Which privacy-focused search engine are you using?

TL;DR - which privacy-focused search engine do people recommend, preferably one that can also easily be used as a default option in Safari?

I ditched Google in about 2016ish I would guess, and since then have used DDG as my default search engine.

As someone entrenched in the Apple ecosystem, it’s always seemed like a sound choice, as it’s one of the search engines built in to Safari on both iOS and macOS.

After spending a bit more time recently playing around with and updating my Docker containers, I started hosting a Whoogle container, which seemed to work pretty well, but I don’t see many out there talking about it, so not sure how good it actually is. I then tried a SearXNG container, but either had it misconfigured or just wasn’t getting many search results back.

At the moment I’m trying out Startpage, but I know there are potential privacy concerns since they were part-bought in 2019 by a US ad-tech company.

I’m also playing around with different browsers at the moment, flicking between Safari, Firefox and Brave. At which point I stumbled across Brave Search, which seems pretty promising.

So, which search engines do you all recommend?

UPDATE: Probably should’ve done a poll! But latest (if I’ve captured everything correctly) is:

  • DuckDuckGo - 10
  • Qwant / SearXNG / Kagi / Brave - 4
  • Startpage / Ecosia - 2
  • Google - 1

As to my other questions around browsers:

  • Majority seem to use Firefox
  • Some mentions of Brave
  • One mention of Arc
Herowyn,
Herowyn avatar

Using qwant because it's developed and hosted in France. Better than supporting a US company as a European.

MakeItCount,

But qwant uses bing

So you’re still supporting Microsoft

Herowyn,
Herowyn avatar

They use their own indexer.

tarlitz,

I started using qwant last year for the same reason and I haven’t looked back. Search results are excellent. I sometimes switch to Startpage as a proxy for google.

jacktherippah,

I think there was some drama a while ago about them collecting and sharing data which got them delisted from PrivacyGuides? Not a good look imo.

Here’s what I’m talking about

Viper_NZ,

I’ve been using DuckDuckGo for years now and recommend it all the time.

I get decent, reliable results so haven’t shopped around.

Skyline,

Do you find DDG to be slower than Bing or Google? A few years ago I thought there was a noticeable delay with DDG, but not with Google.

Viper_NZ,

Not really, they’re both nice and snappy.

EpicFailGuy,
EpicFailGuy avatar

@Viper_NZ

@schmurnan

Been a duckie for years now but I find myself going back to google for things like maps and shopping (that nearby search is a godsend) have you found any privacy mindfull alternatives?

Viper_NZ,

Unfortunately not. If anyone knows of something I’d be keen.

Fireplant,

On Android you can install Organic Maps, but the downside is that you’ll need to download the maps for each area you want to have a map of (which, takes storage)

OsmAnd+ seems to be a good alternative recommended often, but I just haven’t used it.

On PC, OpenStreetMaps is your friend

Fireplant,

On Android you can install Organic Maps, but the downside is that you’ll need to download the maps for each area you want to have a map of (which, takes storage)

OsmAnd+ seems to be a good alternative recommended often, but I just haven’t used it.

On PC, OpenStreetMaps is your friend

ggaaap,

This. Clean, reliable and functional. Although I’ve never wrapped my head around how they make their $$

Redderthanmisty,

They still run ads, just less profitable ones since they’re less intrusive, aren’t personalised, and most never see them anyway because if youre on DDG in the first place, you’re also likely to be using adblock.

al4s,

They place ads in the search results.

If you disable your ad blocker, the first search result will almost always an Amazon ad. I test searched for “Headphones” and it also shows a row of JBL headphones at the top ala google shopping, which is an ad as well.

Really, they make their money the same way as google, they just don’t track your searches and site visits.

Tane,

I use presearch. Pretty happy with it. Never paid out my rewards, they’re just growing

fievel,

I recently started using Duck Duck Go instead of Google.

I still had this thought that Google was the best technology as I went from the early web (remember… altavista.digital.com, yahoo, …) and I remember that Google was really a game changer when it started to become popular.

I tested setting DDG as default search engine in my desktop and mobile browsers, thinking that when I don’t have expected results I would go to Google… I never had to switch to Google because I was wrong, DDG is as good as Google while being better from privacy point of view.

For the browser I use Vivaldi on both android and desktop.

Fireplant,

For search engine, I go with SearXNG, and for web browser, Mull. Or hardened Firefox, on PC.

schmurnan,
@schmurnan@lemmy.world avatar

Do you use a self-hosted SearXNG, or one of the other hosted instances?

Fireplant,

Self-hosted under a VPN would be the way to go if you want to be 100% sure.

The problem with public instances is that you can’t really know what the owner does with the data. There are safe ones, and malicious ones. I’d just look for one that has a good reputation.

schmurnan,
@schmurnan@lemmy.world avatar

Yeah I have a self-hosted one but I’m struggling to get results. I posted under another comment on this thread, was just gonna ask for some support troubleshooting.

Completely agree though, self hosting over public instances all day long.

ChaoticEntropy,
@ChaoticEntropy@feddit.uk avatar

I tried ecosia and startpage, the results through both are just 95% garbage. Duck Duck Go seems to be okay.

I use Vivaldi as my browser, includes ad block and various useful, if bulky, features.

Obra,

Mullvad Leta

leta.mullvad.net/faq

popekingjoe,
@popekingjoe@lemmy.world avatar

Been using Qwant for a few years. Good enough for 90% of searches imo. For whatever’s left, I’ll use DDG, Google in incognito, or Bing.

zer0nix,

privacy focused … called qwant

Hmm.

Kodama,

I use Firefox as main browser, but I discovered for my use case google provides the best results without needing to setup every workstation e.g. 2 home PCs, 1 mobile, 2 for work. And that I need to use all main 3 browsers. Also google provide good service with functions to quickly make currency conversions, simple math ekvations etc which even Bing is far behind.

“AI” services will change this but for now it’s too slow.

But in general for me, I have given up that fact to try stay private many years back, it’s all a dream just like living off grid, 99% of would not survive 4 days.

But the information can be scrambled, ie shift user accounts, services, software etc. It would also provide better competition due to the userbase is moving around… But most of us are too lazy or afraid to lose history, backups, photos etc. Just see how many that can’t just delete an old reddit account due to the time spent to reach an level you aren’t ready to leave. To lead to famous qoute I follow online

“Don’t let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner”

Its all about supporting the services you like and are trying to be an counterweight to the other common commercial services… Meaning we need to found/pay for good services, privacy is a luxary looking on the whole user base.

Companies, I based on an idea, but exist to make someone money and if it’s tracks it will make many people money and in the end majority will lead the company to earn money and leave the base idea behind.

PurpleTentacle,

I’m using an Ad-, Tracking- etc blocker in all my devices, so I’m not too worried about using Google or Bing when I do.

But I’m hosting my own instance of SearchXNG and that’s often simply the most powerful and flexible search engine.

ech0,

Also self-host SearchXNG. Its definitely the way to go. I like you can choose which search engines to pull from

schmurnan,
@schmurnan@lemmy.world avatar

I replied to another comment on here saying that I’d tried this once before, via a Docker container, but just wasn’t getting any results back (kept getting timeouts from all the search engines).

I’ve just revisited it, and still get the timeouts. Reckon you’re able to help me troubleshoot it?

Below are the logs from Portainer:


<span style="color:#323232;"> File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 165, in get
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    return request('get', url, **kwargs)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 98, in request
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    raise httpx.TimeoutException('Timeout', request=None) from e
</span><span style="color:#323232;">httpx.TimeoutException: Timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 09:58:13,651 ERROR:searx.engines.soundcloud: Fail to initialize
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Traceback (most recent call last):
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 96, in request
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    return future.result(timeout)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/concurrent/futures/_base.py", line 458, in result
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    raise TimeoutError()
</span><span style="color:#323232;">TimeoutError
</span><span style="color:#323232;">The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Traceback (most recent call last):
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/search/processors/abstract.py", line 75, in initialize
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    self.engine.init(get_engine_from_settings(self.engine_name))
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/engines/soundcloud.py", line 69, in init
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    guest_client_id = get_client_id()
</span><span style="color:#323232;">                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/engines/soundcloud.py", line 45, in get_client_id
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    response = http_get("https://soundcloud.com")
</span><span style="color:#323232;">               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 165, in get
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    return request('get', url, **kwargs)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 98, in request
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    raise httpx.TimeoutException('Timeout', request=None) from e
</span><span style="color:#323232;">httpx.TimeoutException: Timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 09:58:13,654 ERROR:searx.engines.soundcloud: Fail to initialize
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Traceback (most recent call last):
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 96, in request
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    return future.result(timeout)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/lib/python3.11/concurrent/futures/_base.py", line 458, in result
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    raise TimeoutError()
</span><span style="color:#323232;">TimeoutError
</span><span style="color:#323232;">The above exception was the direct cause of the following exception:
</span><span style="color:#323232;">Traceback (most recent call last):
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/search/processors/abstract.py", line 75, in initialize
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    self.engine.init(get_engine_from_settings(self.engine_name))
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/engines/soundcloud.py", line 69, in init
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    guest_client_id = get_client_id()
</span><span style="color:#323232;">                      ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/engines/soundcloud.py", line 45, in get_client_id
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    response = http_get("https://soundcloud.com")
</span><span style="color:#323232;">               ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 165, in get
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    return request('get', url, **kwargs)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  File "/usr/local/searxng/searx/network/__init__.py", line 98, in request
</span><span style="color:#323232;">    raise httpx.TimeoutException('Timeout', request=None) from e
</span><span style="color:#323232;">httpx.TimeoutException: Timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.wikidata: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.duckduckgo: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.google: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.qwant: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.startpage: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.wikibooks: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.wikiquote: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,024 ERROR:searx.engines.wikisource: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,025 ERROR:searx.engines.wikipecies: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,025 ERROR:searx.engines.wikiversity: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,025 ERROR:searx.engines.wikivoyage: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,025 ERROR:searx.engines.brave: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,481 WARNING:searx.engines.wikidata: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,481 ERROR:searx.engines.wikidata: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.457878380082548 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,482 WARNING:searx.engines.wikisource: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,484 ERROR:searx.engines.wikisource: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.460748491808772 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,485 WARNING:searx.engines.brave: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,485 ERROR:searx.engines.brave: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.461546086706221 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,487 WARNING:searx.engines.google: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,487 ERROR:searx.engines.google: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.463769535068423 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,489 WARNING:searx.engines.wikiversity: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,489 ERROR:searx.engines.wikiversity: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.466003180015832 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,490 WARNING:searx.engines.wikivoyage: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,490 ERROR:searx.engines.wikivoyage: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.466597221791744 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,490 WARNING:searx.engines.qwant: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,490 ERROR:searx.engines.qwant: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.4669976509176195 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,491 WARNING:searx.engines.wikibooks: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,491 ERROR:searx.engines.wikibooks: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.4674198678694665 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,491 WARNING:searx.engines.wikiquote: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,492 WARNING:searx.engines.wikipecies: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,492 ERROR:searx.engines.wikiquote: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.468321242835373 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,492 ERROR:searx.engines.wikipecies: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.468797960784286 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,496 WARNING:searx.engines.duckduckgo: ErrorContext('searx/engines/duckduckgo.py', 98, 'res = get(query_url, headers=headers)', 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,497 ERROR:searx.engines.duckduckgo: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.47349306801334 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,511 WARNING:searx.engines.startpage: ErrorContext('searx/engines/startpage.py', 214, 'resp = get(get_sc_url, headers=headers)', 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:02:05,511 ERROR:searx.engines.startpage: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 6.487425099126995 s, timeout: 6.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:04:27,475 ERROR:searx.engines.duckduckgo: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:04:27,770 WARNING:searx.engines.duckduckgo: ErrorContext('searx/search/processors/online.py', 118, "response = req(params['url'], **request_args)", 'httpx.TimeoutException', None, (None, None, None)) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:04:27,771 ERROR:searx.engines.duckduckgo: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 3.2968566291965544 s, timeout: 3.0 s) : TimeoutException
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:04:50,094 ERROR:searx.engines.duckduckgo: engine timeout
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:04:50,187 WARNING:searx.engines.duckduckgo: ErrorContext('searx/engines/duckduckgo.py', 98, 'res = get(query_url, headers=headers)', 'httpx.ConnectTimeout', None, (None, None, 'duckduckgo.com')) False
</span><span style="color:#323232;">2023-08-06 10:04:50,187 ERROR:searx.engines.duckduckgo: HTTP requests timeout (search duration : 3.0933595369569957 s, timeout: 3.0 s) : ConnectTimeout
</span>

The above is a simple search for “best privacy focused search engines 2023”, followed by the same search again but using the ddg! bang in front of it.

I can post my docker-compose if it helps?

ech0,

First thing that comes to mind is are you running it on Host Network? That’s a requirement

MagneticFusion,

Ecosia is great. I use it with Firefox.

yool_ooloo,

Does anyone have experience/thoughts about Mojeek?

I just recently learned about it and haven’t really explored it, but curious.

Thanks!

domesticstreetcat,

I’ve played with it a bit. It’s just okay to me. I’d rather just use DDG.

ornery_chemist,

DuckDuckGo from the browser, because 90% of the time I can get where I want with the appropriate ! bang from the address bar.

ApathyTree,
@ApathyTree@lemmy.dbzer0.com avatar

With the appropriate ! bang from the address bar

What does this mean? I want to like DuckDuckGo, but it’s kinda messy.

ornery_chemist, (edited )

They are basically shortcuts. For example, I can type “!w ibuprofen” into DuckDuckGo (or the address bar because I have it set as my default search engine) and be brought immediately to the wikipedia page for Ibuprofen. There’s also !yt for youtube search, !so for stack overflow search, and many more.

HughJanus,

Brave!

Ultra980,

I like the fact that brave search has an AI, that’s why I use it. I might self-host a foss search engine though

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