo, host their data securely in dedicated data centers and are often based in countries with top-notch privacy laws, like those in the EU. This adds an extra layer of protection to your user data. When you’re using a private search engine, you can trust that your search queries and browsing activity aren’t being logged or used to serve up targeted advertising – which gives you peace of mind every time you search.

Alternative options for private searching

If you’re looking to take your online privacy to the next level, there are plenty of other options for private searching beyond just switching to a different search engine. Private search engines like Brave Search, DuckDuckGo and Startpage all have some great privacy features that will keep your user data safe from tracking. Other search engines, like Qwant, Mojeek and Swisscows, also offer private search results and prioritize user privacy.

For an even more private browsing experience, consider using a private browser like the Brave browser or the DuckDuckGo browser – these both come with built-in privacy protections and tracker blocking as standard. You can also enhance your privacy even further by adding browser extensions like uBlock Origin, which blocks trackers and intrusive ads all over the web. By exploring all these alternative options, you can find the best private search engine and the right privacy tools for your needs – which should leave you feeling confident and in control of your personal data.

Why use a VPN with a search engine

A bit of advice for the next time you go online searching for something – team a private search engine with a VPN for maximum, top-notch privacy. A VPN will encrypt your internet traffic and hide information about your operating system from websites. The result is that your real IP address will be masked and all your traffic will be encrypted. This means no third parties, like your ISP or marketers, will be able to track you – and in some cases it’ll even protect you from hackers. By combining a private search engine with a VPN, you’re essentially encrypting your internet traffic and hiding your IP address – which is a great way to boost your online privacy.

Give VeePN a go – you don’t want to miss out on all the benefits that VPNs have in store for you. Some of the key benefits are:

• AES-256 encryption – the most robust encryption going – for top-notch data protection.
• A massive 2,500-server network spread across 89 locations in 60 countries.
• Advanced features, like NetGuard for avoiding online trackers and annoying ads, or Double VPN for extra-heavy-duty security.

Connect to a VPN whenever you go to Google – or mojeek, searx, or private.sh for that matter – and do your browsing with your rights intact. Keep your online privacy safe – don’t let it slip through your fingers.

Conclusion

Privacy-mindful users will no doubt find something to their liking among the search engines listed – all of them are definitely worth checking out if keeping your privacy is your top priority. Generally, improved privacy will mean giving up on some of the bells and whistles that make mainstream search engines so good – such as having a bigger index to search through or a better user experience. So, the decision is ultimately up to you. Don’t just go all in on one – try out several private search engines for a while and see which one feels most at home with you. Some private search engines also come with features that are just perfect for younger users, like content filtering and family-friendly results, which makes them a great choice for families or kids. Plus, you may find yourself wanting to ramp up your privacy even more.

Written by VeePN Research Lab VeePN Research Lab is dedicated to provide you latest posts about internet security and privacy.

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