If you’re like most people, Google is your go-to search engine due to its unmatched popularity and domination. It might not, however, always provide the greatest experience for everyone. Whether you want new viewpoints, increased privacy, or more customized search results, there are numerous options to consider.
Here are 25 excellent Google search engine alternatives to consider. These search engines each have unique features, privacy benefits, or specialized search capabilities.
AI-Powered Search Engines
AI search engines offer numerous benefits, including the capacity to understand context, quicker and more relevant results, and customized experiences.
They do, however, have drawbacks, including the possibility of bias, privacy issues, and an excessive reliance on technology.
It’s important to exercise caution while using AI search engines, double-check information from several sources, and be mindful of any potential negative effects. In this manner, you may maximize the advantages while lowering the dangers.
1. Bing
Google’s closest rival is Microsoft’s Bing search engine. It offers a variety of search features, such as map, video, and image searches.
According to HawkSEM, about 27% of US search queries are handled by Microsoft’s Bing.
Bing offers a range of customizable search settings, such as location settings, privacy controls to control data collection and usage, and safe search filters.
With the help of Microsoft’s AI technologies, Bing’s search capabilities are improved, outperforming many other search engines in terms of accuracy and contextual relevancy.
Bing uses its own search algorithms and crawler, making its SERPs different from Google’s. It also offers Microsoft Rewards, earning users points for searches or shopping. These points are redeemable in Microsoft and Windows stores.
Bing has its chatbot, Copilot, which provides customized results to users.
According to Meetanishi Microsoft Bing gets more than 3 billion monthly active users.
3. Perplexity.ai
Perplexity AI is a search engine powered by AI that can be accessed via online and mobile applications. Since its launch in 2022, it has grown to 15 million users and answered 250 million questions by July 2024.
The platform uses AI to provide answers to search queries, providing source links that allow users to explore the original content. While the basic version is free, membership is necessary to access other services like image generation and Copilot, an intelligent assistant that prompts follow-up questions to improve search results.
However, because it relies on large language models (LLMs) to extract answers, Perplexity can occasionally generate false or misleading results.
For example, when asked “What are the seven wonders of the world”, Perplexity delivered a clear and informative response, accompanied by helpful citations for further reading.
4. You.com
You.com was founded in 2020 by Richard Socher, a well-known natural language processing (NLP) expert and former Salesforce chief scientist. Since its launch, they have served 1 billion queries.
You.com’s AI-powered search engine provides summary responses to questions. Additionally, they offer a list of websites with content related to your search.
Even though You.com has its internet crawler, it uses Bing to power its searches. You can select between a private mode, which guarantees that You.com does not gather any of your data, and a personal mode, which provides more customized options. You.com offers both a paid and freemium edition.
Additionally, the company provides an AI writing helper called YouWrite, an image-generating tool driven by AI, and a Chrome extension.
You may select from more than 20 different AI models with it, making it the ideal option for AI enthusiasts.
Mainstream Search EngineschGPT
Mainstream search engines have established themselves as credible competitors to Google and have retained a small but consistent market share over the last few years.
5. Yahoo!
Yahoo! is one of the more popular alternatives to Google, with a decent 2.67% of the market share in 2023.
Yahoo was around before Google. It started as a web portal and in 1995 developed its search engine. Yahoo’s strength lies in its diversification; in addition to search, it offers services like email, news, finance, and more.
Since Yahoo! uses Microsoft Bing as its engine, search results are comparable. It has a simple, text-heavy layout for its search results page.
Yahoo received over 700 million monthly active users and received 3.4 billion monthly visits in 2022 even though their search market share is declining.
6. Ecosia
The primary distinction that sets Ecosia apart is its dedication to using ad income for green initiatives, like planting trees.
Ecosia plants a tree for around every 45 searches you conduct. They give you a customized counter to keep track of the number of searches you’ve done, which demonstrates your direct involvement in reforestation.
Nearly 210 million trees have been planted by Ecosia to date, and the organization has also committed 85 million euros, or roughly $92 million, to climate action.
It doesn’t build a personal profile to customize adverts and search results, nor does it keep your search history indefinitely (it gets erased after a week). Additionally, Ecosia is open about the fact that you can disable cookies.
Additionally, Ecosia asserts that it is carbon-negative, having constructed its solar power plant to power its servers sustainably. Ecosia is free, however, you can gift a tree.
7. Aol
AOL, previously America Online, is a brand marketed by Yahoo! Inc. You still get a start page with selected hot subjects from the news, entertainment, sports, health, food, and finance categories in the online portal game.
However, it can also be used as a web search engine. In the US, its market share is 0.09%. During the 1990s and 2000s, it was extremely popular.
It is not the most private search engine because location and activity tracking are enabled by default. On the other hand, you can disable these through the Privacy Dashboard. The search results are powered by partnerships with Google and Bing.
Privacy-Focused Search Engines
Protecting your digital privacy might be tough in the present day of targeted ads and tracking. For a more private and safe online search experience, these are the best alternative search engines.
8. Startpage
Startpage, headquartered in the Netherlands, provides Google-like search capabilities without tracking users. It is excellent for people who appreciate privacy.
Instead of searching the entire web, Startpage collects results from numerous search engines such as Google, Bing, and DuckDuckGo, highlighting links that are present across all of them. It also includes a URL generator, a proxy service, and HTTPS capability.
Startpage had topped 3 million daily searches by 2023, indicating that it was becoming increasingly popular among privacy-conscious users. It also complies with the General Data Privacy Regulation (GDPR), which ensures user data privacy.
9. DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo is a mainstream search engine, but its main appeal is that it doesn’t collect or store any personal information.
In 20121 it had substantial growth, managing about 98.79 million search queries per day. DuckDuckGo accounted for 2.13% of the US search market as of December 2023.
DuckDuckGo’s search results come from over 400 sources, but no personal information is shared with any of them.
DuckDuckGo is a wonderful solution for those who value their privacy and personal information when exploring the web.
They have DuckDuckGo Lite, a mobile version of the search engine.
10. Swisscows
Swisscows is a privacy-focused search engine headquartered in Switzerland, a country known for its strict privacy rules. It uses semantic information recognition to get rapid and efficient search results without retaining personal information.
Swisscows is also family-friendly, with automatic filtering of violent and inappropriate content. It avoids using tracking cookies and geolocation. While it uses Bing for web searches, it created its index for the German language edition.
With over 20 million searches processed monthly in 2018, Swisscows distinguished itself as a search engine that respects user privacy by not collecting or keeping data.
Swisscows also provides a unique, ad-free music search option that respects user privacy.
11. Brave Search
The private search engine Brave Search is produced by Brave Software, the same company that created the privacy-focused Brave browser.
In 2023, it became completely independent of other search engines such as Bing, relying only on its index to improve user privacy and transparency in search results.
Brave Search, which is integrated with the Brave browser, provides an ad-free browsing experience while also rewarding users with cryptocurrency, resulting in a unique combination of privacy and earnings.
Brave Search has grown rapidly, with 24.57 million daily active users as of January 2024. Additionally, it states that over 65 million people use the Brave browser every month for a faster and safer browsing experience.
12. Gibiru
Gibiru is a search engine that values privacy and does not censor results. It is ideal for people who want to avoid being tracked by the government or companies. Gibiru’s servers remove all search logs within seconds after processing the query. In March, Gibiru received 2.84 million visitors. It uses a modified Google algorithm to provide search results, so you can get what you’re looking for without worrying about Google tracking you.
Gibiru also offers a mobile app for anonymous online browsing. Gibiru earns commission when users make purchases or perform activities based on its search results, rather than using personal data for ads.
Search Engines for Specific Countries or Languages
These search engines are intended to address the special needs of users in various regions by reflecting local languages and cultural backgrounds. They can adjust to both language and cultural differences.
For example, Baidu and Yandex adhere to local censorship laws, which influence the material that users see. Similarly, Naver’s design has been modified to South Korean consumers’ preferences.
Here are some notable examples:
13. Baidu
Baidu is China’s leading search engine, with a 66% market share. Its search results cater specifically to the Chinese market, with content hosted on Chinese servers ranking higher in the SERPs.
Baidu, like Google, provides a variety of services, such as maps, music, movies, and an app store. In addition, Baidu offers a mobile browser and an app.
14. Yandex
Yandex is Russia’s top search engine, with more than 50% of the market share. It is well-known for its powerful algorithm, which accurately interprets Russian-language search requests. Yandex is also widely used in Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine.
Apart from its search engine, Yandex offers a range of services like Yandex.Maps, Yandex.Music, and Yandex.Money, all of which contribute to a smooth user experience.
It also has an advertising network that lets businesses and organizations reach their intended audiences.
15. Sogou
Sogou is a rapidly growing Chinese search engine with a 5% market share in China. It provides an interactive search experience and includes features like WeChat integration, article search, English search, and translation services.
Sogou is committed to providing professional, accurate, and convenient search results by utilizing its own artificial intelligence algorithms.
16. Naver
Naver is the second most popular search engine in South Korea, accounting for 34% of the market share. Its interface is only in Korean, with no English version available.
As a local search engine, Naver does not index the entire internet. Instead, it concentrates on offering a variety of services, including blogs, news, music, and shopping.
Furthermore, Naver provides a mobile app for easy searching on the go.
Charitable search engines
17. Goodsearch
Goodsearch is a charitable search engine that donates a portion of its profits to organizations that its users choose. Goodsearch donates $0.01 to the user’s selected charity for each search that is conducted. Yahoo generates the search results.
But there are a few things you should know about the GoodSearch browser extension. It is categorized as a browser hijacker by PCRisk, which implies that it can change browser settings without the permission of the user, possibly compromising their security and privacy.
18. YouCare
YouCare, a charitable search engine founded in France, gives away 80% of its income to various charitable organizations.
YouCare stands out for being transparent; to confirm the contributions made, go to their donation certificates page. YouCare also has a counter that keeps track of how many searches you’ve done.
You can also specify where your money can be allocated among the many charitable deeds.
A Copyright-Free Search Engine
19. Openverse
Openverse is an open-source search engine developed as part of the WordPress initiative to assist users locate free and freely licensed content like as images and audio.
Unlike Google, which provides a broader range of search results, Openverse focuses on a huge, searchable library of open-source media, such as images, audio, and videos.
It’s excellent for anyone who needs music for movies or photos for blog articles without having to worry about copyright issues.
Openverse indexes more than 700 million objects from 45 sources, including Wikimedia Commons and Flickr.
A Revenue-Sharing Search Engine
20. Yep.com
Yep.com, created by Ahrefs, positions itself as a unique search engine that prioritizes user privacy by not tracking or selling user data.
While it monitors the frequency of keyword searches and the click popularity of links, it does not create personal profiles for targeted advertisements. Its business approach encourages direct pay for content providers by offering a 90/10 revenue share.
Additionally, it does not keep search history, IP addresses, or User-Agent strings indefinitely.
Knowledge-Based Search Engines
21. Wiki.com
Wiki.com collects results from thousands of wikis throughout the internet, making it a perfect search engine for people who value community-driven information, such as Wikipedia.
Wiki.com increases the accessibility of varied information sources by focusing on collaborative content, which appeals to individuals who value community-led information.
22. Wayback Machine
The Internet Archive, often known as the Wayback Machine, is a useful tool for researching historical web pages and much more.
It serves as a comprehensive online library, providing access to a wide collection of digitized materials such as millions of free videos, books, music, and software.
23. X (Formerly Twitter)
X stands out as a fantastic real-time search engine, especially useful during situations when immediate updates are critical. While Google may eventually catch up, nothing beats the speed of a tweet in critical situations.
X excels in providing minute-by-minute information, making it the go-to platform for those who need quick updates and insights when every second counts.
Its capacity to supply real-time material ensures that people remain informed and connected during critical events.
Specialized Search Engines
Specialized search engines focus on specialized topics or industries, giving users more relevant and focused results than broad search engines such as Google.
Here are some examples:
24. WolframAlpha
WolframAlpha is a powerful computational knowledge engine that delivers precise answers in a variety of fields, including mathematics, science, and linguistics.
It is an excellent resource for students, teachers, and professionals.
The Pro version, priced at $5.49 per month, includes advanced computing and data processing features.
25. LinkedIn
LinkedIn is widely known as a business-oriented search engine, with 61 million searches made each week. Its search algorithm promotes the originality of an organization’s LinkedIn Page name; more distinctive names get higher search results.
However, overusing keywords might backfire, triggering spam filters and lowering visibility.
The system takes into account criteria such as the number of followers, connections to the searcher, page activity, and the relevancy of search terms in the organization’s name, all of which influence search ranks.
Conclusion
While Google is still the preferred search engine for many people, it’s important to know that it may not always be the greatest fit for your requirements and tastes.
Exploring other search engines can have numerous advantages, including increased privacy and a more personalized search experience. Whether you want to share entertaining material or protect your online privacy, these options can help.
From privacy-focused platforms to those with unique features and eco-friendly solutions, there is a search engine for everyone. We encourage you to experiment with these alternatives and share your results.
Which ones did you try, and how did they affect your search habits?