I use several search engines. All have their + and -. As main search I use Andi, apart Startpage, Mojeek, Whoogle, Ghostery Search, Groot and some others, apart some specific ones, like Forums, Pixabay, Wolphram Alpha,, etc., I find what I'm searching for. Multisearch engines are fine, but they don't show the same results of the engines which API's they use. Apart of privacy, it's mayby more important to avoid search engines which logs the searh history, because the filter bubble effect, causing an biased information.
this post was submitted on 21 Feb 2025
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Privacy
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As an alternative for both, try searXNG.
https://searx.space/ for instances.
https://github.com/searxng/searxng for the code, you can run your own instance.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SearXNG for the wikipedia article.
Personally, I find it returns much better results than anything currently available elsewhere. It reminds me of a time when search actually worked. Also, no ads and no tracking.
BTW, different instances can supply poorer results than others, so shop around to find the best one for you.
I just tried it with a few different instances, the fact that you can search the web for files is awesome. Just one problem though, I tried searching for a few specific websites in the "general" tab and they just wouldn't show up in the results.
Maybe I'm just missing something.
I don't believe you are. I'm not certain it's been implemented... yet.
The entire Fediverse is a work in progress. It's just better than the alternatives.
Incredible. I was thinking about something like that, didn’t know it exist already
Startpage=proxy Google
DuckDuckGo=proxy Bing
StartPage actually uses a combination of Google and Bing results, and on mobile it’s entirely Bing.
I’ve been using Brave Search with Zen browser. Pretty good.
Is brave search a proxy version of google or did they build their own index?
They built their own index, but if the search engine can’t find what you’re looking for, they have an option to show you proxied results from Google or Bing.
I’m on Firefox Edge for my cellphone, Firefox for the rest
What is Firefox edge? Do you mean Firefox focus?
Yes. Don’t know why I change the name
DuckDuckGo is generally considered the more private of the two. And StartPage had some shady issues a while back, but I can't for the life of me remember what they were...
Thanks I will look into that
Whatever nebulous issues one or the other may or may not have had, my personal experience is that startpage (from my understanding, basically privacy'd google) provides higher quality search results than DDG (fmu, basically privacy'd bing).
I'm more biased against Google than against Microsoft, and as mentioned in another comment, the search engines are proxies of the respective companies, so it's hard to give an objective opinion.
Now, what I would suggest, trying to be as neutral as possible, is to test both and see which fit your needs more. After that, use mainly the better one and keep the other as a fallback option.
Ddg have AI and its bad. Startpage still being a google API. I consider SP because you can run it completly without javascript
Can't you run ddg without javascript, on their plain html version?
I know it's a controversial take around these parts, but I've fallen in love with Kagi.
If I had to rank search engines by results, in my opinion/experience:
Kagi > Brave > Startpage/Google > DDG/Ecosia/Bing
Kagi/Brave/Startpage/DDG all offer privacy to some degree. I haven't really fucked with SearXNG though I'm sure its awesome.
I’ve been disappointed by many and don’t trust commercial space.
Dig around and you will find no so pleasant information on DDG and Kagi. I suspect same is true for any business backed search.
I used both and eventually run into negative information, which made me reconsider both. I started with DDG, then Kagi.
It is SearXNG all the way for me now and there are no regrets so far. Other post on it is the best option.
What negative information have you found about Kagi?
Owner is spending all resources into AI neglecting actual search.
There was something else, but I forgot.