SearXNG
The actively maintained successor to Searx. Self-hostable, open source metasearch engine. Users can access existing public instances.
Best Google Search Alternatives in 2026
8 private alternatives, vetted against our public criteria.
Your search history is the richest profile anyone can build about you, and Google’s model is to log every query and personalise around it. The engines below return real answers without keeping a diary of what you asked.
Brave Search
Blog post about the new Brave Search beta . Based in the US. Launched in June 2021.
Mojeek
A crawler-based search engine that provides independent search results using its own index of web pages, rather than using results from other search engines. Based in the UK.…
DuckDuckGo
Privacy-focused search engine and mobile browser. Blocks trackers, forces encrypted connections, and does not profile you. Partially open-source, based in the US.
Startpage
Obtains Google search results while protecting users' privacy. Based in the Netherlands. Launched in 1998.
Qwant
French private search engine, EU-hosted, no personal data stored, blending its own index with Bing results.
Kagi
Paid, ad-free search engine with no tracking, customizable result ranking, and a small free trial.
Why settings won’t fix Google Search. What you search reveals more than almost anything else you do online, and Google’s incentive is to remember it. Even signed out, your queries are tied to your address and shaped into a profile. There is no setting for not being profiled by a company whose business is the profile, so the fix is an engine that never builds one.
What actually matters in a search engine. No query logging tied to your identity, results that are not bent by a profile of you, a clear picture of whether it runs its own index or proxies others, and no filter bubble quietly narrowing what you see. The absence of a profile is the point: everyone gets the same honest results.
How to switch. Set the engine as your browser default and give it a week, since the habit is the only real adjustment. Learn the shortcut that jumps to another engine for the occasional search that needs it, so you never feel stuck. You keep the convenience of the address bar and simply stop feeding a permanent record of your curiosity.
Frequently asked
- Are the results as good as Google's?
- For most everyday searches, yes. Some engines run their own index and some blend several sources, and both can match Google on common queries. For a stubborn local or obscure search, a quick shortcut to peek at Google results is built into most of them.
- Do these engines have their own index?
- Some do and some act as a privacy layer in front of other engines, stripping your identity before passing the query along. Both keep your searches off a profile. The right choice depends on whether you value an independent index or the broadest results.
- How do I make one my default?
- Every browser lets you set a default search engine in settings, and these engines usually offer a one-click add. After that, your address bar just uses it, with no profile building up behind your searches.