# Search engines privacy ratings

Web search services.

**Our pick:** [DuckDuckGo](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/duckduckgo/): 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.

| Name | Grade | Jurisdiction | Description |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| [DuckDuckGo](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/duckduckgo/) (our pick) | C (73/100) | United States (Five Eyes) | 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. |
| [4get](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/4get/) | B (88/100) | Unknown | 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. |
| [SearXNG](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/searxng/) | B (88/100) | Unknown | 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. |
| [YaCy](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/yacy/) | B (88/100) | Unknown | 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. |
| [PriEco](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/prieco/) | B (75/100) | Unknown | Open-source web search engine written in Rust that combines its own index with results from other sources and supports result customization through Goggles. |
| [MetaGer](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/metager/) | C (73/100) | Germany (Fourteen Eyes) | 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. |
| [Marginalia Search](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/marginalia-search/) | C (70/100) | Sweden (Fourteen Eyes) | Independent open-source search engine from Sweden with its own crawler and index, focused on finding small, non-commercial and text-heavy websites. |
| [Mwmbl](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/mwmbl/) | C (70/100) | Unknown | Non-profit, open-source search engine with its own community-crawled index, where signed-in users can help curate search results. |
| [Uruky](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/uruky/) | D (57/100) | Portugal | 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. |
| [Brave Search](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/brave-search/) | D (55/100) | United States (Five Eyes) | Search engine from Brave Software built on its own independent web index, designed not to store searches with identifiers or build user profiles. |
| [Mojeek](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/mojeek/) | D (55/100) | United Kingdom (Five Eyes) | British search engine that uses its own crawler and index and states that it does not track users. |
| [Kagi](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/kagi/) | D (50/100) | United States (Five Eyes) | 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. |
| [Swisscows](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/swisscows/) | D (50/100) | Switzerland | 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. |
| [Startpage](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/startpage/) | D (45/100) | Netherlands (Nine Eyes) | Dutch search engine returning primarily Google results, proxied to strip IP and identifiers. Includes an "Anonymous View" proxy for previewing results privately. |
| [Presearch](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/presearch/) | D (43/100) | Canada (Five Eyes) | 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. |
| [Ecosia](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/ecosia/) | D (41/100) | Germany (Fourteen Eyes) | Search engine from the Berlin company Ecosia that shows results and ads from Microsoft Bing or Google and uses its profits for tree planting and climate projects. |
| [Bing](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/bing/) | F (32/100) | United States (Five Eyes) | Microsoft's search engine, which also supplies results to several other search engines. Searches are linked to cookies and Microsoft accounts to personalize results and ads. |
| [Yahoo Search](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/yahoo-search/) | F (32/100) | United States (Five Eyes) | Yahoo's web search engine. Searches are collected with cookie, device and account identifiers, shared with search partners, and used to personalize results and ads. |
| [Yandex Search](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/yandex-search/) | F (27/100) | Russia | Web search engine from the Russian company Yandex. Searches are linked to cookies, IP addresses and Yandex ID accounts to personalize results and ads. |
| [Google Search](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/google-search/) | F (25/100) | United States (Five Eyes) | Google's web search engine. Searches are linked to accounts, cookies and devices to personalize results and ads. |
| [Qwant](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/qwant/) | F (23/100) | France (Nine Eyes) | French search engine that combines results from Microsoft Bing with its own European index, shown with contextual ads by default. |

## Criteria

- **Open source** (weight 3): Is all the source code needed to run the product public?
- **No trackers or telemetry** (weight 3): Are the website and apps free of third-party trackers, with any analytics anonymous and any telemetry off by default?
- **No ads or data sales** (weight 2): Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
- **Independent audit** (weight 2): Has an independent security or privacy audit been published within the last three years?
- **Transparency report** (weight 2): Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
- **Tells users about requests** (weight 1): Does the provider promise to tell users about requests for their data, unless a court forbids it?
- **TLS configuration** (weight 2, automated): Does the website pass the Qualys SSL Labs test with a grade of A or better?
- **Security headers** (weight 1, automated): Does the website pass the Mozilla HTTP Observatory test with a grade of A or better?
- **Modern web standards** (weight 1, automated): Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
- **No search history logs** (weight 3): Are searches stored without IP addresses or other identifiers?
- **No profile-based ads** (weight 2): Are ads (if any) based only on the current search, not a profile?
- **No account needed** (weight 1): Can every feature be used without an account?

Source: https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/