Private and open-source alternatives to Yahoo Search
15 search engines rated against the same public privacy criteria as Yahoo Search, with our picks first.
Why look for an alternative?
- Open source: no. Closed source.
- No trackers or telemetry: no. Search queries, IP addresses and browser identifiers are collected and may be shared with search partners, and this cannot be turned off.
- No ads or data sales: no. Funded by advertising, including interest-based ads.
- Independent audit: no. No independent audit is published.
- Security headers: partial. Grade B+ (80/100+)
- No search history logs: no. Search queries are collected with IP addresses and browser identifiers, and search history is kept for signed-in users.
- No profile-based ads: partial. Interest-based ads use activity and searches by default, and users can opt out in Yahoo's privacy controls.
- No account needed: partial. Search works without an account; some features are only available to registered users.
See the full Yahoo Search rating.
The alternatives
DuckDuckGo Grade C Our pick
Search engine that does not save search history or tie searches to IP addresses. Ads are based on the search terms instead of a profile.
Why it is our pick: Results good enough to replace Google for most searches, no search history, no profile-based ads, and no account needed. Apps and browser extensions are open source.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). DuckDuckGo scores 73 out of 100 (grade C) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 11 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, tells users about requests, TLS configuration, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
4get Grade B
Open-source metasearch engine and proxy that fetches results from other search engines and strips tracking, usable at 4get.ca or other public instances or self-hosted.
4get scores 88 out of 100 (grade B) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 7 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
SearXNG Grade B
Free, open-source metasearch engine that combines results from many search services without storing information about its users. It can be self-hosted or used through public instances.
SearXNG scores 88 out of 100 (grade B) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 7 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
YaCy Grade B
Free search engine software that users run themselves, either as a personal or intranet search portal with its own crawler, or as a peer in a decentralized network that shares a web index.
YaCy scores 88 out of 100 (grade B) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 7 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
PriEco Grade B
Open-source web search engine written in Rust that combines its own index with results from other sources and supports result customization through Goggles.
PriEco scores 75 out of 100 (grade B) on the search engines criteria. It meets 7 of 11 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
MetaGer Grade C
Open-source metasearch engine run by the German non-profit SUMA-EV that combines results from several search providers, paid for with a prepaid anonymous key, and includes an anonymizing proxy for opening results.
Based in Germany (Fourteen Eyes). MetaGer scores 73 out of 100 (grade C) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 11 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, no search history logs and no profile-based ads.
Marginalia Search Grade C
Independent open-source search engine from Sweden with its own crawler and index, focused on finding small, non-commercial and text-heavy websites.
Based in Sweden (Fourteen Eyes). Marginalia Search scores 70 out of 100 (grade C) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 11 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
Mwmbl Grade C
Non-profit, open-source search engine with its own community-crawled index, where signed-in users can help curate search results.
Mwmbl scores 70 out of 100 (grade C) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 11 criteria: open source, no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, no search history logs and no profile-based ads.
Uruky Grade D
Paid, ad-free search engine from Portugal that combines results from European and UK search providers such as Mojeek, and lets each user customize sources and domains.
Based in Portugal. Uruky scores 57 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 5 of 11 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales, TLS configuration, no search history logs and no profile-based ads.
Brave Search Grade D
Search engine from Brave Software built on its own independent web index, designed not to store searches with identifiers or build user profiles.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Brave Search scores 55 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 3 of 10 criteria: TLS configuration, no search history logs and no profile-based ads.
Mojeek Grade D
British search engine that uses its own crawler and index and states that it does not track users.
Based in the United Kingdom (Five Eyes). Mojeek scores 55 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 5 of 11 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, TLS configuration, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed.
Kagi Grade D
Paid, ad-free search engine from Kagi Inc. that combines its own index with results from other providers and lets users rank, block or boost websites.
Based in the United States (Five Eyes). Kagi scores 50 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 3 of 11 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, no ads or data sales and no profile-based ads.
Swisscows Grade D
Search engine from the Swiss company Swisscows AG that filters out adult content, does not use tracking cookies or build user profiles, and offers an ad-free paid tier.
Based in Switzerland. Swisscows scores 50 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 3 of 11 criteria: TLS configuration, no search history logs and no profile-based ads.
Startpage Grade D
Dutch search engine returning primarily Google results, proxied to strip IP and identifiers. Includes an "Anonymous View" proxy for previewing results privately.
Based in the Netherlands (Nine Eyes). Startpage scores 45 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 3 of 11 criteria: TLS configuration, no search history logs and no profile-based ads.
Presearch Grade D
Search engine from the Canadian company Presearch that serves queries through a network of community-run nodes and rewards searchers and node operators with its PRE crypto token.
Based in Canada (Five Eyes). Presearch scores 43 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 2 of 10 criteria: no search history logs and no profile-based ads.