Introducing DuckDuckGo Search Engine
DuckDuckGo is the independent Internet privacy company for anyone who’s tired of being tracked online and wants an easy solution. Unlike Chrome and other browsers, our free, go-to browser comes with over a dozen powerful privacy protections built-in, including our search engine that replaces Google and doesn’t track your search history.
The DuckDuckGo browser’s uniquely comprehensive privacy protections are used by tens of millions of people to protect their everyday online activities, from searching to browsing, emailing, and more.
DuckDuckGo is an independent Internet privacy company that aims to make getting privacy simple and accessible for everyone. Our free web browser for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows lets you search and browse the web, but — unlike Google Search and Chrome — we don’t track your searches or browsing history, and we block other companies from trying to track you, all by default.
Does DuckDuckGo block all trackers on websites I visit?
DuckDuckGo never tracks you. And when you leave our search engine and use our browsers or extensions to visit other sites, we aim to protect your privacy as much as possible. No service can eliminate all hidden tracking or all profiling online because trackers are always trying to evade specific protections. To be effective, our protections continually evolve to mitigate this while avoiding website breakage. That’s also why we offer multiple types of web tracking protections.
Other browsers offer some of these by default, like cookie and fingerprinting protections, but we also provide many other protections that most browsers do not offer by default, like 3rd-Party Tracker Loading Protection, Global Privacy Control, Link Tracking Protection, CNAME Cloaking Protection, Google AMP Protection, and more, which all help cover different tracking angles. Our list of trackers is open source, along with the list of exceptions we make to preserve usability.
How many people use DuckDuckGo?
Our best guess — over 100 million people! We don’t track our users, so it’s impossible for us to know how many people in total actually use our product. However, we can make an estimate based on the number of searches we get each month. Thanks to all these users, DuckDuckGo holds the #2 position in mobile search market share in the US, and 20 other markets including the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, Poland, Italy, and Spain.
Why use DuckDuckGo instead of Google?
Use DuckDuckGo to get more privacy online. Ever see ads so creepy it feels like your phone is listening to you? Or notice ads following you around for something you searched for once? If you’re wondering who to blame, it’s probably Google. For decades, Google has been tracking your searches, embedding trackers in the Chrome browser, and hiding even more trackers on the most-popular websites.
In contrast, our browser lets you search and browse like you’re used to, but (unlike Google) we never track you and our browser helps block Google’s trackers and those from other companies that operate other online tracking networks like TikTok and Meta (Facebook).
Use DuckDuckGo to get a better online experience. Have you noticed Google search results getting worse? You’re not alone. For many Google searches, most of the results on the first page are either ads or Google pushing their own services. It can be even worse on mobile.
On DuckDuckGo, we keep ads to a minimum and our search ads are private, only based on the search results page you’re viewing, and not on you as a person. The tracker blocking that’s built-in to our browser also blocks a large number of tracker-dependent ads from loading by default. Coupled with other browser features like automatically blocking cookie pop-ups, our default web tracking protections give you a cleaner online experience overall with DuckDuckGo.
Use DuckDuckGo to send a message to Big Tech companies like Google who are taking away user choice online and profiting by stealing your personal information. Google is the epitome of Big Tech, with their tentacles in everything, compiling detailed profiles about everyone, and making billions of dollars auctioning off access to your attention, for what? Creepy ads that follow you around? By comparison, DuckDuckGo is a small, independent company, based in Paoli, Pennsylvania, with a vision to offer a choice to be more private online without sacrifice to anyone who wants it.
Use DuckDuckGo because it’s fast and secure, because it’s a free Google alternative that lets you search and browse the way you want, and because it puts you back in control of your personal data.
Is DuckDuckGo owned by Google or any other entity?
No, we are not and have never been owned by Google or any other entity. We have been an independent company since our founding in 2008. We also do not source any of our search results from Google. You may notice that we offer a Google Chrome extension and a Google Android app, but these are also not in partnership with Google and actually aim to protect you from Google’s online trackers.
Currently being advertised on TV, DuckDuckGo might well be way forward for the future of search. We would encourage you to have look and then make up your mind. It’s private and free!
Download DuckDuckGo today!