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@zerozaku@lemmy.world

What search engine y'all are using?

2026-06-07 12:46 UTC

I am kinda fed up off trying all these privacy focused search engines which provide lesser quality service. Here’s what I’ve tried so far: Duckduckgo: bad results when you search something that piracy related Searx: I’m not geeky enough to host mine own searx so I just jump from one instance to another and the uptimes have been bad. Startpage: Idk why it’s down most of the time Ecosia: Not very private, but I just tried it for the sake of it. It’s bad when it comes to the results. Honestly I feel Brave search is the best when it comes to results. But the sketchy practices kept me away from it. Kagi is paid so I haven’t tried it. What have you been using?

Replies (17)

  • @CorvusCornix@piefed.social 2026-06-07 13:27

    I know you mentioned having tried it but my experience with DDG has been pretty good and it’s what I use (edit to add that I’m not doubting your experience with it has been poor and this isn’t intended to sound flippant). I see Kagi come up a lot. I don’t trust engines like Kagi not to link my payment data with my search history, personally. They’re a US company, so consider what that means in the current state of the world and privacy. I haven’t deeply investigated the validity of it, but the Kagi CEO allegedly harassed a journalist (minor edit, a blogger) who had a critical take on their service, and supposedly they were founded as - you guessed it - an AI company. And sure, DDG is a US company, too. But they don’t really have anything personally identifying to link my searches back to me. I can accept the ads (though I have uBlock), which are only contextually targeted based on search keywords. I don’t think I’d use their browser or extensions, which would have a much more privileged place in my “tech stack”, but for search it does well enough.

    Open ##3335358

  • @okwhateverdude@lemmy.world 2026-06-07 12:51

    If you aren’t paying for it, you are the product. I pay for Kagi and I am very happy with the results and tools they develop.

    Open ##3335530

  • @passenger@sopuli.xyz 2026-06-07 23:04

    Currently using www.qwant.com It’s French, they are trying to create an european search index together with german Ecosia.

    Open ##3335658

  • @Tinkerer@lemmy.ca 2026-06-07 13:13

    I've been uaing my own selfhosted searxng instance. Absolutely love it.

    Open ##3350398

  • @ekZepp@lemmy.world 2026-06-07 12:54

    Duck Duck works for me. I use the "Disable Ai" addon (libreoffice) to remove most of the useless stuff. I've also tried Ecosia, but the lack of option for chronological results is a big No for me.

    Open ##3350401

  • @voxel@feddit.uk 2026-06-07 13:12

    Startpage has never been down for me, so idrk what the problem on ur end is.

    Open ##3350411

  • @HelloRoot@lemy.lol 2026-06-07 13:34

    searXNG with a lot of "backends". I like how it aggregates the results from multiple engines, at least for my searches they turn out consistently more relevant when using any single search.

    Open ##3350416

  • @CobraChicken3000@lemmy.ca 2026-06-07 17:36

    I have a Kagi subscription and very happy with it.

    Open ##3350417

  • Kagi has a free trial. Brave is run by a POS.

    Open ##3350421

  • @artyom@piefed.social 2026-06-07 17:21

    You can try Kagi for free, no CC required.

    Open ##3350422

  • https://uruky.com/

    Open ##3350425

  • @Wildmimic@anarchist.nexus 2026-06-07 19:43

    after a similar path that you took, I now use Metager.org, a privacy respecting meta search engine. You pay for your search requests, but it's very, very cheap since it is run by a nonprofit (around a eurocent/search depending on settings). They integrate a lot of smaller search indexes, and you can choose to integrate braves and googles index if you wish. You can blacklist webpages too, and the source is FOSS.

    Open ##3350433

  • Isn't there a new European thing?

    Open ##3350434

  • @tangible@piefed.social 2026-06-07 16:23

    I'm using Kagi. I've also tried out Uruky to see if that would be a viable non-US alternative.

    Open ##3350435

  • @Innerworld@lemmy.world 2026-06-07 16:22

    https://www.searchenginemap.com/

    Open ##3350440

  • @mrmisses@lemmy.world 2026-06-07 13:16

    Opera (with it's free VPN, I know, I'm the product, but it gets around porn restrictions since I live in a shithole state/country) Firefox for regular browsing

    Open ##3350441

  • @artyom@piefed.social 2026-06-07 17:23

    And even sometimes you don't pay and still aren't the product. See most FOSS stuff. The statement is just false.

    Open ##3350443