The most popular search engines that can be used instead of Google are:
- Bing
- DuckDuckGo
- Ecosia
- Yahoo
- Swisscows
- Search Encrypt
- Wolfram Alpha
- Ask
- Gibiru
- Yandex
- Dogpile
- Disconnect Search
- Yippy
- QWant
- StartPage
Despite Google being the best search engine that is being used today, its alternatives also provide quality search results. They also prevent tracking user data and protecting information, which Google doesn’t.
Bing:
If you believe YouTube is the only website presenting previews with videos option, then you need to check out Bing!
Bing includes some unique features that differentiate it from other search engines. It offers a separate tab for videos. You can search for a video, and hover over each one displayed in the results for a high-definition preview.
Bing also lets users create their very own playlist! I mean, is it YouTube? Is it Pinterest? We’re confused, but we certainly love it!
Bing is the second-most popular search engine in the world. It opens up to beautiful ever-changing backgrounds on its homepage. This search website is a mood lifter, believe me.
Microsoft-owned Bing’s list of unique features also includes a reward scheme for its users. Using Bing lets you earn points that you can use later to purchase apps, movies, etc. from Microsoft and Windows stores. Beat that Google!
Other Bing features include quick flight tracking, spell-check, sports scores, currency conversions, and more. Beating the best search engine Google may not be easy, but Bing comes close anytime!
DuckDuckGo
If you stay concerned about your privacy while using other search engines, then you should try giving DuckDuckGo a go!
This fast-growing Google alternative boasts itself as the search engine that emphasizes protecting users’ privacy and does not collect user data. It’s anonymity to another level!
This engine’s sole purpose is to keep users anonymous. It does not sell data to third-party websites or for displaying personalized ads to users.
A simple-interfaced search engine, DuckDuckGo has its own extension that users can add to their browsers to keep their activities private.
A powerful feature by DuckDuckGo Another powerful feature is “Bangs”. This feature enables users to visit the page searched for directly by adding a ‘!’ while searching a query. For example; typing ‘!Facebook’ in the search bar will redirect you to Facebook.com immediately. You would not have to visit the search result page at all. DuckDuckGo’s bangs feature lessens the steps and makes searches more efficient.
Ecosia
If you haven’t visited Ecosia, then please do. It’ll be good for the environment.
Ecosia tops the search engines list of having a unique USP. This eco-friendly search engine tends to plant trees with the capital it generates from user searches. With each search, a user gets one step closer to helping Ecosia plant a tree. Roughly 45 searches enable the plantation of one tree.
Ecosia is powered by Bing but has a similar policy as DuckDuckGo. It does not track data and sell it to third-party advertisers.
Please visit Ecosia and use it once, because, for them, every search counts.
Yahoo
A search engine older than Google, Yahoo has a certain amount of loyal users. Instead of a simple interface, Yahoo’s home screen is packed with features like emails, news, weather updates, playing online games, shopping, horoscopes, and more. This search website is a one-stop for all updates.
Yahoo Answers and Yahoo Finance are the frequently visited servers of Yahoo. Although old, Google alternatives like Yahoo remain classic.
Swisscows
Swisscows prides itself as the family friendliest search engine on the internet. This search engine is a special preference of all parents who seek to give their children a safer experience among the clutter search engines display while searching.
With its servers in Switzerland, the search engine follows the strict privacy policy of the country. The Ads displayed on Swisscows are based on your previous searches and not on your data.
Swisscows uses Artificial Intelligence to determine users’ queries to pull out effective results.
Search Encrypt
Search Encrypt, among most alternative search engines, remains concerned about protecting user information. This engine uses local encryption for this reason.
Search Encrypt limits tracking of search queries and usage of data of users. It also restricts local users sharing the same PC to view each other’s searches. How? Search Encrypt deletes all previous search results 15 mins after a query is searched. So, if you’re considering using Search Encryption on a public computer, then you don’t need to worry. You’re completely safe.
This search engine receives a huge amount of traffic with its amazing security features.
Wolfram Alpha
Wolfram Alpha isn’t your typical search engine. Instead, it is a computational search engine. If you’re looking for statistical data and metrics, this search engine is perfect for you.
This search website is categorized into Science & Technology, Mathematics, Society & Culture, and Everyday Life, and uses Artificial Intelligence to guide you through historical dates, math equations, units and stats, finances, and more.
Ask
If you look at Ask.com, you’d understand that this search engine is even simpler to use than Google. Ask is based on a simple question-and-answer format and allows users to ask questions on its server. It’s like Quora but as a search engine.
The themes for questions can range from Science to Social Well-being, and from Technology to Entertainment. At Ask, you ask and they provide effective answers to all your queries.
Gibiru
Gibiru is a search engine alternative to Google that provides completely unfiltered and uncensored results to searchers.
This search engine has been displaying safe and untraceable results to its users since 2009. Once a query is searched, it is deleted by Gibiru within seconds. Hence, privacy is taken into account at every step by this search website.
Gibiru also has a Firefox extension known as the AnonymoX Firefox plugin that allows your IP address to remain anonymous.
Yandex
One of the top Google alternatives and the leading search engine of Russia, Yandex provides the exact similar services like Google. Its market share is around 55-65% in Russia.
Yandex has its mailing service, search engine, maps, translator, and cloud storage. With a simple interface tagging along with all these features, this search website is the best alternative to Google.
Most alternative search engines support user privacy as seen above, but Yandex does not and is transparent about it.
Dogpile
This is one of the oldest search engines that pick results from Google, Bing, Yahoo, Yandex, and other search engines for every query. It also offers categories and preferences for effective search results. Initially, Dogpile fetched results only from Ask and Bing but later added more search engines for fetching results.
Disconnect Search
Disconnect Search is different from all other search engines and has no results page of its own. It allows you to select a search engine on its page. When you search a query then, it anonymizes and redirects you to the search engine that you chose which shows the results. In simpler words, Disconnect works as a browser extension that enables a user to make private and anonymous searches on his chosen search engines without being tracked.
Yippy
Yippy is another privacy-focused search engine that does not collect any private data for personalized ads. Like Disconnect, Yippy also picks data and information from other search engines.
Yippy sounds like a standard search engine but it allows a user to filter content using categories like source, time, sites, and clusters relevant to your query.
QWant
This privacy-oriented search engine has its results displayed in three sections; Web, News & Social. You can determine how fresh you want the results to be when you search a specific query.
Qwant also has its shortcut feature like DuckDuckGo which leads users directly to the webpage inserted in the query. This feature is called the “Qwick Search Shortcuts”. For example; using “&” before the name of any website will direct you to the website without visiting the results page. Using “&Facebook” will direct you to Facebook within seconds.
Qwant also has a section dedicated to music where you can discover new music easily.
StartPage
Starting as IxQuick, it was one of the first search engines other than Google to show its own results instead of redirecting the query to another search website.
It later developed another search engine called StartPage which displayed search results from Google. A merge took place between both engines in 2009 and they started operating with the name StartPage.
StartPage displays result from Google but maintains its privacy by restricting Google from collecting data of users. It enables users to visit websites anonymously through its proxy service. It also offers a custom URL generator to eliminate the need to set cookies.
StartPage offers various themes to users including Dark Mode.
Which Google alternative works the best?
The best search engine alternatives to Google are Bing and DuckDuckGo.
Bing provides a visually aesthetic user-experience with its regularly-changing backgrounds and video feature, along with effective results and its immediate score checking, currency conversion, and translation tools.
While DuckDuckGo, a privacy-oriented search engine, enables users to search queries without tracking their data or IP addresses. Its ‘Bangs’ feature is also a hit!
Is there any search engine better than Google?
No. Google is undoubtedly the best search engine to exist. With its worldwide market share of over 90%, this giant has the most powerful algorithms and Artificial Intelligence technology, enabling the best user experience for users all over the world.
But, it comes with a price. Google collects the personal data of users and shares it with third-party advertisers. It provides a seamless experience to users at the cost of their privacy.
Which is the safest search engine?
DuckDuckGo, Search Encrypt, and StartPage can be called the safest search engines on the Internet.
DuckDuckGo is the oldest search engine to be concerned about a user’s privacy, and therefore does not collect any personalized data nor tracks user IPs.
Search Encrypt is another safest search engine. It uses local encryption to limit data collection and deletes the search history of a user after 15 mins.
StartPage tends to display results from Google over queries but restricts Google from collecting personal information.
What is the fastest search engine?
Bing and DuckDuckGo top the list again for being the fastest search engines other than Google.
Bing tends to provide the highest speed in terms of page load time, followed by DuckDuckGo and Google.
Can I search without Google?
Yes! You can search queries by using all the Google alternatives listed above. Sounds like an out-of-the-box idea, but do give their unique features a try. Possibilities are, you may end up with better search results.