Instead of DuckDuckGo, try one of these 11.
Every alternative is lined up against DuckDuckGo on what people actually switch for: price, open source, self-hosting, offline use and platforms. DuckDuckGo sits in the first row, so you can see what you give up.
Alternative
Price
Open source
Self-host
Offline
Platforms
Likes
DuckDuckGoWhat you have now
Private search that never tracks your queries.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
Kagi#1
Ad-free, paid search engine with no tracking.
PricePaid
from $5/mo
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Independent search index focused on privacy.
PriceFree
premium $3/mo
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
SearXNG#3
Self-hosted metasearch engine aggregating many sources.
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostYes
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
Ecosia#4
Search engine that plants trees with its ad revenue.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web · iOS · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Google results wrapped in a privacy layer.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
Mojeek#6
Independent search engine with its own crawler.
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
Qwant#7
French privacy engine that refuses profiling and filter bubbles
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android · iOS
LikesVisit ↗
Presearch#8
Community-run search that pays users tokens for searching
PriceFree
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android · iOS
LikesVisit ↗
MetaGer#9
German nonprofit metasearch with anonymous proxy links and open code
PricePaid
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android
LikesVisit ↗
Swisscows#10
Swiss-hosted search that filters adult content and logs nothing
PriceFreemium
Open sourceNo
Self-hostNo
OfflinePartial
Platforms
Web · Android · iOS
LikesVisit ↗
Marginalia Search#11
Surfaces small non-commercial sites the big engines bury
PriceFree
Open sourceYes
Self-hostNo
OfflineNo
Platforms
Web
LikesVisit ↗
How to read this. “Yes” means fully supported by the maker. “Partial” means it works with caveats. Likes reflect community popularity; vendors can’t pay for them or for placement. How we compare.
DuckDuckGo alternatives at a glance
DuckDuckGo is a free search engines app. We compared 11 alternatives: 3 are open source, 8 are completely free, 1 can be self-hosted and 0 work fully offline. The most popular is Kagi, with 1.1k likes.
Best open-source optionSearXNG
Self-hosted metasearch engine aggregating many sources.
Free · Open source · Self‑hostable