I have used SearXNG for a while, but I switched to LibreX after the search engine started glitching. Recently, though, LibreX has stopped returning any results. I am currently on Mojeek, but the results aren’t that great.
I have also tried Qwant, but I wasn’t too keen on it. Startpage will be impractical, as I use a VPN and this engine often blocks me because of it. I don’t want to use Brave Search for a number of reasons. MetaGer has too many important features behind its paywall. I’m not sure about DuckDuckGo, but I could use it if there was no other option.
Any suggestions, or am I being too picky?
I primarily use DuckDuckGo, and occasionally have to use a !bang to get to the Startpage or Google.
This, I used DDG !bang a lot, !git, !yt, !g, !alt
Not that it is a deal-breaker, but this functionality is also built into Chromium browsers if you right click the address bar and select ‘manage search engines’
Why are people so against DDG here? Just wondering because I use it and think it’s fine
Anything US based should be avoided.
General good practice
I’m here because I’m trying to figure out why dog is giving me curated location based results instead of the actual results, even though I have my region set to all regions.
So I’m not recommending them because their product has gotten worse.e
US-based meaning 3 letter agencies can get your data without a court order and that you aren’t protected by the GDPR if you don’t live in the EU
I’m wondering the same. ddg has been great for me.
US is a big red flag
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They track their users, even though not tracking users is supposed to be their thing.
DDG is basically Bing
I’m not sure this is really a solvable problem but at the end of the day, DuckDuckGo is a for profit corporation. Privacy is more of a marketing angle than something they actually care about. Last year they allowed Microsoft to track mobile users of their “privacy focused” browser which is obviously against their stated purpose for existing. They backtracked after facing backlash but it’s done lasting damage to their reputation. They also got caught by a security researcher, they weren’t at all upfront about it. I think that’s enough to shatter any hope that they are genuine or trustworthy.
I think they got bought out by Microsoft or something, so naturally people are weary of it now.
They use bing results but they most certainly weren’t bought by Microsoft. They have a deal with Microsoft to use their results without tracking. At least to my knowledge. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.
They had been contractually obligated to allow certain MS ad cookies/trackers as part of a big money deal, but I believe they were able to get those requirements removed and it’s actually zero trackers now.
Oh right, thanks I wasn’t sure I just knew they made some deal with Microsoft
Because it’s just a proxy for Bing, with all the pitfalls of that.
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I’m not sure if it’s because DDG uses Bing for its results, but I feel like that might be why the results in DDG are like that. Might be coming directly from Bing, unless something happened with DDG that I don’t know about.
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Fair enough. I don’t use it. Just thought the results might be more because of Bing than their own algorithm or something.
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And their ads are very tame imo.
Isn’t it basically bing?
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It’s Bing results. For Navigation it links to Google and Bing. It’s main upside is planting trees. Which they do a well from the documentations and reports I’ve seen.
i have multiple search engines and searx
As main search, among others, I use Andisearch, it’s an AI search assistant, with own lenguage model and one of the most private search engine. own reader mode for websites in the search results, so you don’t need to visit it, you also can watch YouTube and others sandboxed right in the search results, anonymous use, no ads, no tracking, no logs.
Easy add it to your search engine list in your browser
https://andisearch.com/?query=%sI use MetaGer as my daily driver and you.com for deeper niche searches
I don’t want to use Brave Search for a number of reasons.
Mind sharing? I’m curious because I switched to DDG several days ago, after a good while of using Brave. My reasons were:
- defaulting to Moderate safe search every couple of days
- inability to provide me with good results for simple ‘[word] wiktionary’ queries
- having to block some elements of their result templates manually, using their own browser’s filtering feature (featured snippets, definitions etc)
- poorer search results compared to what they were a year, two ago
Some people here mentioned Kagi and I liked it a lot when I was beta-testing it, but I will only start paying for using it when they introduce full support for Boolean operators, which most likely means never.
I don’t like Brave as a company. Brendan Eich is an arsehole, Brave Browser has had (minor, but numerous) controversies, their crypto stuff is off-putting, and now they’re sticking their new AI into everything.
tbh im not sure but if you want google results with safesearch try resulti
some here won’t like the idea of a premium, private search engine but Kagi is one of the best tech discoveries I’ve made in a long time. I pay $5/month for 300 searches and always seem to hit the limit at the very end of my month, never payed the 1.5 cents per search after that.
can you explain more on why it’s worth that subscription?
You can sign up for a trial with 100 searches.
As for what is good, searches tend to pull up relevant info that is not buried under a bunch of seo shit. You can block, downgrade, and upgrade domains (I have blocked Pinterest from all my search results for instance). It’s just a very good experience. And long term I feel more confident in their user experience since their profit motivation is not tied to serving you up ads.
My biggest complaint is the 300 searches a month seems a little low.
But give the 100 free searches a shot. I have been very happy with them.
thanks. yea seems strange to limit searches
I use a self hosted instance of Whoogle. It threw up an error a few days back. Got stuck in Google captcha(probably an IP issue). Now it has reset and it is smooth sailing.
Yeah, it is simply Google results, but I think it’s fine…
Maybe some will dislike , but i use yandex, i don’t know why, but i get good results. I prefer to give them my info and not google
Definitely not. Never mind “out of the frying pan, into the fire”; for me, this is “out of the lake, into the fire”.
Using Yandex would involve giving my personal data to Russia. The possibility of my data falling into the wrong hands is the main reason I am looking for a private search engine; I’m certainly not then about to just walk up to the wrong hands and say “here you go”. Not to mention the censorship.
Besides, I’ve blacklisted the .ru, .su, and .рф, .москва, and .yandex TLDs in NextDNS.
Well i am far far from Russia so i don’t care, it can’t be worst compared to google. I don’t believe too much in the real privacy, one way or another 3 letter agencies will get the info.
I’ve been enjoying Kagi but it’s not for everyone.
Add a proxy to your browser and you should get through on Startpage.
Been a happy Kagi user for 6+ months now. No more Pinterest and other blogspam in my searches
Aren’t they fundamentally anti privacy? You have to be logged in so they can correlate literally everything you search for or click on with a credit card number and real name…
If you’re dumb enough to use a card that is connected to you, your real name, an email connected to you, or expose your IP; then it’s possible. There’s no way to know for sure they’re not logging until they receive a court ordered request for information.
Yeah. I don’t think something that requires payment is inherently private. Even when paying for a service with something like Monero, you are still required to log into an account to use it.
By that logic all vpns are inherently anti-privacy, which isn’t true. Especially if you are using your real static ip, a regular search engine would be no better of a result as it pertains to data leakage.
You could absolutely have a profile built about you on a VPN. VPNs don’t necessarilly have to be telling the truth when they say they don’t keep logs. You are entrusting the VPN with all of your internet traffic, which just passes the responsability from the ISP to the VPN provider.
I do use a VPN, but I am aware of its flaws.
Tor and/or I2P is what people should be using if they require absolute privacy (like if they’re a whistleblower).
You’re stating exactly what I did in a long winded manner. There is clear proof that multiple vpns at the moment are not logging sensitive information and that some are.
So to state blanketly that paying for a service is less private, than not, is incorrect. There is more nuance to it than that. Which is all that I was pointing out.
Tor/I2p is what you add on top if you want anonymity, which can still expose you on an exit node if you’re: sending sensitive information, using a device connected to you, or using a static IP address.
They ask a bit of trust on that, but their FAQ also has an appeal to reason:
I have privacy concerns over linking my search queries with my credit card. Why should I trust you?
We do not log search queries. Queries you type are never associated with your account. The simple reason is we don’t have any reason to do so, as it would only be a liability for us. We are in the business of selling search results, not user data.
(For the record, I use Kagi)
That’s asking for a hell of a lot of trust in them… wouldn’t be the first, or last, time companies lie about these things.
Can anyone else endorse this? Looking for an alternative to duckduckgo. Thanks
Try Brave search
I have to say I used Random Searx a lot, startpage as Backup. And as VPNs are getting mainstream, it gets a pain in the ass. Mullvad Leta sucks too kinda. Now I use duckduckgo alone and actually never need my specially configured SearXNG search providers, although useful.
I have to say, I use a lot of search engines. Using the “Add custom search” Addon on Firefox you can easily add any URL containing a search word to your browser.
I maintain some lists of search engines that need updating.
I tried using SearXNG for a few weeks but I kept needing to chance instances. I’m using DuckDuckGo for now.
You can self host for a better experience
