Alternative search engines
Summary
Are you seeking alternative, general purpose search engines? Would you like to go beyond the results Google and Bing offer? In this article I will present a variety of search engine options for you to explore.
Introduction #
Explore a variety of general-purpose search engines beyond Google and Bing, from privacy-focused options like DuckDuckGo and Brave to region-specific ones like Baidu and Naver.
I have deliberately neglected Large Language Models (LLMs) and chatbots in this list. I have deliberately neglected Large Language Models (LLMs) and chatbots in this list. I have also excluded special search engines, such as those for Internet of Things (IoT) devices or academic papers.
Add & Edit #
If you would like to add and/or edit an entry in the search engine database, visit the web search engines repository on GitHub.
List of search engines #
The list contains search engines that crawl the internet and have their own index of websites. In this case, the crawler name is stated and if they respect the Robots Exclusion Protocol (robots.txt).
Meta search engines make use of one or more of these indexes but do not maintain their own index. However, the results might differ as some search engines do not filter or censor results.
| Search Engine | Spectrum | Language | Operator |
|---|---|---|---|
Model: Free | Darknet | English | Juha Nurmi |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Advanced Search Technologies, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Apollo Global Management, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Ask Media Group, LLC |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Chinese | Baidu, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Microsoft Corporation |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Brave Software, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Creative Commons Corporation |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | System1 |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Duck Duck Go, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Ecosia GmbH |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Entireweb Sweden AB |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Comcepta AG |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Steven Ray Marshall |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Alphabet Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Alphabet Inc. |
Model: Paid | Clearnet | Multilingual | Kagi, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Bilingual | Lilo, SAS |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Lycos, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | SUMA-EV - Verein für freien Wissenszugang (e.V.) |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Mojeek Limited |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Korean | NAVER Corporation |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Automattic, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Oscobo |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Presearch.com, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | QWANT |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | F(L)OSS Community |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Chinese | Sogou, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Surfboard Holding B.V. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Hulbee AG |
Model: Free | Darknet | Bilingual | UNDISCLOSED |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Internet Archive |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Bilingual | Wolfram Alpha LLC |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Apollo Global Management, Inc. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Yandex LLC |
Model: Free | Clearnet | Multilingual | Ahrefs Pte. Ltd. |
Model: Free | Clearnet | English | Visymo Universal Search Group |
If you haven’t explored search engine options beyond the big players Google and Bing, it’s worth checking out the competitors — you might be pleasantly surprised.
Further readings #
Sources and recommended, further resources on the topic:
- The Search Engine Map
- Wikipedia: List of search engines
- Wikipedia: Robots Exclusion Protocol
- GitHub: List of web search engines
Author
Jonas Jared Jacek (J15k)
Jonas works as project manager, web designer, and web developer since 2001. On top of that, he is a Linux system administrator with a broad interest in things related to programming, architecture, and design. See: https://www.j15k.com/License
License: Alternative search engines by Jonas Jared Jacek is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
This license requires that reusers give credit to the creator. It allows reusers to distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon the material in any medium or format, for noncommercial purposes only. To give credit, provide a link back to the original source, the author, and the license e.g. like this:
<p xmlns:cc="http://creativecommons.org/ns#" xmlns:dct="http://purl.org/dc/terms/"><a property="dct:title" rel="cc:attributionURL" href="https://www.ditig.com/publications/list-of-web-search-engines">Alternative search engines</a> by <a rel="cc:attributionURL dct:creator" property="cc:attributionName" href="https://www.j15k.com/">Jonas Jared Jacek</a> is licensed under <a href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/" target="_blank" rel="license noopener noreferrer">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>.</p>For more information see the DITig legal page.
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