Looking for the best search engines other than Google? Perhaps you’re concerned about privacy, want to help the environment, or you’re just keen to try something new.
It’s clear that Google is the most popular search engine. Statcounter shows that Google has had a global market share of around (or above) 90% since the site started recording data in 2009.
But Google may not be the best choice all of the time.
In the list below, you’ll find the best alternative search engines ordered by category.
Mainstream Search Engines
1. Bing
Bing is the second-largest search engine in the world by market share. Launched by Microsoft in 2009, Bing is Google’s main competitor with a market share of 3.38% as of January 2024.
As Microsoft is an investor in OpenAI (the company behind ChatGPT), Bing benefits from cutting-edge AI technology.
Microsoft updated Bing in February 2023 to include more AI features (calling it “the new Bing”). Like AI summaries and interactive AI chat.
Why It Stands Out
Bing stands out for a few reasons:
- Rewards program: Bing searches can earn you points for gift cards and charitable donations
- Content generation: When you need more than a simple answer, Bing can generate content. Like an email, an essay, a poem, or an itinerary for a trip. Bing cites all its sources, so you can see the content it references too.
- Visual experience: Bing’s layout is highly visual, with lots of imagery and other non-text elements
Further reading: Bing vs. Google: Comparing the Two Search Engines
2. Yahoo
Yahoo is the third most popular search engine, with a market share of 1.13% in January 2024.
Launched in 1994, Yahoo was one of the first search engines on the internet. It uses Microsoft’s Bing to power its search function. So, the results are often similar.
Yahoo is more than just a search engine. It’s an extensive web portal. It covers content on almost every topic, from the weather to news and finance. It also offers email services.
Why It Stands Out
Yahoo’s homepage is informative and personalized. It shows you the weather for your location, top news stories, and even sports scores directly on the homepage. So you can see some basic (personalized) information before you even perform a search.
3. AOL
AOL is a web portal and search engine owned by Yahoo. It includes web, image, video, shopping, and map searching options.
AOL uses Bing to produce search results. However, it has its own map search system, having acquired MapQuest in 2000.
AOL used to be a bigger player, with 1.45% market share in the USA back in early 2009. That share has shrunk to less than 0.2% in 2024.
Why It Stands Out
Like Yahoo, AOL’s homepage is a content portal. It contains links to articles on a wide range of topics. Like business, fitness, finance, news, recipes, and more.
Privacy-Focused Search Engines
4. DuckDuckGo
Founded in 2008, DuckDuckGo is one of the best alternatives to Google if privacy and data security are important to you.
Powering 3 billion monthly searches, it caters to a growing audience concerned about their data being tracked and used for marketing purposes.
Unlike traditional search engines, DuckDuckGo doesn’t track users or personalize ads. Your search history remains private.
It offers a familiar layout to Google. With categories like images, videos, news, maps, and shopping.
Why It Stands Out
DuckDuckGo has a few stand-out features:
- Bangs: These shortcuts enable quick access to search results on other sites, like Wikipedia or Amazon (you can access these by typing “!” into the search bar)
- Instant Answers: Quick responses for a variety of queries including stock market updates, sports scores, song lyrics, and unit conversions
- Private Voice Search: A secure voice search option for iOS users
5. Startpage
If you’re interested in search engines other than Google that don’t track you, Startpage is another one to consider. Startpage describes itself as “the world’s most private search engine.”
The search engine was launched in 2006 in the Netherlands. It delivers Google’s search results without tracking users’ search history.
It does not record personal data or profile its users. And it removes user IP addresses from Startpage’s servers. While it does deliver ads, it does not use behavioral targeting to do so.
Search results include private local in-map results, knowledge panels, and instant answers.
Users can tap into results from Google Images, Videos, News, and Shopping (this feature is currently in Beta).
Why It Stands Out
It provides Google search results without tracking, combining Google’s search power with enhanced privacy.
6. Brave
Brave is a web browser and search engine known for its strong focus on privacy and speed. It does not track users or their searches.
Brave Search was launched in 2021. According to Brave’s website, Brave Search has grown faster than any search provider since Bing, driving 2.5 million queries in the first year.
Private, independent, and transparent, Brave Search is a viable alternative to Google.
And unlike many other privacy-focused search engines, it does not rely on Google and Microsoft to supply the search results. Brave delivers search results based on its own index.
To avoid bias, it won’t personalize your search results. For example, results won’t be impacted by your search history.
Why It Stands Out
Key highlights of Brave include:
- Transparency in ranking: Brave is transparent about how it ranks search results—it uses community feedback to refine search results and ensure diversity
- Goggles feature: These allow you to apply custom filters and rules to tweak the way Brave ranks results for you
- AI-powered summarizer: Provides concise, AI-generated summaries at the top of search results with cited sources
7. Qwant
Qwant is a privacy-focused search engine from France. It is available in several languages, including English and Italian.
On the search engine’s website, Qwant claims to have 6 million monthly users and process 7 million queries each day.
Qwant offers three main interfaces: Search, Maps, and Qwant Junior (available in French).
Qwant uses Bing to deliver search results. According to an article written by Qwant, the search engine is continually evolving to use more of its own systems and become truly independent.
When you conduct a Qwant search, your search queries are encrypted. So other websites and third-party networks won’t find out who you are and what you are searching for.
That said, Qwant is a close partner of Microsoft, and Bing Ads are displayed in the search results. Qwant shares some of the ad data it collects with Microsoft.
Why It Stands Out
Qwant takes privacy seriously and even describes itself as “the search engine that doesn’t know anything about you.”
8. Swisscows
Swisscows is an anonymous search engine that aims to be family-friendly. It doesn’t track users, store data, or use cookies.
The search engine’s privacy policy states that it tracks some data to monitor traffic and block bots. But after seven days, Swisscows removes all personal information (like your IP address) from the search data.
Unlike some other privacy-focused search engines, it filters inappropriate content. So it’s safe for all ages.
Swisscows cooperates closely with Microsoft. Bing powers its search results (although it does have its own index for German language queries), and it earns revenue through Bing Ads.
Why It Stands Out
Swisscows is based in Switzerland (hence the name), and Switzerland has a long history of privacy and security. Its laws are generally protective of individual privacy rights. In fact, Swisscows says its “technology is built in such a way that the storage of user data is not even possible.”
9. Gibiru
Gibiru is another alternative search engine with a focus on privacy. Founded in 2009, it offers an anonymous and uncensored search experience.
Gibiru does not record searches, track IP addresses, or place cookies on your computer for advertisers to target you.
As well as standard search, it also offers images, videos, and news options.
Gibiru appears to use a modified version of Google’s algorithm for ranking results and may show content that is censored by other search engines.
At the top of the search results, you can toggle between “All Results” and “Censored Content.” Like some forum threads.
Why It Stands Out
It’s a highly privacy-focused search engine that can deliver search results you might not be able to find on Google.
Search Engines with Generative AI
10. You.com
You.com is an AI-based search engine. It aims to make users’ lives easier by summarizing the web.
You can search in natural language to get an AI-generated summary. But if you need more info, you can click on “All” in the top navigation bar to see a list of search results. Like a traditional search engine.
The AI assistant can answer questions and explain concepts, suggest ideas, translate content, and even write code.
Users can choose between private mode (with zero data collection) and personal mode (which is more customized).
In personal mode, you can also define your preferred sources to see results from the sources you trust first. To save you time when searching.
If you haven’t set your personal preferences, rankings are based on relevancy. The search engine relies on Bing for its search results, although it does have its own website crawler.
You.com is highly privacy-focused, aiming to store the minimum amount of data possible. And You.com does not sell your data to advertisers or use external trackers.
You.com is currently only available in English and primarily serves the U.S. market.
Why It Stands Out
You.com offers AI-powered tools like Imagine (for image generation) and YouWrite (text generation). These can help you with creative tasks if you need more than just a search engine results page (SERP).
11. Perplexity AI
Perplexity.ai is an AI-driven search engine focused on providing direct answers to questions.
It uses advanced AI ****** to understand and respond to user queries. The search engine is designed to deliver precise, context-aware answers. Unlike traditional search engines that primarily just list web pages.
The interface is simple and user-friendly, designed to make information easily accessible. And it cites sources so you can verify the information.
If you sign up, you can read your previous chats in a library. You can also hit the toggle button next to the search bar to activate Copilot.
Copilot is a smart assistant that asks you follow-up questions and suggests your next query.
There is a paid pro version available that includes image upload, upgraded AI, and more Copilot searches.
Why It Stands Out
Perplexity makes it easy to find the information you need, quickly, using AI.
12. Komo
Komo is an AI-driven search engine that focuses on speed and privacy.
You can use it to research topics, ask it to explain a concept, or catch up with news.
Komo uses machine learning to analyze information from various online sources. Then, it provides an AI-generated summary with a list of sources. And suggests follow-up questions.
The experience is more interactive than a traditional search engine. Because you can ask Komo follow up questions.
Why It Stands Out
Komo’s AI summaries give you accurate and detailed responses to a query without needing to browse different sites. This is similar to Google Search Generative Experience (SGE).
Search Engines That Support the Environment
13. Ecosia
Ecosia is a Berlin-based search engine that dedicates 100% of its profits to saving the planet.
With 20 million users, it uses ad revenue from searches to fund tree planting and conservation projects globally.
When you search, you can see an icon on the top right that tells you how many trees you’ve planted with Ecosia. The more you search, the more trees Ecosia plants.
The search interface resembles Google, with image, news, video, and map searching options. It also offers rich results, where you can search train times or book a hotel through Ecosia’s partners.
Ecosia’s results highlight eco-friendly organizations with a green leaf icon and “climate-destructive” companies with a fossil fuel plant icon, to help people make eco-conscious decisions.
It uses Bing and Google for search results and ads, but this can vary depending on your consent options. It also has a new AI chatbot powered by ChatGPT.
Why It Stands Out
As a carbon-negative company, Ecosia is a great choice for those who want to support the planet.According to Ecosia’s blog, each search removes around 0.5kg of CO2 from the atmosphere.
14. giveWater
giveWater, founded by Michael Feeley, is a search engine that supports global water initiatives.
According to giveWater’s website, 663 million people drink dirty water. This search engine is trying to change that.
Users contribute to this cause by using giveWater for searches and clicking ads, with a portion of ad revenue going to water charities.
There is also a giveWater browser extension for Chrome.
Why It Stands Out
With giveWater, you can help provide clean water to those who need it—just by searching the web.
15. Ekoru
Ekoru is a charity-led search engine that contributes to cleaning up the oceans.
Ekoru helps replant ocean seagrass and remove plastic. It does that by working with organizations like Big Blue Ocean Cleanup and Operation Posidonia.
Searches are eco-friendly because Ekoru’s servers are powered by hydroelectricity (water-powered electricity). In fact, the company says a search on Ekoru generates 4.4g less CO2 than a search on Google.
It also encrypts your data and doesn’t store or sell your search data to third parties.
Why It Stands Out
When you click on an ad, some revenue goes toward charities that help keep our oceans clean, rescue marine animals, and conduct research on the levels of microplastics. Ekoru’s efforts to reforest the ocean with seagrass can play a key role in fighting climate change.
16. Dogpile
If you’d like to access search results from a range of different search engines, Dogpile might be the right choice for you.
Dogpile uses metasearch technology. This means it combines results from other major search engine indexes, including Google and Bing. So you can perform a single search to get the most relevant results from around the web.
To search on Dogpile, just type in what you’re looking for and click “Go Fetch!” Its “Are you looking for?” feature lists suggestions for your next search.
Why It Stands Out
You can access search results from different search engines in one set of results.
Plus, Dogpile is a hit for canine lovers. Dogpile has a mascot called Arfie the Dalmation who “fetches” the information. It displays the most popular “fetches” (searches) on its homepage.
Web3 Search Engine
17. Presearch
Presearch is a decentralized, community-powered search engine. It prioritizes privacy and rewards users with cryptocurrency.
As Presearch is decentralized, it runs on servers operated by the community. Whereas search engines like Google run on the company’s own (centralized) servers.
Presearch’s vision is to build open and transparent algorithms so the community can contribute to the search index.
The search engine prioritizes privacy. User searches are not tracked, and you can choose if you want your search experience to be personalized or not.
Why It Stands Out
Users can earn rewards for searching, staking (holding cryptocurrency), and referring others to the platform.
Search Engine for Supporting a Good Cause
18. Goodsearch
Want to make the world a better place while you search? Goodsearch might be the alternative to Google that you’ve been looking for.
Goodsearch donates half its revenue (about a penny per search) to charities chosen by users. As of January 2024, Goodsearch has raised over $8 million.
How does it work?
Every time someone clicks on an ad, this generates some revenue. Which can go to more than 100,000 non-profit organizations. Such as schools, charities, hospitals, volunteer services, political and religious organizations, and more.
The search interface will probably look familiar. You can find search, images, video, news, local, and shopping options. And the people also ask and related searches sections are similar to those found on Google.
The search engine’s results are powered by Yahoo (which relies on Bing).
Why It Stands Out
Goodsearch puts a strong focus on helping various communities through donations. This makes it a charitable alternative to Google search.
Copyright-Free Search Engine
19. Creative Commons Search
Let’s say you need an image for a piece of content. So you look on Google Images and find something suitable.
But wait!
The image is copyrighted, so you can’t use it.
Luckily, there is another way.
You can use the Creative Commons search portal to find content you can use.
It includes Openverse, which gives you access to over 700 million free and openly licensed images, photos, audio, and other media types. You can also search through other platforms like Vimeo for videos and SoundCloud for music.
Why It Stands Out
You can find copyright-free content for your own use. So it’s easy to find high-quality images, videos, and even audio for your own projects without worrying about the usage rights.
International Search Engines
20. Yandex
Yandex is the most popular search engine in Russia. It’s also used in other countries like Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine.
The appearance is quite minimalistic, but Yandex offers a wide range of services similar to Google. Like search, images, videos, maps, mail, and translation.
Why It Stands Out
You can decide whether you want Yandex to personalize your experience or not. And you can even turn ads off from the homepage if you want to.
21. Baidu
Baidu is the leading Chinese search engine. It dominates around 66% of the search market in China as of January 2024. And the Baidu App is the number one search and information app in China.
Baidu offers a broad range of services, including maps, music, videos, and an app store, similar to Google’s range of services.
Founded in 2000, the search engine has been using AI technology to improve its search since 2010.
Why It Stands Out
Baidu is known for its powerful search capabilities and is tailored to meet the specific needs of the Chinese market.
Optimize Your Website for All Search Engines with Semrush
While Google is the leading search engine in much of the world, it might not always be the best option. Alternative search engines can offer specific useful features. Like enhanced privacy, AI tools, or even supporting a good cause.
With so many options out there, it’s likely that some of your customers are using search engines other than Google. Do you know where your users are located? And which search engine they prefer?
You can use Semrush’s Market Explorer tool to find out more about your target market. Including where they are located.
You can also gain insights into demographic data, socioeconomics, and their interests. As well as behavioral data like top visited domains and their favorite social media channels.
Try the Market Explorer tool for free to gain a better understanding of your audience, so you can tailor your SEO and marketing efforts for better results.
Source link : Semrush.com
