28 alternative search engines to Google - read here

28 alternative search engines to Google - read here

28 alternative search engines to Google

Google has a global market share of over 80%. It is the largest and best-known search engine, so hardly anyone knows about alternative search engines. Do they even exist? Yes! And quite a few, in fact.

Time and again, a search engine other than Google tries to gain market share. Most want to add added value and optimize the search for users. In many ways, privacy comes first. It is well known that Google collects data and uses it. Especially in German-speaking countries, some people view this critically. Good thing there are Google alternatives. Today we present 28 alternatives to Google. So stay tuned! Maybe there is a favorite among them that you will use every day in the future.

Spoiler alert: Our own search engine Swisscows combines privacy with great search results. Here you can test our search mask directly: Swisscows.

Alternative search engines to Google - list for overview

Before we introduce the individual search engines in detail, here is a list of alternative search engines:

· Swisscows
· Startpage
· Fireball
· Qwant
· DuckDuckGo
· Nona
· MetaGer
· Search Encrypt
· SearX
· Gibiru
· Disconnect Search
· Yippy
· Lukol
· Oscobo
· Infinity Search
· Bing
· Yahoo
· Ecosia
· Goodsearch
· Ask
· Baidu
· Boardreader
· Yandex
· Wolfram Alpha
· Blinde-kuh.de
· Kindersache.de
· FragFinn.de
· Social media & websites

The boss: Google - Alternative search engines have to get past it

The Internet search engine Google has been online since September 15, 1997. It is a further development of the predecessor "BackRub" and was invented at Stanford University by Larry Page and Sergey Brin.

The idea quickly grew into one of the largest companies in the world. Google is one of the most valuable brands in the world and records 3.5 billion search queries per day. The name "Google" comes from the word "googol", which describes the number 10100. This word was invented in the 1920s by the nine-year-old nephew of mathematician Edward Kasner when the latter asked him for a name for an unimaginably large number.

Fun fact: The predecessor "BackRub" had a computer case made of Duplo bricks.

In addition to the search engine, the Internet giant offers numerous other products such as YouTube or advertising services. The video platform represents its own search engine for videos.

The search itself works with web crawlers. A web crawler is a program that searches all web pages for information. Which search results are displayed is calculated by a complicated algorithm that takes into account over 200 factors. The algorithm is constantly optimized and changed. In order for this to work very well, it collects vast amounts of data. For some people, this is too much.

The Internet pioneer is repeatedly criticized for not complying with data protection guidelines. It is precisely at this point that an opportunity forms for alternative search engines without data storage.

Alternative search engines without data storage

Data protection is a hot topic, especially in Germany. A lot is revealed on the world wide web that companies use for marketing purposes. If you do not want this, you have to use a privacy-compliant search engine that takes individual privacy more into account.

Search engines collect and evaluate all the data. With the three search queries "How do I lose weight fast?", "How do I fight stress?" or "Why don't I get pregnant?" the search engine gets a lot of information about you. In addition, there is data such as your location, the time as well as the frequency of the search and much more. In other words, a search engine may know you better than you know yourself. It knows your thoughts, your feelings, your desires, your past and so on.

Many people are not aware of this, but it is also the reason why people look for alternative search engines in the first place. They want to protect themselves from being spied on.

To stop using the internet would be a solution, but for most people probably not a good one. Nowadays, without the Internet, you hardly ever participate in life; at work, in your free time, at home, the Internet is omnipresent everywhere. At the forefront is the search engine, as most people go to the internet to search for something. This means that you use the main task of a search engine every day.

This is reason enough to actually think about how you can protect yourself from misuse of your personal data. A better solution than turning off the Internet is to use search engines that are fair enough not to collect or even sell data. These alternative search engines without data storage are a step into a world where you can surf privately. You'll be able to anonymously search for solutions to problems without fear of being shown a personalized advertisement.

Fortunately, there are Swisscows and other providers that take your desire for privacy seriously. Alternative search engines without data storage or providers that pay more attention to it include the following:

Top recommendation: The alternative search engine Swisscows

With Swisscows, we are a real Google alternative: You want to search for information completely without tracking? Anonymous and private? We answer your search query with our own search index without collecting personal data.

We are family friendly! We do not show you sexual content or violent sites. Surf with your children safely, calmly and fully. A special feature is the displayed terms in the sidebar, which allows you to optimize your search. Find answers to your questions.

Alternative to Google is Startpage

Startpage is an alternative search engine for those who do not want their IP address to be stored. The IP address and cookies are not recorded, which allows you to surf anonymously. Based in the Netherlands, the provider must comply with the GDPR of the European Union.

The big advantage is that the search results are identical to those of Google.

Financing is not provided by personalized advertising, as is the case with Google, but by general advertising that is not tailored to the user.

Fireball from Germany as a search engine other than Google

An alternative search engine from Germany is Fireball. Like Google, it was developed at a university. The Department of Computer Science began development in 1996 at the TU Berlin. In 2000, the market share was 22% in Germany; in 2005, it was only 0.3%. As with many alternative search engines, the competition from Google is simply too strong. In 2018, there was a relaunch with data protection in mind. User data is not collected.

Qwant as an alternative to Google

From the city of love, from Paris, comes the alternative search engine to Google - Qwant. The search results correspond to the results from its own crawler and from Bing.

According to its own statements, it has very strict data protection regulations. Since only little data is collected or data is deleted directly, every user gets the same search result. There are no personal results. What sounds negative at first, represents something positive. You search freely without the search being restricted by your previous searches.

DuckDuckGo has been around since 2008. The search results displayed come from hundreds of different sources such as Wikipedia, Bing or from the web crawler DuckDuckBot. DuckDuckGo also does not store IP addresses or use cookies. However, the alternative search engine does save your searches.

The Bangs function is very useful. Similar to Google, there are search parameters to reach the goal faster. The syntax "!Bang" is used to search for specific information on a specific page.

Nona from Cologne as an alternative search engine to Google

Data protection is an important issue for Nona. Therefore, it does not collect user data. It also shows you fewer ads, and with a fee of €2 per month, the ads are removed completely.

If you like listening to podcasts, you are in good hands with Nona, because there is a special podcast search.

MetaGer - the metasearch engine and an alternative search engine to Google

MetaGer uses multiple search engines to provide results.

MetaGer uses 10 search engines like Bing or Yahoo and its own crawlers. By the way, you as a user decide which crawlers MetaGer should use. All results are processed by the system to show you the best results.

In terms of data protection, the alternative search engine does quite a bit. It does not store personal data, IP addresses and the like.

More alternative search engines to Google

As you can see, there are quite a few alternative search engines to Google. Most of them have the goal of protecting your privacy. These search engines are among them:

· Search Encrypt: Browsing history is deleted after 15 minutes

· SearX: Secure open source model

· Gibiru: Privacy is valued

· Disconnect Search: Allows anonymous searches

· Yippy: No ads, no tracking of your search

· Lukol: Private data is removed, therefore anonymous, no filtering of results

· Oscobo: No third-party tools, data is encrypted, anonymous search possible

· Infinity Search: Does not store data

· And many more

Alternative search engines to Google that tick similarly

Most alternative search engines have similar functionsto Google. They hardly differ in appearance and also collect massive amounts of data. Here are the alternative search engines that work similarly to Google.

Bing - the strongest competitor of alternative search engines

Microsoft's search engine is called Bing. It has the second largest market share and is especially popular in the USA. The search engine is almost identical to Google. There is a translator as well as pictures, videos or a news page.

The displayed background photos are a highlight. The display preview of videos is also welcome. As with Google, all data is collected and can go to third parties.

Yahoo ranks third in search engines and is older than Google. Like Google, it was developed by two Stanford students and became the most successful internet portal. The Google alternative offers users a personalized result of content in the form of text, images and videos.

Some setbacks led to the fact that the search engine moves more and more into the background. Today, it is managed by Bing and is therefore very similar in structure. Advertising revenue is the main source of income. There is no privacy, all data is exploited. A special feature: news can be sorted by source.

Ecosia - an environmentally friendly and alternative search engine to Google

Every search query requires energy. Ecosia goes the distance and wants to do something good for the environment. With 80% of the profit, projects such as tree planting are financed. In summer 2020, the company announced that it had planted 100 million trees.

The search results come from its own algorithms and the Bing search engine. Ecosia shares your data with Bing. However, deletion of IP addresses and personal data takes place every 7 days.

More alternative search engines

In addition to the big market leaders, other search engines can be found:

· Goodsearch: The search engine supports social and environmental projects with 50% of the revenue. The search results come from Yahoo.

· Ask: As the name makes clear, questions can be asked. The search mask spits out suitable answers.

· Baidu: The biggest search engine in China is called Baidu. It is an alternative search engine to Google, if you know the Mandarin language. The structure is very similar to other well-known engines, but some content is censored. It is nice that especially MP3 data can be searched.

· Boardreader: Boardreader searches specifically in forums. Also, results can be sorted by date.

· Yandex: Most people in Russia use Yandex as a search engine. It has a similar structure to Google.

· Wolfram Alpha: Wolfram Alpha has a slightly different approach. It does not search for web pages, but for a specific answer to your search query. It does not use crawlers, but a database with the function of cellular automata. The search result is semantically represented with text, images and graphics and provides expert knowledge for subjects like mathematics or physics.

Social media and other search types as Google alternatives?

Many people forget that there are many more search engines. Social media portals, forums, blogs and other websites such as Wikipedia are basically also search engines. For example, you can find many results on Pinterest - even directly with an image.

It is therefore not always necessary to google, but you can also call up individual pages, such as Wikipedia, directly. Very many websites or online stores have internal searches, with which you get content displayed. This means that if you have already created your own collection of web pages, you do not need to submit a search query to Google.

Alternative search engines to Google that are for children

Especially for children, there are search engines that display results according to children's needs. In some cases, they are supported and reviewed by the government. Examples are:

· Blinde-kuh.de
· Kindersache.de
· FragFinn.de

Our alternative search engine Swisscows also does not display pornographic content. It is therefore also good for children to use.

What alternative search engine do you use?

It is, of course, up to you where you submit a question. But we recommend that you take a look around and use other alternative search engines. At this point, we would like to once again suggest our own alternative search engine to Google.

With Swisscows you will experience a family-friendly search engine from beautiful Switzerland! It does not show you content with violence or pornography. We also do not collect personal data. We guarantee complete anonymity. Surf the Internet privately to get perfect search results displayed.

Try our alternative search engine to Google for yourself. Do you like Swisscows like many other users?