Google is the most well-known, but by no means the only search engine on the World Wide Web. Google al­tern­at­ives available include Duck­DuckGo, MetaGer and YaCy. Each of these search services come with their own unique ad­vant­ages, such as better privacy than what Google offers.

Why use a Google al­tern­at­ive?

Many people decide to look for a Google al­tern­at­ive due to the search engine’s downsides or because it is simply too wide­spread. When it comes to data pro­tec­tion, the Cali­for­nia-based internet company has been cri­ti­cised for years because its services collect in­form­a­tion such as users’ metadata. This personal in­form­a­tion can then be used for ad­vert­ising purposes.

Therefore, if you value anonymity, privacy, and data pro­tec­tion, you should consider finding a Google al­tern­at­ive. Other ad­vant­ages include ad-free use and the fact that com­mer­cial search results can be filtered.

Tip

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Duck­DuckGo – the anonymous meta search engine

Image: Screenshot of the DuckDuckGo homepage
This Google al­tern­at­ive got its name from the inventor having a spon­tan­eous idea. / Source: https://duck­duckgo.com/

The Google al­tern­at­ive Duck­DuckGo is a search engine with high data pro­tec­tion standards. True to the slogan ‘The search engine that doesn’t track you’, neither your IP address nor your search queries are stored. In addition, instead of per­son­al­ised ad­vert­ising, ads are used that are tailored to your search terms.

Duck­DuckGo is supported by more than 100 services such as Bing, Yandex or Wikipedia as well as the company’s own crawler Duck­Duck­Bot. In the web search you are offered the pos­sib­il­ity to filter com­mer­cial search results. In addition, you can save any settings you make for a longer period of time by uploading the in­form­a­tion an­onym­ously to a cloud. This makes Duck­DuckGo a serious Google al­tern­at­ive for anyone who wants to use an anonymous search engine to protect their privacy.

Pros Cons
High data pro­tec­tion standard Doesn’t offer as many services as other search engines
IP address and search queries are not stored  
Company-owned crawler, Duck­Duck­Bot  
Option to filter out com­mer­cial search results  

MetaGer – meta search engine from Germany

Image: Screenshot of the MetaGer homepage
The MetaGer results list provides in­form­a­tion about the search service where the website was found. / Source: https://metager.org

The Google al­tern­at­ive MetaGer is a metasearch engine from Germany, which was developed at the Uni­ver­sity of Hanover. MetaGer relies on its own index, al­tern­at­ive search engines and web services for web searches. There is the option to become a club member and benefit from ad-free use.

MetaGer’s design is not as user-friendly as other Google al­tern­at­ives, but this service also offers a high standard of data pro­tec­tion. IP addresses are an­onymised during the search and are therefore not passed on to the search engines. In addition, there’s no user tracking, cookie storage or browser fin­ger­print­ing. Another advantage compared to Google is the server location. Since all MetaGer servers are located in Germany, the web search is subject to the national data pro­tec­tion guidelines.

Pros Cons
Ad­vert­ising-free use as a club member Design is not user-friendly
IP addresses are an­onym­ized Some services are only in German
No user tracking & storage of cookies etc.  
Server locations in Germany  

YaCy – search engine with a de­cent­ral­ized approach

Image: Screenshot of the YaCy homepage
With the Google al­tern­at­ive YaCy, users have their own search engine on their PC. / Source: https://yacy.net/

With the Google al­tern­at­ive YaCy (which can be down­loaded as software), you become a search engine operator yourself. With its peer-to-peer approach, the open-source project takes a com­pletely different approach than con­ven­tion­al search engines. Instead of running on a web server, the free software runs directly on your computer. This has the advantage that search queries are not trans­ferred to a server and your data always remains with you.

You create a de­cent­ral­ised search network by con­nect­ing to other YaCy users. You also get to decide which pages the search engine has in its index by simply starting your own web crawler and spe­cify­ing which pages it should access. The ranking is created by users upgrading or down­grad­ing results. This col­lab­or­at­ive search network can therefore not be censored or be down at any time.

Pros Cons
Open source Software must be down­loaded
Peer-to-peer/de­cent­ral­ised network Ranking dependent on users
Data stays on in­di­vidu­al PC  
Search network is not cen­sor­able  
Tip

Are you looking for a child-friendly Google al­tern­at­ive? In that case, you should consider a search engine for kids. They ensure that children are only shown content that is ap­pro­pri­ate for their age.

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