Welcome to the definitive source for comparing search engine alternatives to Google.
Why would anyone want an alternative to the Google search engine? Some concerns that people have with Google include: user privacy, manipulation and misuse of search results, tax avoidance, use of others’ intellectual property, and business concerns such as having a monopoly (more than 90% of searches are done on Google). Because people and businesses use the internet in so many different ways, it is important to find the search engine that fits each use case best.
We've performed a comprehensive research study to identify Google-alternative search engines that search the entire public internet. To be included in our study, the tool must require users to input text and give a list of matching results as an output. This list includes both paid and free search engines, and meta-search engines (if they search the entire web).
The following search engines have not been included, for a number of reasons (e.g. broken site, incomplete search results or non-English language): Boardreader, Wolframalpha, Chacha, Blekko, Blog Search Engine, Wiki.com, Baidu, Disconnect Search, Kartoo, and Surfwax. We’ve also left out search engines that only search the dark web or ones that only search for specific information (e.g. http://www.blog searchengine.org/).
If you are also interested in finding an effective web browser, check out: Top 50 Web Browser Alternatives.
We reached out to a cohort of industry experts to get some initial feedback on what features are most important in search engine tools. We’ve ranked the top ten tools in our research according to their responses. This top ten list is continually updated as we get more feedback. But we highly suggest you participate in our custom search engine survey so you can layer in your own importance prioritization for each feature:
Top Ten
Google Search Engine Alternatives
as of April 2021
Note: If we mark a specific solution as not having a particular feature, that only means we did not see that feature advertised in their public marketing content. We focus almost exclusively on publicly verifiable facts in our research.
Our researchers have looked at 368 data points and more than 1800 analysis points. They have studied 39 integrations, 32 features, 46 search engine tools and over 1400 feature points.
Search Engine Feature Strength is a number that was calculated by looking at how many features each search engine had, and the relative, subjective importance of each feature. You can reach out to us to layer in your own feature importance scoring before deciding on a solution.
Likewise, Search Engine Business Strength is a number that was derived from certain business-related qualities of each company, and our own (subjective) scoring of the importance of those qualities. There too, you’ll want to give your own importance rating to derive your own, custom scatter plot:
We've used the Likert Scale to calculate a score for software features and business attributes. Our list also includes many other considerations such as which features each search engine provides, age or launch date, pricing and Domain Authority score. You can click here to jump to a list of all the features we've uncovered.
We trust that this publication will save you many hours of research. To make this research report mobile-friendly, we’ve nested five different methods of ranking these search engine tools. Click on each of these to expand the ordered list:
Tool | Age |
Lycos | 24.7 Yrs |
Search | 24.7 Yrs |
Excite | 24.7 Yrs |
WebCrawler | 24.7 Yrs |
InfoSpace | 24.7 Yrs |
MetaCrawler | 24.7 Yrs |
Dogpile | 24.5 Yrs |
Internet Archive | 24.4 Yrs |
Yippy | 24.3 Yrs |
Info | 24.2 Yrs |
Aol | 23.5 Yrs |
Ask | 22.6 Yrs |
Startpage | 22.6 Yrs |
Entireweb | 22.4 Yrs |
Gigablast | 21.6 Yrs |
Lukol | 21.3 Yrs |
SearchEngineZ | 21.2 Yrs |
MetaGer | 20.3 Yrs |
Exactseek | 20.3 Yrs |
Bing | 19.4 Yrs |
Yandex | 18.9 Yrs |
Qwant | 18.9 Yrs |
giveWater | 17.8 Yrs |
SearchScene | 17.1 Yrs |
YaCy | 16.8 Yrs |
Mojeek | 16.6 Yrs |
Yahoo | 15.7 Yrs |
Lemmefind | 15.5 Yrs |
Goodsearch | 14.8 Yrs |
Sputtr | 14.2 Yrs |
BabyLon | 14.1 Yrs |
Symbaloo | 14.0 Yrs |
DuckDuckGo | 12.8 Yrs |
Ecosia | 11.6 Yrs |
CuteStat | 11.5 Yrs |
Gibiru | 10.4 Yrs |
Ekoru | 9.8 Yrs |
Million Short | 9.2 Yrs |
ZOO | 7.7 Yrs |
Kiddle | 7.5 Yrs |
Givero | 7.5 Yrs |
Swisscows | 6.5 Yrs |
Searx | 6.4 Yrs |
Search Encrypt | 4.1 Yrs |
Oscobo | 4.1 Yrs |
OneSearch | 1.4 Yrs |
Tool | Score |
Bing | 93 |
Internet Archive | 93 |
Yahoo | 92 |
Yandex | 90 |
DuckDuckGo | 89 |
Lycos | 88 |
Ask | 85 |
Ecosia | 82 |
Startpage | 81 |
Qwant | 81 |
Excite | 81 |
Goodsearch | 80 |
Aol | 79 |
WebCrawler | 78 |
Dogpile | 77 |
Symbaloo | 77 |
InfoSpace | 76 |
Search | 76 |
BabyLon | 75 |
Exactseek | 75 |
Kiddle | 74 |
MetaCrawler | 74 |
Entireweb | 72 |
CuteStat | 72 |
Gigablast | 71 |
Yippy | 70 |
Info | 70 |
YaCy | 70 |
Swisscows | 60 |
Searx | 58 |
Search Encrypt | 57 |
Mojeek | 53 |
Oscobo | 52 |
MetaGer | 49 |
Gibiru | 49 |
Million Short | 49 |
OneSearch | 47 |
ZOO | 43 |
Givero | 40 |
SearchEngineZ | 32 |
Sputtr | 30 |
Lukol | 29 |
Ekoru | 28 |
giveWater | 18 |
SearchScene | 15 |
Lemmefind | 11 |
Tool | Count |
Yahoo | 21 |
Bing | 20 |
Internet Archive | 19 |
Yandex | 18 |
DuckDuckGo | 18 |
Qwant | 17 |
Aol | 17 |
Startpage | 16 |
Ecosia | 16 |
OneSearch | 15 |
Excite | 14 |
Givero | 14 |
MetaGer | 13 |
Searx | 13 |
Mojeek | 13 |
Goodsearch | 13 |
Swisscows | 12 |
Ask | 12 |
Gibiru | 12 |
Yippy | 12 |
Entireweb | 12 |
Million Short | 12 |
Ekoru | 11 |
Gigablast | 11 |
Search Encrypt | 11 |
SearchScene | 11 |
Info | 10 |
YaCy | 10 |
MetaCrawler | 10 |
ZOO | 10 |
Dogpile | 9 |
InfoSpace | 9 |
Oscobo | 9 |
Search | 8 |
Exactseek | 8 |
Lukol | 7 |
giveWater | 7 |
BabyLon | 7 |
Kiddle | 7 |
CuteStat | 7 |
WebCrawler | 6 |
Symbaloo | 6 |
Lycos | 4 |
Lemmefind | 4 |
Sputtr | 1 |
SearchEngineZ | 1 |
Tool | Score |
Internet Archive | 5.19 |
DuckDuckGo | 5.1 |
Ecosia | 4.93 |
Startpage | 4.91 |
Goodsearch | 4.89 |
Gigablast | 4.67 |
Swisscows | 4.41 |
Mojeek | 4.25 |
Million Short | 4.15 |
Bing | 4.01 |
Yahoo | 3.99 |
Yandex | 3.94 |
Lycos | 3.89 |
Ask | 3.82 |
Qwant | 3.73 |
Excite | 3.73 |
Aol | 3.68 |
WebCrawler | 3.66 |
Dogpile | 3.63 |
Symbaloo | 3.63 |
InfoSpace | 3.61 |
Search | 3.61 |
BabyLon | 3.59 |
Exactseek | 3.59 |
Kiddle | 3.56 |
MetaCrawler | 3.56 |
Entireweb | 3.52 |
CuteStat | 3.52 |
Yippy | 3.47 |
Info | 3.47 |
YaCy | 3.47 |
SearchScene | 3.35 |
Searx | 3.18 |
MetaGer | 2.97 |
Gibiru | 2.97 |
ZOO | 2.83 |
Givero | 2.76 |
SearchEngineZ | 2.57 |
Sputtr | 2.52 |
Lukol | 2.5 |
Ekoru | 2.48 |
Search Encrypt | 2.25 |
giveWater | 2.24 |
Oscobo | 2.13 |
Lemmefind | 2.07 |
OneSearch | 1.11 |
Tool | Score |
Yahoo | 52.54 |
Bing | 51.45 |
Yandex | 47.45 |
Internet Archive | 47.27 |
DuckDuckGo | 46 |
Qwant | 44.72 |
Ecosia | 43.09 |
Aol | 42.09 |
Startpage | 41.72 |
OneSearch | 40.45 |
Givero | 35.9 |
Goodsearch | 35.45 |
Mojeek | 34.9 |
Searx | 34.54 |
Ask | 34 |
MetaGer | 34 |
Gibiru | 33 |
Entireweb | 32.45 |
SearchScene | 31.63 |
Gigablast | 31.45 |
Excite | 31.36 |
Yippy | 30.9 |
Ekoru | 30.72 |
Search Encrypt | 30.45 |
Swisscows | 29.54 |
Million Short | 28.9 |
Info | 27.18 |
MetaCrawler | 27.18 |
ZOO | 27.18 |
Dogpile | 25.18 |
Oscobo | 24.81 |
YaCy | 24.72 |
InfoSpace | 24 |
Kiddle | 21.63 |
Exactseek | 21.45 |
Lukol | 21.36 |
giveWater | 21.36 |
Search | 20 |
BabyLon | 18.63 |
CuteStat | 17.54 |
Symbaloo | 17.09 |
WebCrawler | 15.9 |
Lemmefind | 10.63 |
Lycos | 10.27 |
Sputtr | 1.72 |
SearchEngineZ | 1.72 |
This publication is dynamic and will be updated as search engine tools change. Bookmark this page, and be sure to share it with your colleagues and friends. What elements do you find important when deciding on a search engine? Engage with us in the comments below.
You can click on the images below to see an introduction video for the tool, if one is available!
Search Engines are listed below in no particular order:
Bing
Bing Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 19.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Language Translation Support
- Record of Search History
- Shopping Search
- Email Service
- Usage Right or Copyright Filter
- Filter by Language
- Filter by Region
- Maps Search
Best Bing Alternatives
Yandex
Yandex Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 19.0 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Cloud Storage
- Language Translation Support
- Record of Search History
- Shopping Search
- Email Service
- Filter by Language
- Filter by Region
- Maps Search
Best Yandex Alternatives
Swisscows
Swisscows Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 6.7 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Swisscows Alternatives
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 12.9 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best DuckDuckGo Alternatives
Startpage
Startpage Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 22.7 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Startpage Alternatives
Ekoru
Ekoru Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 9.9 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Ekoru Alternatives
Ecosia
Ecosia Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 11.7 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Language Translation Support
- Shopping Search
- Usage Right or Copyright Filter
- Filter by Language
- Ad-Free Results
- Filter by Region
- Maps Search
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Ecosia Alternatives
Internet Archive
Internet Archive Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Books Search
- Cloud Storage
- Truth Censorship
- Sports Search
- Open Source Code
- Entertainment Search
- Music Search
- Ad-Free Results
- Filter by Region
- Maps Search
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Internet Archive Alternatives
Dogpile
Dogpile Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.7 Yrs
Best Dogpile Alternatives
Gigablast
Gigablast Comparison Details
Feature summary: The last search engine.
Age of Software/Company: 21.8 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Gigablast Alternatives
Ask
Ask Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 22.7 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Ask Alternatives
WebCrawler
WebCrawler Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.8 Yrs
Best WebCrawler Alternatives
Lycos
Lycos Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.8 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Lycos Alternatives
InfoSpace
InfoSpace Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.8 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best InfoSpace Alternatives
Yahoo
Yahoo Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 15.8 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Finance Search
- Sports Search
- Record of Search History
- Entertainment Search
- Shopping Search
- Email Service
- Usage Right or Copyright Filter
- Filter by Language
Best Yahoo Alternatives
Search
Search Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.8 Yrs
Best Search Alternatives
MetaGer
MetaGer Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 20.3 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best MetaGer Alternatives
Qwant
Qwant Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 19.0 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Music Search
- Usage Right or Copyright Filter
- Filter by Language
- Ad-Free Results
- Filter by Region
- Maps Search
Best Qwant Alternatives
Search Encrypt
Search Encrypt Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 4.3 Yrs
Best Search Encrypt Alternatives
Gibiru
Gibiru Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 10.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Gibiru Alternatives
Yippy
Yippy Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.5 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Yippy Alternatives
Oscobo
Oscobo Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 4.2 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Oscobo Alternatives
Lukol
Lukol Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 21.4 Yrs
Best Lukol Alternatives
Aol
Aol Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 23.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
- Astrology Search
- Sports Search
- Entertainment Search
- Email Service
- Usage Right or Copyright Filter
- Maps Search
Best Aol Alternatives
OneSearch
OneSearch Comparison Details
Feature summary: Privacy-Focused Features
Age of Software/Company: 1.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best OneSearch Alternatives
giveWater
giveWater Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 17.9 Yrs
Best giveWater Alternatives
Excite
Excite Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.8 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Excite Alternatives
BabyLon
BabyLon Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 14.2 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best BabyLon Alternatives
Info
Info Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.3 Yrs
Best Info Alternatives
Kiddle
Kiddle Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 7.6 Yrs
Best Kiddle Alternatives
Entireweb
Entireweb Comparison Details
Feature summary: Entireweb SEO Service
Age of Software/Company: 22.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Entireweb Alternatives
Exactseek
Exactseek Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 20.3 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Exactseek Alternatives
Lemmefind
Lemmefind Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 15.6 Yrs
Best Lemmefind Alternatives
Searx
Searx Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 6.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Searx Alternatives
Mojeek
Mojeek Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 16.8 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Mojeek Alternatives
YaCy
YaCy Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 16.9 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best YaCy Alternatives
Givero
Givero Comparison Details
Feature summary: Say hello to open source bangs.
Age of Software/Company: 7.6 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Givero Alternatives
MetaCrawler
MetaCrawler Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 24.8 Yrs
Best MetaCrawler Alternatives
ZOO
ZOO Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 7.8 Yrs
Best ZOO Alternatives
Sputtr
Sputtr Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 14.3 Yrs
Best Sputtr Alternatives
Symbaloo
Symbaloo Comparison Details
Feature summary: Enjoy the many things that can be done within Symbaloo webmixes. See various widgets and embedding choices from popular websites.
Age of Software/Company: 14.1 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Best Symbaloo Alternatives
CuteStat
CuteStat Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 11.7 Yrs
Best CuteStat Alternatives
SearchEngineZ
SearchEngineZ Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 21.3 Yrs
Best SearchEngineZ Alternatives
Million Short
Million Short Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 9.3 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Million Short Alternatives
Goodsearch
Goodsearch Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 15.0 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best Goodsearch Alternatives
SearchScene
SearchScene Comparison Details
Age of Software/Company: 17.3 Yrs
Distinctive features:
Industry thought leadership blog: Click to visit blog.
Best SearchScene Alternatives
FEATURE DESCRIPTIONS | |
---|---|
Web SearchSearches the Internet systematically, for specific info, in response to a text search query. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 44 | |
Exact Search (in quotes)Provides searching for an exact phrase, when the user encloses the phrase in quotes. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 42 | |
Image SearchShows only images in the web search results. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 36 | |
Incremental Auto-CompleteAutocomplete is a feature within the search engine, designed to make it faster to complete searches that you're beginning to type. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 35 | |
News SearchKeyword search across thousands of news sources found on the web. Users have the ability to browse categories of news where headlines are listed. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 32 | |
Boolean Search (AND, OR, NOT)A structured search that allows the user to insert words such as AND, OR, NOT to broaden or limit the search results. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 29 | |
Site / Domain Specific SearchAllows users to search just one domain — not the entire internet. For example: a search for “horse training:bloodhorse.com” will give results about horse training from the site bloodhorse.com. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 29 | |
Video SearchProvides web search results that only include video content. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 28 | |
Related SearchesSee a list of closely related, popular searches along with the results of your search. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 25 | |
Search Within ResultsProvides the option to search within your previous search results, to search for a more specific topic within your original results. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 23 | |
Filter by DateLimits the search results by allowing users to filter results from the past day, week or month. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 21 | |
Anonymous SearchAnonymous search is for privacy-conscious web users, who don't want their search or browser related data harvested. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 19 | |
Safe SearchProvides an automated filter of pornography and other offensive content that’s built into the search engine. This feature makes the search engine more family-friendly. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 18 | |
Metasearch Engine Info RetrievalA Metasearch Engine takes input from a user and immediately gathers info from search engines for results. After gathering and ranking data, it is presented to the user. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 18 | |
Maps SearchProvides detailed info about geographical areas around the world, also gives directions to a particular destination. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 13 | |
Filter by RegionAbility to customize search results to a specific country or region. Other countries or regions may appear with a lower rank. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 13 | |
Ad-Free ResultsThe search engine does not show any ads in the results. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 12 | |
Filter by LanguageProvides ability to filter searches to only show results in the language chosen. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 11 | |
Usage Right or Copyright FilterA filter system that determines the risk of copyright infringement, and possible infringement, by analyzing and filtering user-generated content uploaded to the platform. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 11 | |
Email ServiceProvides a free or paid email service. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 10 | |
Shopping SearchAllows user to search for specific products for sale from online merchants or nearby stores. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 7 | |
Music SearchFinds info about songs and music. Some services allow users to find digital files, or to identify songs by sound, like humming or singing. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 5 | |
Entertainment SearchAllows users to search within the category of entertainment. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 5 | |
Open Source CodeA computer program in which the source code is available for people to use for any purpose. Also allows its original design to be modified. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 5 | |
Record of Search HistoryA record of the web pages that were recently visited by a computer user. Also provides recommendations based on recent browsing history. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 5 | |
Sports SearchProvides quick access to search for only sports-related results. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 4 | |
Finance SearchProvides the user with search results, specifically related to financial topics. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 3 | |
Language Translation SupportTranslate/convert your search to another language, also has a built-in translator. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 3 | |
Astrology SearchAids the user in searching subjects such as horoscopes, destiny, palmistry, numerology and fortune telling. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 2 | |
Truth CensorshipAlso known as Internet censorship, it's the suppression or control of what can be viewed, accessed or published on the Internet. This includes political censorship, or censoring out information that's deemed to be false by regulators or others. This does not include adult-related content filters. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 2 | |
Cloud StorageProvides off-site storage, maintained by a third party. Allows you to save files, data, etc. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 2 | |
Books SearchSearches for magazine, book, ebook or document titles or by the text inside. Number of Search Engine that have this feature: 1 |
Onion Ride is the best, fast & secure Search Engine.
PDF Drive Search is the best Search Engine. It is best for PDF search & download. Hope you like it.