Popular search engines and browsers do a great job at finding and browsing content on the web, but can do a better job at protecting your privacy while doing so.
With your data being the digital currency of our times, websites, advertisers, browsers, and search engines track your behavior on the web to deliver tailored advertising, improve their algorithms, or improve their services.
In this guide, we list the best search engines and browsers to protect your privacy while using the web.
Privacy-focused search engines
Below are the best privacy-focused search engines that do not track your searchers or display advertisements based on your cookies or interests.
DuckDuckGo
The first privacy-focused search engine, and probably the most recognizable, we spotlight is DuckDuckGo.
Founded in 2008, DuckDuckGo is popular among users who are concerned about privacy online, and the privacy-friendly search engine recently said it had seen 2 billion total searches.
With DuckDuckGo, you can search for your questions and websites online anonymously.
DuckDuckGo does not compile entire profiles of user's search habits and behavior, and it also does not collect personal information.
DuckDuckGo is offered as a search engine option in all popular browsers.
In 2017, Brave added DuckDuckGo as a default search engine option when you use the browser on mobile or desktop. In Brave browser, your search results are powered by DuckDuckGo when you enter the private tabs (incognito).
Last year, Google also added DuckDuckGo to their list of search engines on Android and platforms. With iOS 14, Apple is now also allowing users to use DuckDuckGo as their preferred search engine.
Startpage
Unlike DuckDuckGo, Startpage is not crawling the internet to generate unique results, but instead, it allows users to obtain Google Search results while protecting their data.
Startpage started as a sister company of Ixquick, which was founded in 1998. In 2016, both websites were merged and Startpage owners received a significant investment from Privacy One Group last year.
This search engine also generates its income from advertising, but these ads are anonymously generated solely based on the search term you entered. Your information is not stored online or shared with other companies, such as Google.
Startpage also comes with one interesting feature called "Annonymous View" that allows you to view links anonymously.
When you use this feature, Startpage renders the website in its container and the website won't be able to track you because it will see Startpage as the visitor.
Ecosia
The next search engine in our list is Ecosia.
Unlike any other search engines, Ecosia is a CO2-neutral search engine and it uses the revenue generated to plant trees. Ecosia's search results are provided by Bing and enhanced by the company's own algorithms.
Ecosia was first launched on 7 December 2009 and the company has donated most of its profits to plant trees across the world.
Ecosia says they're a privacy-friendly search engine and your searches are encrypted, which means the data is not stored permanently and sold to third-party advertisers.
List of privacy-friendly browsers:
Web browser developers have taken existing browser platforms such as Chrome and Firefox, and modified them to include more privacy-focuses features that protect your data while browsing the web.
Brave Browser
Brave is one of the fastest browser that is solely focused on privacy with features like private browsing, data saver, ad-free experience, bookmarks sync, tracking protections, HTTPs everywhere, and more.
Memory usage by Brave is far below Google Chrome and the browser is also available for both mobile and desktop.
You can download Brave from here.
Tor Browser
The Tor Browser is another browser that aims to protect your data, including your IP address, as you browse the web.
When browsing the web with Tor, your connections to web sites will be anonymous as your request will be routed through other computers and your real IP address is not shared.
In addition, Tor bundles comes with the NoScript and HTTPS Everywhere extensions preinstalled, and clears your HTTP cookies on exit, to further protect your privacy.
You can download Tor browser from here.
Firefox Focus
Firefox Focus is also a great option if you use Android or iOS.
According to Mozilla, Firefox Focus blocks a wide range of online trackers, erases your history, passwords, cookies, and comes with a user-friendly interface.
Firefox Focus also comes with built-in ad blocker to improve your experience and block all trackers, including those operated by Google and Facebook.
You can download Firefox Focus from the App Store and Play Store.
Comments
EmanuelJacobsson - 3 years ago
The link on the "the privacy-friendly search engine recently said it had seen 2 billion total" leads to a Page not found.
MayankParmar - 3 years ago
Thanks. Fixed!
fromFirefoxToVivaldi - 3 years ago
Firefox Focus comes with 3 trackers, including Adjust and Google AdMob, as per Privacy Exodus reports.
This might be a good topic for an article, most people probably are not aware how many trackers the mainline release of Firefox has.
backfolder - 3 years ago
Brave? Privacy? Sure?
fromFirefoxToVivaldi - 3 years ago
How about you give an example of when Brave's privacy was supposedly compromised instead of being sarcastic. At least brave doesn't come with built-in trackers.
Some-Other-Guy - 3 years ago
Hey Yeah, that's a great idea!
Let's have a contest showing examples of how Brave's privacy can be compromised, vs. examples of how it could never be compromised on a bone stock install of Windows 10 that logs your keystrokes and sends back anonymous telemetry of everything you do
Maybe we can get Microsoft and the NSA to judge this contest to see who wins
Wheeeee
Everyone's a player!
EmanuelJacobsson - 3 years ago
Quick question, why do you never talk about other OS's? arent you tired of trollign users with the same "windows sucks" ideals?
MolassesMan - 3 years ago
Don't bother engaging. Their entire argument comes from reading articles that have the word spying in the title and then it just talks about basic software telemetry. If they come to that conclusion that easily you aren't going to be able to change their mind.
For anyone interested, the keylogger nonsense was a story based off the predictive text or speech optimisation or, even more amusingly, that it transmitted every keystroke, which there is no evidence of.
Some-Other-Guy - 3 years ago
That's an easy one EmanuelJacobsson
I talk about Windows because I'm a Windows Security Expert!
Go with what you know!
MolassesMan on the other hand makes up the facts as needed
When living in a World of Zero Trust, one should not simply Trust Microsoft without evidence
Do you have any evidence that they are not logging all your keystrokes
Please provide that evidence!
I can't wait to see it
My opinions are not based on articles I read
I investigate whether or not Windows is a complete and total Spyware Platform "MYSELF"
So far, I have found ZERO evidence that Windows is not a Spyware Platform
If you have seen actual "EVIDENCE" that Windows is not a Spyware Platform, then please let us all see it
Instead of getting Lies upon Lies from a Company that cannot be trusted, we need "EVIDENCE" in a Zero Trust environment!
herbman - 3 years ago
Agree 100% . Win 10 is an atrocity . So ridiculously intrusive. Gates is involved with things that would terrify most people especially his obsession with population control .
Sup3rus3r - 3 years ago
I made recently a search on DuckDuckgo for google and the first result pointed to google but over http not https, that's very weird.
NoneRain - 3 years ago
Google doesn't use http... Https will be used instead automatically.
TairikuOkami - 3 years ago
I wish there were also uncensored private search engines. StartPage started to censor about 3 years ago, so I moved to DuckDuckGo, but it also started to censor about a year ago. Last time I checked a list of 50 private search engines, only 2-3 did not censor.