DuckDuckGo. I can't live without !bangs.
this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2023
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Asklemmy
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Do you mean like !google or !amazon ? I use ddg. Just making sure I know what you mean
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Duck duck go first, and if results are shit, I default back to google
Most small search engines use bing results which are a hit or miss compared to Google.
Startpage is the only privacy focused one I found that uses Google search results. The UI is fine for the most part, except the image search maybe.
Edit: typo
I've been using SearXNG. It is a fork of SearX, a popular open source metasearch search engine. Basically SearX allows you to use multiple search engines for a search, and only the results are there, no ads. SearXNG changes the UI to be better, adds some other engines for a variety of things to search, like images. Currently I'm using ericafteric.top as my instance; it is the fastest US instance with search suggestions support since I can't selfhost.
I run my own SearXNG instance too. I set it up to a Hetzner box, then blocked all ports from the firewall except on the Tailscale network. This means the machine which wants to use the search needs to be connected first to the same Tailscale network. It allows me to prevent being blocked by the search providers for too much traffic and is been working great. I just open http://SearXNG from my browser and start searching.
Startpage. It uses Googles results, but you will not get tracked that much
DuckDuckGo
I also use Firefox search bookmarks for searching specific sites.
Search Bookmark: You prepare the URL with a %s placeholder and give the bookmark a tag, and you can type tag searchterm and it'll open it.
I'm using it for opening word definitions, word translations, searching reference documentation, searching specific platforms/websites/media types, etc.
Kagi. Yes, it's paid and the pricing structure is really meh, but:
- Actual privacy
- No BS like with DDG
- AI features (like a "quick answer" feature that's really useful)
- Has its own index along with others
- Search results are great, probably better than DDG's
- "Lenses" (basically narrow results by a set of sites)
- Devs are pretty cool
I want to give it a try but it's hard to justify the cost with limited searches. I don't want to have to keep track of how many times I've searched or second guess if I "really need to search for that".
I've been using Kagi for a few months now and I love it. When I think about how much of my life revolves around accurate information, the price is negligible.
I didn't know it was privacy focused or that they were building their own index, that's really cool. Do you think it's worth the money?
Bit biased cause I've had it for a while and have a 'legacy plan'. But even without that, absolutely.
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Just Google, unless I'm looking to pirate something. Then I use Yandex.
SearX-ng
It's not comparable in quality at all...
It can literally use any search engine you think of as a backend, so its strictly higher quality? Unless thats what you meant
Isn't that hard to determine without specifying which engines are used in your chosen instance? Searx/Searng has provided superior results for me using a combination of engines compared to anything provided by any of the alternatives by themselves.
Duck Duck Go. It just works for me. I've never had a problem with it's results.
Ecosia on my tablet because of nice integrated browser and DuckDuck+Firefox on the PC
Am also checking out Brave on PC at the moment
DuckDuckGo. I wanted something privacy-respecting, but Startpage was blocked in my country and SearX had problems with my language. Anyway I've heard an advertising company bought Starpage so I wont use it. Also bang shortcuts are great!
(Also is it just me or DDG doesn't approve new bangs now?)
DuckDuckGo
Another DuckDuckGo user here. I really like it but wish I could use boolean with it.
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DuckDuckGo, but I've been testing Qwant (also privacy focused) lately as well.
I've been using presearch.com and and quite happy with the results it gives for any question. Yes, there are one or two sponsored links, but the rest consists of great results
Oh wow, I checked it and for people simply lurking by, you can click on a website icon and instantly go do the research on that website
Google. Sue me, I really only care about results when it comes to search. It's mostly just Google and Bing actually providing results and Google's are better.
I moved away from Google because of the results
Google, because of inertia and not being given a good reason to switch.
I used DuckDuckGo for years but I recently decided to make my own minimalist frontend to Bing API + Brave API and I added bangs of course.
I find Ecosia's results to be the better than other privacy-focused search engines, sometimes even better than Google. It struggles with searches in Turkish tho.
I usually switch between DDG and Bing. I usually get what I'm looking for between these two guys.
Phind.com and you.com
duckduckgo primarily, but have been starting to dabble with a self hosted Whoogle.
Google most of the time, Yandex if I need to find pictures. Their image search is more like Google's before they nerfed it. I've used Qwant off and on in the past and rather liked it.
Duckduckgo for the most part, especially if I already know where I want to get to. Google as a backup like others are saying.
DDG first, Google if that fails and I think the query should have gotten good results, Bing Chat if I'm still really not sure about a topic or if I want some of its summarization (or I'm just feeling lazy).
I use DuckDuckGo
ddg.gg
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