Privacy concerns over search engines show some engines can track your browsing and store that data. Also some search engines will give customised results causing fears of being in a 'filter bubble' - so you don't get an accurate picture of what you're searching.

So which is the best search engine which gives useful search results and protects your privacy?
I used to be a DDG fan and then found Yandex gives some interesting 'global' results.
Baidu isn't so great as it seems to prefer chinese characters rather than the roman alphabet.

But recently I've found out about Startpage and Searx. Both of these search engines even allow you to visit web pages anonymously (by using a proxy)!

Then there's Qwant - which isn't a member of the Five Eyes and free and open-source Gigablast.
So which is the best?
And do we use one search engine or many?

To the core question: it depends upon what you mean by "accurate" and how much "private" you need.

Some of the ones you did not mention DO track you, but only to make the search results more accurate for your needs based upon your past search and hit history. It is the ones who share your metrics with third parties that most bother me.

Of the ones that DO collect and save data about your activity (no matter what they claim) but do not share that data, you have to decide what corporation or country you want to hold your data.

I am concerned with results, but less concerned with some undefined measure of "accuracy". To me the privacy question is more important. My solution is to use several search engines in turn, and only ones that claim to respect your need for privacy. This way even if some of them lie, none of them have all of your search history.

I use DDG but find the search results vary widely from Google. Sometimes I have to u se Google to find what I am looking for because DDG just doesn't find it. Haven't used startpage but have heard of it.

Regardless of search engines keeping or tracking your search history, your ISP has everything. I have actually never looked at what ISPs maintain in terms of customer traffic data, and how long they maintain it; would be interesting (maybe scary) to know.

I used Startpage for a while but eventually got frustrated with the results and needing to always configure it on new browsers.

A thing about Startpage as a proxy: It does use Google search but tries to limit the tracking.

Same for me. I do love DDG's bangs. But, with Firefox, I recently discovered you can make your own by left clicking on a website's search bar, say a wiki page on your favorite show, and clicking Add keyword a keyword for this search. Then, under keyword, you can do something like !got (for a Game of Thrones wiki) and you have a custom bang search.

That's real??? I always assumed it was made up for the A Nightmare on Elm Street remake.

For privacy: you might want to look into services (like, say, an anonymizing proxy) that hide your identity from the search engine.

So using several privacy-minded search engines is good practice if you want to obscure your browsing footprint.
It seems reasonable not to rely entirely on one search engine.

I think lack of tracking is relative. Relative to how much you trust them. Too many companies over the years have been caught with their hands in the cookie jar, no matter what they claim to be doing / not doing. Safest bet is trust no one and take a risk. Sad fact of the internet. At the end of the day you can't confirm a damn thing if they don't want you to or someone doesn't expose it somehow.

This brings your choice to the most accurate and powerful... sadly, Google.

*EDIT* Yes I have a tinfoil hat.

The anonymising feature of startpage and searx is a nice bonus. Privacy add-ons like NoScript, uBlock Origin and Ghostery don't need to do any work if you browse sites anonymously through a proxy server.

Not sure just how bullet-proof the proxy server is with each search engine though. With startpage you can watch youtube videos anonymously - but not with searx.
The difference is interesting.

The ISP is easily side-stepped by buying a REPUTABLE vpn.

I always browse in "buying my wife a present mode" or whatever the hell it's supposed to be. Why?
am I always buying my wife a present? (Clue, I have no wife)
Am I browsing some terrible things I don't want anybody to know about? (Clue, I've ToR and a VPN to use but don't usually bother)
Am I sick of "targeted" crud and "because you liked this you will like this.." moronic rubbish? (Clue, I've discovered some cool YouTube channels through either "trending" or, more often, links from those videos).

Startpage is surprisingly slick. It's not too slow and its anonymous feature works with almost all websites.
For some reason I tend to use Searx more - unfortunately its results show much fewer google sites.

It's amazing how DDG has become so successful and has not experienced any hostility from its competitors.
I've always wondered why DDG is the official alternative to google in the West.

Buying a trusted VPN seems to be what people are now doing on the internet.

It's rather like saying: 'VPN is the new Linux'.

Amen to that. I agree with you completely.

Firstly, people can use a Linux OS. The Linux OS can be further hardened so it only uses free and open source software (and even hardware).
Firefox web browser on the OS is a good idea (with appropriate add-ons).
Then people can choose a linux-friendly VPN. And then most people should be ok.

There is more.
People can add tor-browser or tails on top of the VPN.
Even more?
How about only using Searx, Yandex, Qwant, Gigablast as search engines?

This is not about tinfoil hats.
It's about finding information so we can protect our privacy security.

How do you know your beloved Youtube channels weren't 'targeted' for you specifically?

You don't have TOR and you have not subscribed to a VPN.
I know what you're thinking.
You're thinking 'How does he know that?'

1 members found this post helpful.

Yeah, it is interesting. However, there is some skepticism with DDG because the owner use to work for a data-collection company. DDG is likely tracking users but definitely not as thorough as Google.

I've used Startpage and have no complaints about it.