Search engines
DuckDuckGo privacy rating
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.
Summary
DuckDuckGo scores 70 out of 100 (grade C) on the search engines criteria. It meets 6 of 12 criteria: no trackers or telemetry, tells users about requests, TLS configuration, no search history logs, no profile-based ads and no account needed. It partly meets open source, no ads or data sales, transparency report and security headers. It does not meet independent audit and modern web standards. It is based in the United States: Five Eyes member; subject to the US CLOUD Act. Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+, Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B and Internet.nl website score 61%.
Score 70 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
-
Partial
Open source Weight 3 of 3
Is all the source code needed to run the product public?
Apps and extensions are open source, such as the Apache-2.0 Android app. The search engine itself is not.
-
Yes
No trackers or telemetry Weight 3 of 3
Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
No third-party trackers or tracking cookies; anonymous experiments store no identifiers, and the Android app has no known trackers in its Exodus report.
-
Partial
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Funded by search ads based only on the current search, not a profile.
-
No
Independent audit Weight 2 of 3
Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
No independent audit is published.
-
Partial
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
The privacy policy states how legal requests are handled and that search histories cannot be provided, but no request counts are published.
-
Yes
Tells users about requests Weight 1 of 3
Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
Users with an email address on file are notified of legal disclosures by email unless legally forbidden.
-
Yes
No search history logs Weight 3 of 3
Are searches stored without IP addresses or other identifiers?
Search history is not saved, and IP addresses are not saved alongside searches.
-
Yes
No profile-based ads Weight 2 of 3
Are ads (if any) based only on the current search, not a profile?
-
Yes
No account needed Weight 1 of 3
Can every feature be used without an account?
Search needs no account. Only optional extras such as Email Protection need one.
Automated tests
-
Yes
TLS configuration Weight 2 of 3
Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
Grade A+
-
Partial
Security headers Weight 1 of 3
Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
Grade B (75/100+)
-
No
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Score 61%