Search engines
MetaGer privacy rating
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.
Summary
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. It partly meets security headers and no account needed. It does not meet independent audit, transparency report and tells users about requests. It is based in Germany: Fourteen Eyes member; EU member (GDPR). Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B.
Score 73 out of 100. How scoring works
Criteria
- Yes
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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 tracking or third-party analytics; error reports go to a self-hosted GlitchTip instance with IP addresses removed.
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Yes
No ads or data sales Weight 2 of 3
Is the product funded without advertising, ad targeting or selling user data?
Funded by prepaid search keys and donations to the non-profit SUMA-EV, with no ads.
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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.
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No
Transparency report Weight 2 of 3
Does the provider regularly publish how many government and legal requests it receives and how it responds?
No transparency report or government request policy is published.
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No
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?
No published policy on notifying users about data requests.
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Yes
No search history logs Weight 3 of 3
Are searches stored without IP addresses or other identifiers?
IP addresses and user agents are not saved, and queries are passed to search partners without identifiers.
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Yes
No profile-based ads Weight 2 of 3
Are ads (if any) based only on the current search, not a profile?
No ads are shown.
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Partial
No account needed Weight 1 of 3
Can every feature be used without an account?
No account or email is needed, but searching requires a prepaid, randomly generated MetaGer key.
Automated tests
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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
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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+)
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Not tested yet
Modern web standards Weight 1 of 3
Does the website score 90% or higher on the Internet.nl website test?
Not tested yet.