TL;DR - which privacy-focused search engine do people recommend, preferably one that can also easily be used as a default option in Safari?

I ditched Google in about 2016ish I would guess, and since then have used DDG as my default search engine.

As someone entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, it’s always seemed like a sound choice, as it’s one of the search engines built in to Safari on both iOS and macOS.

After spending a bit more time recently playing around with and updating my Docker containers, I started hosting a Whoogle container, which seemed to work pretty well, but I don’t see many out there talking about it, so not sure how good it actually is. I then tried a SearXNG container, but either had it misconfigured or just wasn’t getting many search results back.

At the moment I’m trying out Startpage, but I know there are potential privacy concerns since they were part-bought in 2019 by a US ad-tech company.

I’m also playing around with different browsers at the moment, flicking between Safari, Firefox and Brave. At which point I stumbled across Brave Search, which seems pretty promising.

So, which search engines do you all recommend?

UPDATE: Probably should’ve done a poll! But latest (if I’ve captured everything correctly) is:

  • DuckDuckGo - 10
  • Qwant / SearXNG / Kagi / Brave - 4
  • Startpage / Ecosia - 2
  • Google - 1

As to my other questions around browsers:

  • Majority seem to use Firefox
  • Some mentions of Brave
  • One mention of Arc
  • jcrabapple@dmv.pub
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    1 year ago

    I started paying for Kagi a few months ago and I’m loving it. Search results and tools are great. People balk at paying for a search engine, but at least this way I know I’m not the product.

    • Sendbeer@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      Kagi has been great. I’d like to see more searches on their $5 plan as 300 searches a month doesn’t feel adequate. It has been great being able to promote, demote, and block sites from searching and I have found my results to be more helpful and relevant than Google alternatives I tried. I don’t think I have used Google search at all since signing up. Highly recommend.

    • fulano@lemmy.eco.br
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      1 year ago

      The weird thing for me is that by paying to use, you will need to be uniquely identified, and that opens doors for losing privacy in several ways. How is that addressed by kagi?

      • Sendbeer@lemm.ee
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        1 year ago

        They address this on their website and go in further detail on their privacy policy. You’d have to read through that to decide if they do enough to earn your trust. But in my opinion not having any advertising removes most of their incentive to try to collect user data. I suppose there could be a temptation to collect the data to resell, but since a large portion of their income relies on the reputation of being a search alternative that has a focus on privacy I feel the risk to their reputation would be greater than whatever revenue that would generate.

        Of course there are all kinds of companies that flew too close to the sun and sold out user privacy for a Coke and a smile. I’ve decided to go with Kagi and have been very happy with them so far. If they ever sell out I’ll cash out, but they seem to be the best option for me right now.

  • Agility0971@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Just using duckduckgo. I’m not happy with my search results as they heavily prioritize clickbait CEO blogs instead of showing official documentation / sources.

    • L_Acacia@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Duckduckgo results are pretty bad in my experience, brave search and startpage are way better.

  • SpunkyBarnes@geddit.social
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    1 year ago

    ddg.gg for the win.

    Started using them when I confronted the Google filter bubble for the first time.

    But what totally sold me? DDG provided me link for a product I had searched for in vain on Google for years at that point, using the exact same query.

      • SpunkyBarnes@geddit.social
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        1 year ago

        Steel leveling jacks, manual, center screw variety, used extensively for leveling mobile homes back in the day.

        First time I used DDG to look for them, BOOM, half way down the page a manufacturer in Enid, OK. G? Literally for years kept serving me up pneumatic, expensive, industrial gear or services.

  • Viper_NZ@lemmy.nz
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    1 year ago

    I’ve been using DuckDuckGo for years now and recommend it all the time.

    I get decent, reliable results so haven’t shopped around.

    • EpicFailGuy@kbin.social
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      1 year ago

      @Viper_NZ

      @schmurnan

      Been a duckie for years now but I find myself going back to google for things like maps and shopping (that nearby search is a godsend) have you found any privacy mindfull alternatives?

      • Fireplant@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        On Android you can install Organic Maps, but the downside is that it’s 100% offline so you’ll need to download the maps for each area you want to have a map of (which, takes storage)

        OsmAnd+ seems to be a good alternative recommended often, but I just haven’t used it.

        On PC, OpenStreetMaps is your friend

        • Fireplant@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          On Android you can install Organic Maps, but the downside is that it’s offline so you’ll need to download the maps for each area you want to have a map of (which, takes storage)

          OsmAnd+ seems to be a good alternative recommended often, but I just haven’t used it.

          On PC, OpenStreetMaps is your friend

    • Skyline@lemmy.cafe
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      1 year ago

      Do you find DDG to be slower than Bing or Google? A few years ago I thought there was a noticeable delay with DDG, but not with Google.

  • Herowyn@kbin.social
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    1 year ago

    Using qwant because it’s developed and hosted in France. Better than supporting a US company as a European.

    • jacktherippah@lemdro.id
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      1 year ago

      I think there was some drama a while ago about them collecting and sharing data which got them delisted from PrivacyGuides? Not a good look imo.

  • SamsonSeinfelder@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Default search in Firefox: SearXNG (solves 60-80%)

    if not the solution, I then search for “dd [term]” which goes to duckduckgo. Solves mostly the rest.

    If not, and I am really desperate, I try: “dd !g [term]” so it goes to ddg, redirects to google and then I am reminded how bad a first page result can be. Only ads, sponsored entries and only big company names. Good luck finding anything from a forum or a small blog on google today. All the search words are bundled up in company results that has nothing to do with the topic.

        • Nix@merv.news
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          1 year ago

          I meant because you mentioned there’s nothing but ads which would be gone with an adblocker. Did you mean the actual results are essentially ads or literally the ads and Sponsored post at the top?

  • ornery_chemist@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    DuckDuckGo from the browser, because 90% of the time I can get where I want with the appropriate !bang from the address bar.

    • Apathy Tree@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      1 year ago

      With the appropriate ! bang from the address bar

      What does this mean? I want to like DuckDuckGo, but it’s kinda messy.

      • ornery_chemist@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        They are basically shortcuts. For example, I can type “!w ibuprofen” into DuckDuckGo (or the address bar because I have it set as my default search engine) and be brought immediately to the wikipedia page for Ibuprofen. There’s also !yt for youtube search, !so for stack overflow search, and many more.

  • angelsomething@lemmy.one
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    1 year ago

    Personally, I use duck duck go as my primary search engine but I only use it to search for things. But since chatgpt4, I use perplexity.ai for actual answers. Browser wise, I use duck duck go where I can or Arc on my Mac with all the usual privacy plugins.

    • schmurnan@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      What are your thoughts on Arc? I tried it a couple of months ago but couldn’t really get used to the layout, etc.

      Sure it’s as good a browser as any, I just wasn’t feeling it.

  • alfisya@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    Brave search user here (on Firefox ✌️), i prefer its UX and UI more than duckduckgo. It has better local result for my region, has discussion-like feature, now also has “summarizer”, and it also still has bangs. So far they are not shy showing “search elsewhere” button.

    • schmurnan@lemmy.worldOP
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      1 year ago

      Perhaps I need to go back to figuring out SearXNG. Although I did read that there’s a slight privacy compromise to use SearXNG over SearX.

      Perhaps that doesn’t apply if it’s self-hosted, though.

  • Chaotic Entropy@feddit.uk
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    1 year ago

    I tried ecosia and startpage, the results through both are just 95% garbage. Duck Duck Go seems to be okay.

    I use Vivaldi as my browser, includes ad block and various useful, if bulky, features.

  • HighLite@infosec.pub
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    1 year ago

    Ready to get downvoted again, but I like Brave Search as I’ve been using the excellent browser for a couple of years now anyway. The search gets better and better with time and has its own independent, privacy friendly picture search now as well. So I’ll definitely stick with Brave.