Not everyone knows the dangers of searching for things online. Using Google can come with a lot of risks you may not even know about involving the way they process, collect, and use the data that you give them by searching.
This is why a lot of people nowadays are looking for more private alternatives to Google, those that guarantee anonymous connections, protected information, and which are free from personalized ads and aggressive campaigns.
Here are 4 of the best search engines for privacy.
Qwant
Sort of like Google’s newsfeeds, Qwant gives you trending news topics and feeds on its homepage to make it feel more like the experience you’re used to. It named itself “the search engine that respects your privacy” because it provides a great alternative not only to Google but to the perception that lesser search engines have less safety and utility.
Qwant gives you a lot of the same information as Google, along with the same trending news, but none of the threats to your privacy.
Hot.com
Hot.com provides people with a privacy-focused search engine. It’s a relative newcomer, but it’s quickly gaining popularity. Hot promises not to collect or sell your data to anyone so you can enjoy its tracking-free experience without being bothered by personalized ads.
DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckGo offers a lot of options to prioritize results in its searches, owing to the fact that it isn’t using your information to personalize them for you like Google does. That may seem limited, but DuckDuckGo has been around since 2008, giving people a stylish privacy-oriented alternative to Google.
Even though they display ads, they do so related to your results and not to you. They promise not to detect, steal, or use any of your private information, including your IP address.
Swisscows
This is one of the most private ones around. Using its own proxy servers and data centers buried in the Swiss Alps, Swisscows uses Bing to filter your results and give you the same basic search experience with an emphasis on privacy.
This one is also a favorite among parents who want to censor adult content from their children since Swisscows prides itself on being a family-friendly search engine and does this automatically.
WolframAlpha
WolframAlpha is an advanced computation engine that can be used for searches if you’re looking for something specific. Though most useful for calculations in math, science, and fitness, it can also be useful for finding film facts and statistics on pretty much anything.
This one is proof that even if you’ve decided to use an alternative to Google, you don’t have to sacrifice any information to do it. WolframAlpha is even more advanced for particular needs, so proving that choosing the right search engine is less about using the biggest company than about knowing how to find what you’re looking for.
The Takeaway
Privacy is important when it comes to searching online. It ensures the data stored in your computer’s IP address as well as the information given out through your specific queries won’t be sold to ad agencies and lead generators. Google does this and it’s gotten them into trouble. More and more people are looking for more private alternatives to them.
Trying out these four and looking for others could be the first step to securing yourself and reducing the stress and hassle of your online experience for good.