Search engines have completely revolutionized how I access information—now I can get answers to just about anything in a couple of mere keystrokes.
It’s also true that Google’s the household name everybody recognizes, but there are plenty of other search engines that’ve left their own imprint on the internet.
Below is a list I compiled of some of the all-time favorites, each with its own neat features and role in internet history.
Key takeaways
- Google is dominant, but not the only option.
- Other search engines like Yahoo, Bing, and DuckDuckGo provide additional perks like rewards programs, privacy, or unified browsing experiences.
- Users who wish to avoid tracking and data collection are increasingly using privacy-first engines like Ecosia, Mojeek, Qwant, and DuckDuckGo.
- Local markets are dominated by regional search engines like Baidu (China), Yandex (Russia), and Naver (South Korea), which provide superior results for their language and region-specific content.
- To provide a wider variety of results, metasearch engines like Dogpile and Mojeek either use their own indexing or pull from several sources.
- Perplexity and Microsoft Copilot are two AI-powered tools that are changing how people use search by providing interactive and summarized results.
- Eco-conscious search via Ecosia lets users support reforestation simply by searching online.
- These days, a good search engine isn’t just about big names or fancy features; it’s also about balancing accuracy, privacy, relevance, customization, and user-friendliness.
Google As A Search Engine
Before we get on to learning about other search engines, let’s learn a bit about Google as a search engine.
Google has been around for more than 2 decades and is known to have all the answers to all the questions asked (at least that’s how it is till now).
Want to know how to bake a cake?—Ask Google. How to lose weight?—Ask Google. Even to look for the best alternatives to Google, I asked Google. But look at the irony!
Google search engine has till now had all the answers to your questions. But with the invention of new technologies, many search engines have been introduced that are actually doing an equivalent job to Google.
Google, as a search engine, lets you, as a user, find information online just by entering some keywords and phrases. Google algorithms are constantly updated to give you the most relevant and accurate results.
Also, multiple applications like YouTube, Google Docs, Google Drive, Gmail, and more have truly been a lifesaver for most people out there.
Does Google’s First Impression Matter? Check It Out
Why Look for Alternative Search Engines?
As I talked about, Google is a good search engine, so why it is that we need to find its alternatives? Even though many people use Google to get their primary information, there have been some limitations that have been found.
Now, Googling stuff is not an easy task. And to be honest, it seriously feels like a task to find the right answers to our questions. Also, let’s not forget the labyrinth of spam and ads we get stuck in while finding the right thing.
- Google’s dominance in the search engine market has led to concerns about data mining and privacy.
- Alternative search engines offer unique features and benefits, such as improved privacy and more intuitive search experiences.
- Exploring alternative search engines can help users find the best fit for their needs.
Major Search Engines You Should Know
If you’re looking for fresh and different search engines, we’ve got a list for you. From private search engines to AI and traditional search engines, we’ve included every possible one.
1. Google
Best For: Seeking fast, reliable answers, tools, or services
With more than 90% of the search engine market and billions of searches processed daily, Google remains my first choice for almost anything online. It also got into hot water legally in 2024 for dominating the space of search.
It’s quick, incredibly accurate, and loaded with features like voice search, AI-powered results, and personalized filters that make it simple to find anything I’m looking for.
It’s accessed in 149 languages, so wherever I happen to be or whatever language I use, it’s always accessible. It has 3.5 billion searches per day. Not surprising that it’s the world’s most accessed site.
Google is continuously crawling the web using bots (“spiders”) and employs deep neural networks to rank pages. Basically, it’s constantly updating itself to remain current and show relevant search results.
Pros:
- Smart algorithms like Panda, Penguin, and Hummingbird give out accurate results.
- Quick answers via Featured Snippets & “People Also Ask”
- Built-in tools like Maps, Scholar, and Images enhance the experience
- Voice Search allows convenient, hands-free use
Cons:
- Heavy ad data gathering feels intrusive
- Sponsored/popular content can dominate niche sources
- Image/video search results trail behind text outcomes
2. Bing
Best For: A visually rich search experience
Microsoft Bing’s been around since 2009, created by Microsoft as a reliable competitor to Google. It’s got some good features like search suggestions, hover previews, and even presents information right on the results page, which saves me a click or two.
You can search for web pages, videos, images, and maps—and even upload a pic to see similar ones, which is convenient.
My favorite thing about Bing is the AI integration, particularly with Microsoft Copilot (previously Bing Chat), that provides quick, summarized answers with sources you can actually verify.
And then there’s the Microsoft Bing Rewards scheme, where you get gift cards simply for searching, along with the safe browsing filters and image creator powered by DALL·E 3.
It’s still way behind Google in market share—approximately 3.64% worldwide—but it’s a good choice, particularly in the U.S., where it has a bit more presence.
Pros:
- Convenient features such as advanced image search and visual results
- Microsoft Copilot provides fast, sourced summaries
- Built into Windows devices
Cons:
- Smaller user base means less data and results
- May feel less intuitive of an interface compared to Google
- Some results are not as deep, particularly for specialty searches
- Local listings/reviews tend to be less reliable
3. DuckDuckGo
Best For: Those who need online privacy
DuckDuckGo is a private search engine and my go-to when I want to search without being tracked. It doesn’t log personal info, so it is ideal for private people.
More and more individuals used it in 2024—took the percentage of search traffic from 0.48% to 0.69%, which is indication of people increasingly interested in private browsing.
Most of all, I enjoy the fact that it provides a simple and clean searching experience without giving an impression of surveillance.
Since its founding in 2008, it has expanded significantly. In addition to the search engine, they provide a privacy-focused browser and email security and tracker-blocking extensions.
Instead of selling data, they generate revenue through affiliate links and straightforward, unobtrusive advertisements. If you’re sick of being watched online, this is a good option.
Pros:
- No cookies tracking, profiling of users, or data collection
- Pre-installed with HTTPS, blocking trackers, GPC, and CSP
- Simple and user-friendly
- Works across browsers and mobile apps
Cons:
- Results may come across as less personalized
- No access to Google services like Maps or Gmail
- High search results dependence on Bing
- Slow performance
4. Yahoo
Best For: Having an all-in-one web experience
Yahoo’s been around in the internet age since the beginning. It began way back in 1994 as “Jerry and David’s Guide to the World Wide Web,” and grew into a full-fledged web portal providing all sorts of services—Yahoo Search, Chat, Mail, News, Finance, and so on.
It was one of the original big names online, and although it’s not the behemoth it used to be, it still maintains a strong presence.
Although it’s not a big hitter anymore, Yahoo actually increased a little in 2024, from 0.13% to 0.40% in search traffic by December. Not big numbers, but it indicates there’s still a devoted user base somewhere out there.
What I enjoy is the fact that it’s more than a search engine. You receive email, news customized to your interests, stock quotes, and even investment management tools.
It survived a lot in its years—Verizon acquired it in 2017, and now Apollo Global owns it for the most part. Despite all the highs and lows, Yahoo still has millions of users around the world and even provides trendy career options in tech, media, and advertising.
Pros:
- Strong product reviews and price comparison tools
- Focuses more on quality content than paid ads
- All-in-one homepage
- Diverse search types
- Customizable and visually appealing interface
Cons:
- Less accurate search results
- Some ad targeting is still based on user activity
- Personal info may get indexed accidentally
5. AOL
Best For: Nostalgic internet services
AOL is an OG search engine, having been around since 1985 as America Online. Although it is nowhere near as well-liked anymore, it does have a small but loyal following.
In 2024, its share of searches picked up slightly, from 0.0018% in January to 0.01% by March, and stayed there for the rest of the year.
Nowadays, AOL is more like an old-fashioned web portal, showing you trending news, sports, politics, finance, and so forth.
The search engine itself is simple and does have some nice filtering for images and content. Privacy isn’t its strong suit because it records activity by default.
Yahoo now owns AOL, so the search results are actually very similar, just in a different package.
Pros:
Clean interface with real-time suggestions (SmartBox)
Quick previews for popular search terms
Users can disable tracking and location settings when signed in
Cons:
Tools like SmartBox feel behind the times
Privacy settings must be manually adjusted
Relies on Yahoo/Bing for search results
6. Baidu
Best For: People in China
Baidu is essentially China’s Google—it’s a dominant search engine platform over there with about 67% of the share. It was established in 2000 by Eric Xu and Robin Li and is headquartered in Beijing.
What Baidu excels at isn’t solely search—it’s also a large player in AI and technological innovation. Everything from smart speakers and cloud services to autonomous vehicles falls under their Baidu Apollo initiative.
Baidu has been optimized for Chinese content and local websites, and it runs platforms such as Baidu Baike (similar to Wikipedia), Baidu Maps, iQIYI (a streaming provider), and Baidu Tieba (a forum network).
Despite having an infinitesimal global market share, it’s massive locally and an absolute requirement if your target audience is China.
Furthermore, it’s among the first Chinese companies to reach the NASDAQ-100, which says a lot of something about its influence.
Baidu traffic saw its fair share of highs and lows during 2024. It peaked during March at 0.13%, after which it declined as low as 0.01% in October. Therefore, while it dominates China, it still has a pretty limited international presence.
Pros:
- China’s leading search engine
- Smart algorithms and advanced AI enhance the search experience and accuracy
- Works flawlessly with Baidu Forums, News, Maps, and more
- Features “Baidu Knows” and advanced filters for more focused searches
- Prioritizes current information for prompt outcomes
Cons:
- Free access is restricted by a strict compliance with government censorship
- Restricted worldwide use
- Cluttered user interface
- Complex SEO
7. Yandex
Best For: The audience in Russia
Yandex is a default russian search engine; however, it offers much more than just search features, including email, maps, translation, and even Yandex Zen, a personalized content feed.
In Russian-speaking countries like Russia, Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Uzbekistan, it is extremely popular. It is also somewhat common in Germany.
I like that it was created especially with Russian-language search in mind, which makes it more accurate than Google in that regard.
Despite a minor increase in global traffic in 2024 (from 0.01% in January to 0.03% in December), it still receives over 200 million visits per month, with the majority coming from mobile users.
Optimizing for Yandex is a smart move if you’re trying to reach the Russian market, and you can even use its browser, which has strong privacy settings and a clean interface with fewer ads at the top of search results.
Pros:
- Excellent for Eastern European and Russian searches
- On sluggish internet connections, Turbo mode accelerates loading
- The interface is customizable by users
- Effectively filters out spammy or low-quality links, which means weak search engine optimization
Cons:
- Privacy issues
- Restricted worldwide reach
- For users worldwide, non-English content might be displayed
- Finding relevant data can be challenging on pages that are too overwhelming
- Takes longer than Google to display new content
8. Mojeek
Best For: Independent and private search
With no trackers or user profiling, Mojeek is a privacy-focused search engine based in the UK that creates its own index.
In contrast to the majority of other engines, it uses its crawler, MojeekBot, to entirely create its own index internally. This makes it a more independent search engine because it doesn’t pull results from Google or Bing, but it also means that occasionally the results may appear in unexpected order.
The emotion-based search feature, which allows you to filter results by emotions like happiness, sadness, or anger, makes it stand out.
Additionally, it provides AI-powered result summaries, Substack article search, and Focus searches (similar to recipes).
Mojeek is a good choice if you want an independent, private search without the gimmicks.
Pros:
- Uses its own index and ranking, not tied to Google/Bing
- No tracking, cookies, or user profiling
- Has original search listings
- Available worldwide with multi-language capability
Cons:
- May return fewer results, especially for niche topics
- Slower performance
- Lacks extras like maps, email, or personalization
9. Dogpile
Best For: Users wanting a non-mainstream option
Dogpile is an extremely plain, no-frills metasearch engine that collects results from major players such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, and even Yandex.
If you’re a person who prefers fast, clean search results without the bloat or AI robots chiming in, this could be your thing. It provides you with web, image, video, and news results all in one convenient location, with simple navigation via category links.
It’s most popular in the U.S., Australia, Germany, the U.K., and Indonesia, pulling in around 1.9 million visits a month. Most people use it on mobile (about 62%), but it works just as well on desktop.
If you’re tired of bouncing between search engines, Dogpile’s a solid option to see a mix of everything all in one go.
Pros:
- Combines results from multiple search engines
- Time-efficient
- Easy to use
- Category filters
Cons:
- Collects user data with minimal protection
- Fully relies on other engines for results
- The interface looks old and lacks modern polish
- No mobile app
10. Naver
Best For: Korean-speaking users
Naver is South Korea’s leading search engine, kind of like their version of Google. It’s built specifically for Korean users, so the interface is all in Korean—no English version available.
What makes it stand out is how it shows different types of results (news, blogs, maps, images, etc.) all on one page, which makes it super convenient.
In 2024, Naver’s global traffic was small but steadily growing. It started the year with barely any share (0.0027% in January) but ended strong with 0.03% in November and December—a total growth of 0.03%.
While it might not be big worldwide, it dominates in South Korea, especially for anyone looking for super local or Korean-language content.
Pros:
- Optimized for Korean-language searches and content
- Deep Intent Analysis (Dia) offers in-depth, user-focused search engine results
- Organized layout
Cons:
- Limited global use
- Harder for external sites to rank outside Naver’s own content
- Search pages can feel cluttered with paid listings
11. Qwant
Best For: Kids for browsing with a kid-safe version option
Qwant is a French search engine that doesn’t track what I search or build a profile on me, which is honestly refreshing.
It gradually increased in popularity throughout 2024, rising from 0.01% of traffic in January to 0.04% by December. That might not seem like much, but it’s a significant step forward for a platform that prioritizes privacy.
My favorite thing about Qwant is that, in addition to using its own search index, it also incorporates data from sources like YouTube, iTunes, Bing, and Twitter to ensure that the results are pertinent.
It has a simple, intuitive layout, and its maps tool, based on OpenMapTiles, is privacy-friendly. If you have young children around, Qwant Junior, a kid-safe version, is fantastic.
Recently, Qwant teamed up with Ecosia to create a Europe-centric search index, which should help make it even more independent.
Qwant explicitly states that it does not store or share your data, despite uBlock flagging a few trackers from its own domain. If you’re looking for a solid, privacy-first alternative to Google, this one’s definitely worth checking out.
Pros:
- Strong privacy
- Unbiased results
- Independent index
- User-friendly UI
- Multi-language support
- “Qwant Junior” filters content for ages 6–12
Cons:
- Fewer results, especially for niche queries
- Less effective outside French-speaking areas
- Search results may not always be current
- No search history
12. Ecosia
Best For: Eco-friendly browsing
Ecosia is based in Germany. It’s a unique search engine that focuses on being eco-friendly. It has planted over 180 million trees to date using the money it receives from your searches.
It’s a really simple way to help the environment without doing much more than your typical Google search if you care about the environment.
Although it’s not the most sophisticated search engine available and the results page may seem a bit simple, it typically does the job well.
Additionally, they recently added some amazing AI tools. Like a built-in, lightweight version of ChatGPT, it has a “best guess” answer box and even a chat function that can assist you with writing or answering questions.
They also take privacy very seriously. According to Ecosia, it anonymizes everything within a week and doesn’t create personal profiles based on your searches.
They will ask you to disable your ad blocker to contribute to the tree planting, which seems reasonable to me. It’s a search engine that allows you to do your thing online and help the environment if you’re concerned about sustainability.
Pros:
- Users help the planet with every search
- Shares financial reports and project updates
- No tracking or selling of user data
- Clean interface
Cons:
- Bing-based results may lack depth vs. Google
- Fewer personalization and customization options
- Dependent on Bing’s search capabilities
- Privacy gray area
13. Perplexity
Best For: Easy AI curated search results
Recently, I’ve been experimenting with Perplexity, and I must say, it’s truly amazing. The entire process seems seamless and user-friendly.
I truly enjoy being able to arrange and store my searches so that, if I’m delving deeply into something, I can return to it later without having to start from scratch.
Perplexity isn’t your average search engine; artificial intelligence powers it all. It functions more like a chatbot than Google, which presents you with an array of blue links.
You just ask it a question, and it replies with a full answer. You can also follow up with other different questions on the topic, and it knows exactly what you’re talking about. No need to repeat anything.
Regarding accuracy, Perplexity uses its own web crawlers as well as Google and Bing to determine what information is reliable. In my experience, the responses it provides are typically fairly accurate.
Perplexity and good things rarely come free! Regarding pricing, the majority of the essential features are free. However, you will have to pay $20 a month to access the more sophisticated features, such as document uploads and more strong AI.
Through 2024, Perplexity.ai saw a fairly consistent increase in traffic. Less than 0.01% in January was its starting point, but it grew steadily to 0.02% by November before slightly declining in December. That represents a 0.02% annual increase overall.
Pros:
- Can create visuals from text prompts
- Document analysis (Pro feature) allows you to upload files and ask questions, great for in-depth work or sorting through information
Cons:
- Poor real-time coverage, which means it struggles with current events and live updates
- Limited context for news searches
What Makes a Good Search Engine?
More than just providing a list of links, a good search engine should make it simple to find the precise information, tools, stores, or files that a user is looking for.
Having advanced filters is very beneficial, particularly when searching for more targeted or specific results by time, location, language, or other criteria.
Instead of just displaying a ton of advertisements, the search results should truly reflect the purpose of the query, with relevant, high-quality pages appearing first.
Minimal ad clutter and a well-balanced mix of helpful content are very effective. Above all, the entire process should be easy to use and seamless so that people can quickly and hassle-free get what they need.
The Impact of AI on Search Engines
AI search engines are now smarter, faster, and more user-focused thanks to artificial intelligence (AI), which has drastically changed how they function. Instead of only matching keywords, AI allows search engines to understand the context and intent of search queries.
For example, popular search engines like Perplexity and ChatGPT help interpret natural language, making it easier for users to get relevant results even with vague or conversational queries.
Additionally, AI encourages predictive and personalized features that enhance the user experience in general. These days, search engines customize results according to user behavior, including location, search history, and even the time of day.
AI helps predict what users are searching for before they finish typing and filters out spam and low-quality content to ensure more reliable results. Search engines will become even more accurate, intuitive, and tailored to the individual needs and preferences of users as AI expands.
Conclusion
Even though Google is still the most well-known and powerful brand in the search engine industry, there are a number of other options available, each with special advantages, features, and ideologies. There is now a search engine that is customized to meet your needs.
It’s a good idea to occasionally step outside of the familiar and discover what else the internet has to offer, especially as technology advances and users grow more conscious of concerns like data tracking and personalization limits.
