Rebel Tech AllianceSearch Engines
Alternatives to: Google, Bing
Google and (to a lesser extent) Bing both keep a profile on you, storing ALL your searches, forever. How creepy is that?! They know everything you're worried about, excited about, want to buy, dislike, like, want to learn about....
That personalisation is what made Google the best search engine, but they went too far with storing everything, indefinitely. Other search engines now produce results that are as useful or more, especially as Google has started to incorporate so much AI slop in their results.
Switch to one of these search engines by going to the Search setting in your browser, select a new search engine from their list and set it as the default. If the search engine you want is not listed - you can bookmark it using the links in the table below, but we suggest you get a new browser! (On Apple devices you need to go into the phone/ipad settings and make the change there).
| Product name | Search Index Used | Crawler | Privacy Features | Business Model | Country of Origin | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
.png) DuckDuckGo |
Bing | DuckBot | Does not store your searches (does not profile you); Duck Player plays YouTube videos anonymously | Free, with two contextual ads at the top of each search | USA | DuckDuckGo Search |
 Uruky |
Various (non-Big Tech) | Uruky crawler + other indie crawlers | Like Kagi but does not use Big Tech search or crawlers at all; Engines include Mojeek, Serper, EUSP and others; Highly customisable; Can set 'fall back' engines e.g. DDG; Strictly no profiling or tracking | Paid service €5/month (with free trial); Sign up with just account number (not email) | Portugal | Uruky.com |
.png) Mojeek |
Own | MojeekBot | Fully independent index, algorithms and infrastructure; Strictly no profiling or tracking | Free service; Paid API customers | UK | Mojeek.com |
.png) Qwant |
Bing + Own (European Search Perspective) | QwantBot | Does not store your searches (does not profile you); Junior version designed for kids | Free, with sponsored shortcuts on their homepage; contextual ads at the top of search results | France | Qwant.com |
.jpg) Ecosia |
Google / Bing / Qwant | Not Applicable | Does not store your searches (does not profile you); Plants trees - all profits to climate action | Free, with contextual ads at the top of search results | Germany | Ecosia.org |
.png) Start Page |
Google / Bing | Not Applicable | Does not store your searches (does not profile you); Encrypted connection; Blocks tracker ads | Free, with contextual ads at the top of search results | Holland | Startpage.com |
.png) Kagi |
Google + Mojeek | Not Applicable | Does not store your searches (does not profile you); Anonymous searches not linked to your account | Paid service | USA | Kagi.com |
.jpg) Brave |
Own | Pretends to be GoogleBot | Does not store your searches (does not profile you); Customisable rules/filters feature (Goggles) | Free, with contextual ads at the top of search results | USA | Search.Brave.com |
.png) Swiss Cows |
Bing | Not Applicable | Does not store your searches (does not profile you) | Free, with contextual ads at the top of search results; Paid version removes ads | Switzerland | SwissCows.com |
.png) MetaGer |
Various combined | Not Applicable | Aggregates from various engines; No profiling or tracking; | Paid (via credit: e.g. a credit of 500 token (€5) is usually sufficient for approximately 2 months) | Germany | metaGer.de |
RTA's choice
One of us uses Uruky (with DuckDuckGo as a 'fallback') and the other uses DuckDuckGo.
How to add a custom search engine to your browser
If the search engine you want is not in the list your browser gives you, you can easily add it.
In the Search Engines section of your browser's settings, find the area to 'Add custom search', and paste in the search engine's URL with:
/search?q=%s
on the end. So for Uruky it's https://uruky.com/search?q=%s or for Mojeek it's https://www.mojeek.com/search?q=%s