privacyapps.ioPrivacy checkup

Private search engines

12 apps, each with a privacy passport

Most private search engines still show ads, but ones based on the words you typed, not on who you are. The bigger differences are where results come from (their own index or Bing and Google) and whether you need an account.

Leaving one of these?

If you only try three

Privacy passport
DuckDuckGo
Search engines
Our pick
No tracking
Yes
Open source
No
Only you can read it
Nothing stored
No account
Yes
Free
Yes
3 of 4 checks
- Android
- iPhone
- Mac
- Windows
- Web
Familiar results, no history kept, works as default anywhere
Privacy passport
Brave Search
Search engines
Our pick
No tracking
Yes
Open source
No
Only you can read it
Nothing stored
No account
Yes
Free
Free plan
3 of 4 checks
- Web
Own index, private by default, free to use
Privacy passport
Startpage
Search engines
Our pick
No tracking
Yes
Open source
No
Only you can read it
Nothing stored
No account
Yes
Free
Free plan
3 of 4 checks
- Android
- iPhone
- Web
Google-quality results without being tracked

All 12 search engines

Passes

Works on

12 of 12 apps

DuckDuckGoPick

Service

Search engine that does not keep search history or build a profile; ads are based only on the current query.

No tracking
Closed source
No account
Free

Android
iPhone
Mac
Windows
Web

Brave SearchPick

Service

Search with its own independent web index, no user profiling, and an optional paid plan that removes ads.

No tracking
Closed source
No account
Free plan

Web

StartpagePick

Service

Shows Google results without passing your IP or identity to Google, plus an anonymous view proxy for opening pages.

No tracking
Closed source
No account
Free plan

Android
iPhone
Web

Kagi

Service

Paid search engine with no ads, funded by subscribers, letting you rank, block or boost sites in your results.

No tracking
Closed source
Account needed
$5/month

Android
iPhone
Web

Mojeek

Service

UK search engine with its own crawler and index, so queries never go to Google or Bing and results are the same for everyone.

No tracking
Closed source
No account
Free

Android
iPhone
Web

Qwant

Service

French search engine with untargeted ads and no search history, building its own European index with Ecosia.

No tracking
Closed source
No account
Free

Android
iPhone
Web

Ecosia

Service

Search engine from Berlin that spends its ad profits on climate projects and does not sell personal data.

Minimal tracking
Closed source
Account optional
Free

Android
iPhone
Web

SearXNG

Self-hosted38.8k

Open-source metasearch you can run yourself or use through public instances; it queries many engines without sending your identity.

No tracking
Open source
No account
Free

Web

MetaGer

Service

Open-source metasearch run by a German nonprofit, with anonymous prepaid tokens for ad-free searches.

No tracking
Open source
No account
Free plan

Android
Web

Swisscows

Service

Family-friendly Swiss search engine that stores no search data, with a Pro plan for results without ads.

Minimal tracking
Closed source
No account
Free plan

Android
iPhone
Web

Marginalia Search

Service2.2k

Small open-source search engine from Sweden that surfaces personal sites and text-heavy pages big engines bury.

No tracking
Open source
No account
Free

Web

YaCy

Self-hosted4.1k

Peer-to-peer search engine you run on your own computer, sharing an index with other users and no central server.

No tracking
Open source
On your server
No account
Free

Mac
Windows
Linux

What to check in search engines

1 No search history or profile stored
2 Ads only based on the query, or none
3 Who supplies the results: own index or Bing/Google

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