The 10 best alternative search engines to Google

Google is the most widely used search engine for browsing the Internet. The results and suggestions we get from entering any search term are almost always spot on, something that is achieved –in part- by collecting the user's browsing data. If you are determined to put the Google algorithm aside and try new search engines, here are a few ideas that might interest you.

The 10 best alternative search engines to Google

In terms of privacy, there are search engines with a greater degree of anonymity, but that is not all, since if you have spent your whole life using Google to make your queries on the net, surely you will appreciate other features than without they will certainly attract your attention. Let's go there!

1- Bing

Bing, Microsoft's search engine, is the second most used search engine on the planet (although light years behind Google). The Bing algorithm shows results extracted from the Yahoo! search engine itself, with a home page with a wallpaper that is updated daily with images of animals, places, sports, etc. An interesting detail is that in the video results we can get a small preview of the content if we hover the mouse over it. In addition, if we click on the video we can play it without leaving the search engine.

It also offers many of the features that we see on Google, such as sports scores, translations, spell checking, flight schedules, and much more.

Enter Bing

2- StartPage

One of the favorite search engines of many Internet users concerned about their online privacy. Startpage draws exclusively on the same results as Google, so it is something like Google but without the trackers and tracking elements used by Google. They do not keep records of our IP or use tracking cookies.

Another interesting fact is that StartPage is located in the Netherlands, and therefore follows the regulations of the European Union, which means that it complies with the GPRD data protection law.

Enter StartPage

3- DuckDuckGo

One of the best alternatives to Google for those who search a higher level of privacy. DuckDuckGo has built a well-deserved reputation by keeping user privacy at bay: our online activity and searches are never logged, which means we will never see personalized ads anywhere.

The search engine offers a clean interface with results drawn from the Yandex and Yahoo search engines. One of its most interesting features is the "bangs". Thanks to them we can query directly on sites like YouTube, Wikipedia or Amazon, simply by adding an exclamation point and the name of the site to our search (for example,! youtube,! facebook, etc.)

Enter DuckDuckGo

4- CC Search

The leading search engine for everyone who searches content without copyright of any kind. This search engine is perfect if you need music for a video that you are preparing, or for an image for a post on your blog, or basically for anything that does not imply having to go around swiping content from other authors without their permission.

The operation of CC Search is very simple: you enter a search and the engine shows results from sites such as Soundcloud, Wikimedia, Flickr and any material tagged with a Creative Commons license.

Enter CC Search

5- Swisscows

Swiss-sourced search engine that has its own indexed results for German users, but uses Bing for all other languages. In this case we are facing a “family friendly” search engine that filters all the results removing any adult content (violence, pornography). This is native functionality and cannot be disabled in the configuration options, which may be more than convenient in certain environments.

Another of its strengths is privacy: it does not use tracking cookies or geo-identifiers. If we are concerned about your dependence on Bing we will be happy to know that all inquiries go through the Swisscows firewall to remove any personal identifiers from the user. The results are not as hurried as in other search engines but the overall experience is more than positive.

Enter Swisscows

6- Qwant

Based in Paris, Qwant began its journey back in 2013. Its search engine is powered by Bing and its own web crawlers. Qwant neither does it collect user data or use tracking cookiesWhich is great but also has its downside when it comes to doing local searches.

For example, if we search for "pizzerias near me" the results will not take into account our geolocation, receiving generalist results or from other countries (in my case, that I live in Spain, it shows me some pages from Mexico). Otherwise a clean and competent search engine.

Enter Qwant

7- Ecosia

A different and original alternative to Google that has been “rocking” since 2009, although it has never reached such popularity as its competitors. Ecosia presents a clean and distraction-free interface quite similar to Google's own search engine. However, its great appeal, and the main reason this search engine is known for, is that part of the money the company earns is invested in plant trees to reforest the planet (To date they have planted more than 100 million).

Like DuckDuckGo in Ecosia, our activity is not tracked or our data is sold to third parties, resulting in a good search engine for those who seek privacy in their navigation.

Enter Ecosia

8- Search Encrypt

Privacy-oriented search engine that uses local encryption to make sure our searches are 100% private. Use a combination of encryption methods including AES and SSL encryption.

In addition to that, it has other interesting functions, such as, for example, that search terms have an expiration date, helping to keep information private even when someone manages to access our PC.

Enter Search Encrypt

9- Yandex

Also known as the Russian Google, Yandex is the popular search engine used by 45% of Internet users in Russia. It also has a lot of pull in other countries such as Belarus, Turkey and Ukraine, and in general terms it is a very correct and much cleaner search engine than Google. However, some details are still missing, such as incorporating the Spanish language.

One of the biggest competitors of Google that also offers similar services such as cloud storage, mobile apps, maps, email, translator, own browser and more. Privacy however does not seem to be one of its strong points.

Enter Yandex

10- Yahoo!

Yahoo was one of the most powerful companies in the early years of the Internet, now little more than a shadow of what it once was. Its mythical search engine is no longer so popular, and in fact today it is powered by Bing, although that does not mean that it continues to be the third most used search engine in the world (1.6% of global searches).

The results it shows are usually quite decent, although the interface is one of the least attractive that we can find. It is not privacy-oriented either: the company collects personal information from users who register or use its services. It can be an interesting alternative if we are tired of Google, but at least in this type of practice we will not see too many differences.

Enter Yahoo!