Search the web without being profiled

The search box is one of the most revealing things you type into all day. It captures what you are curious about, worried about, shopping for, and sometimes what you are afraid of. Most large search engines log those queries and tie them to a profile used for advertising. Switching to a private search engine takes about a minute and stops that profiling, without changing how you actually search.

What “private search” means

A private search engine does not build a profile of you from your searches. In practice that means it does not store your search history against a personal identity, does not track your IP address for advertising, and does not follow you around the web afterwards. You still get results; you just are not the product.

The main options

DuckDuckGo

The best-known private search engine. It does not track or store your personal information, and it handles a very large volume of searches daily. Its results come mainly from Bing’s index combined with its own crawler and other sources. It is simple, familiar, and well integrated into browsers and phones, making it the easiest switch for most people.

Startpage

Startpage delivers Google’s search results but routes your query privately, so you get Google-quality relevance without Google recording your searches, IP, or activity. This is the best fit if you rely on Google’s result quality but want the tracking removed. One honest caveat: Startpage is partly owned by an advertising-related company, which some privacy-focused users weigh when deciding whether to trust it.

Brave Search

Brave Search runs on its own independent index, meaning it crawls and ranks the web itself rather than reselling Google’s or Bing’s results. That independence matters: it makes the results less dependent on big-tech gatekeepers, while still delivering relevance strong enough for everyday use. As of July 2026 it is a strong default for people who want privacy and modern features together.

Mojeek

Mojeek is a UK-based engine with a genuinely independent index built entirely from its own crawler, relying on no third-party search provider. It is one of only a handful of engines in the world in that position, which makes it valuable for diversity and independence. The trade-off is size: its index is smaller, so relevance can be hit-or-miss on obscure queries. A good choice if independence is your priority and you can tolerate the occasional weaker result, and a useful backup to keep alongside a main engine.

Where private search falls short

Being realistic keeps you safer than false confidence:

• Results quality varies. Engines that source from Google (Startpage) or Bing (DuckDuckGo) match the giants closely; independent indexes (Brave, Mojeek) are excellent for most queries but can trail on rare or very fresh topics.
• Private search is not anonymity. It stops the search engine from profiling you, but your internet provider still sees which sites you connect to, and the sites you then click still get their own visitors. For location privacy you need a VPN or the Tor Browser (see our browsing hub).
• Some run their own ads. A few private engines show ads based only on the current query, not a stored profile. That is far less invasive than tracking, but it is not ad-free.
• Defaults can drift. Apps and operating systems sometimes reset your default search after an update, so it is worth re-checking occasionally.

Change your default search in a minute

Setting a private engine as your default means every search from the address bar uses it automatically. As of July 2026:

Firefox (desktop)

Open the menu, choose Settings, then Search in the left panel. Under Default Search Engine, pick your engine from the list. If it is not listed, visit the engine’s site once, then use “Add search engine” from the address bar or the same Search settings page.

Chrome (desktop)

Open Settings, then Search engine. Choose from the dropdown, or click Manage search engines and site search to add one (for example Mojeek or Startpage) and set it as default.

Safari (Mac)

Open Safari, then Settings, then the Search tab. Choose your search engine from the list. Safari offers DuckDuckGo among its built-in options.

Mobile

• iPhone/iPad: open the Settings app, scroll to Safari (or Apps, then Safari on newer iOS), tap Search Engine, and pick one. In Chrome or Firefox for iOS, change it inside the app’s own settings.
• Android: open your browser’s in-app Settings, find Search engine, and choose. Brave, Firefox, and DuckDuckGo’s own app all let you set a private default.

That is the whole change. Nothing else about searching is different, and you can switch back at any time.

For the browser those searches run in, see our browsing protection guide; for locking down your handset, see phones.