SearXNG
The actively maintained successor to Searx. Self-hostable, open source metasearch engine. Users can access existing public instances.
Reviewed by Marco Wollank
Best Google Search Alternatives in 2026
7 private alternatives, vetted against our public criteria.
Your search history is the richest profile anyone can build about you, and Google’s business is to log every query and personalize around it. The engines below answer your searches without keeping a diary of what you asked, and most take a minute to set as your browser default.
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.…
Startpage
Obtains Google search results while protecting users' privacy. Based in the Netherlands. Launched in 1998.
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 IP address and shaped into a profile that feeds the ads and the results you see. Incognito mode only hides that history from other people on your device; it does nothing to stop Google itself from logging the query. There is no toggle for “stop profiling me” inside a product whose business model is the profile. The only real fix is an engine that never builds one, which is what every pick above is designed to do.
What actually matters in a private search engine. Two questions sort the field: does it log queries against your identity, and does it run its own index or proxy a bigger engine? An independent engine like Brave Search or Mojeek crawls the web itself, so it breaks the Google and Bing duopoly instead of reselling it. A privacy layer like Startpage serves Google’s own results with your identity stripped out, the easiest way to keep Google-grade relevance without Google’s tracking. DuckDuckGo sits in between: Bing-based results with no profiling, and the gentlest learning curve for someone switching today. None of them pays its bills with your data.
How to switch. Pick one engine and set it as your browser default in settings, where every browser offers a one-click add. Give it a week before you judge it, since the habit is the only real adjustment. Learn the one-key shortcut, often called a bang, that re-runs a search on another engine for the occasional query that needs it, so you never feel stuck. And if Google Search is only the first thing you are replacing, the de-Google guide covers the rest of the ecosystem, from Maps to mail.
Frequently asked
- Will a private search engine give me worse results than Google?
- For everyday searches, no. Proxy engines like Startpage serve Google's own results with your identity removed, and Bing-based engines like DuckDuckGo are close behind. Independent indexes can be thinner on rare or very local queries, but a built-in shortcut lets you re-run any search on another engine, so you are never stuck.
- Can I keep using Google Maps and Gmail if I switch search?
- Yes. Changing your search engine does not touch the rest of Google, and you can replace those pieces separately when you are ready. Many people start with search because it is the easiest swap with the biggest privacy payoff, then work through the rest of the de-Google list over time.
- Does signing out of Google make my searches private?
- Not really. Signed out, Google still ties your queries to your IP address and device and shapes them into a profile. The only way to stop the profiling is to search somewhere that never starts it.
- Is it free to replace Google Search?
- Almost always. Every engine on this page is free except Kagi, which runs on subscriptions so that no advertiser pays for your data. The free options need no account and take about a minute to set as your browser default.