What are the apical hunt engines successful the world? It depends connected what you’re looking for.

Slowly disappearing are the days erstwhile conscionable 1 hunt motor dominates implicit the rest. The Internet is fragmenting, and radical whitethorn take a hunt motor implicit others due to the fact that of circumstantial use cases.

So, present are the apical hunt engines, classified by categories:

These are the astir fashionable hunt engines successful the world, arsenic seen by their worldwide marketplace share.

1. Google

With 89.79% of the planetary marketplace share, Google inactive remains the fig 1 hunt motor successful the world.

But nary acknowledgment to privacy concerns, antitrust issues, creating filter bubbles, and contention from AI hunt engines, Google has seen its marketplace stock decline. In January 2024, lone 1 twelvemonth ago, Google had a 91.47% marketplace share. It’s inactive astatine the top, but it’s dilatory falling off.

However, Google is not resting connected its laurels. Fighting backmost with AI Overviews, and CEO Sundar Pichai commenting that Google hunt volition go much of an AI assistant, we’ll person to spot if Google tin proceed to enactment astatine the apical for the adjacent decade.

2. Bing

Chasing Google’s shadow, Bing takes #2 astatine 3.93% of the planetary hunt motor marketplace share.

Despite the ample spread successful marketplace share, Bing has ever been Google’s closest hunt motor rival. Besides the idiosyncratic interface, there’s thing truly antithetic astir Bing. It has representation and video search, maps, news, and akin SERP features similar featured snippets.

It besides has ‘AI Overviews’:

The days erstwhile Bing was lone utilized to hunt for “Google Chrome download” are dilatory gone. Bing present hides its hunt results if you look for Google. Meanwhile, striking portion the robust is hot, Microsoft embraced AI rapidly, adding their ain LLM (Copilot) arsenic a hunt tab and integrating caller features similar Deep Search:

3.93% whitethorn beryllium thing successful the hunt motor pie, but it’s a number that has been increasing. Also, Bing powers astir of the alternative hunt engines, truthful its marketplace stock fig whitethorn really beryllium larger than you expect.

3. Yandex

Coming successful 3rd spot astatine 2.73% is the Russia-based hunt motor Yandex.

Its portion of the pastry whitethorn look tiny, but if you constrictive it down to conscionable Russia, Yandex becomes #1 astatine 73.71%, beating Google. (Some acquisition successful present astir niching down.)

Like Google, it besides has akin products, including representation and video search, maps, translate, weather, and email. However, it has 1 merchandise that adjacent Google doesn’t have: Yandex Taxi (ridesharing). It is the biggest ridesharing institution successful Russia, and I adjacent utilized it erstwhile I visited Uzbekistan 2 years ago. Very casual to use, conscionable similar Uber and Grab successful Singapore.

Two years ago, Yandex’s root codification was leaked online, including immoderate of their ranking factors. SEOs people went crazy, and respective SEO thought leaders attempted to analyse and interruption down what they found.

However, arsenic acold arsenic I cognize with regards to the leaks, thing overmuch has changed successful however SEO is done.

4. Yahoo

In the astir astonishing quality since Manchester City mislaid 5 games successful a row, Yahoo inactive exists. Not lone does it exist, but it’s inactive 4th (1.27%) successful the planetary hunt motor game.

Once the #1 ‘search engine’ successful the world, it’s present a ammunition of itself. Its scale is powered by Bing and it’s owned by Apollo Global Management, an plus absorption company.

While I bash not cognize a azygous idiosyncratic who uses Yahoo the hunt engine, I bash cognize galore radical who work quality articles connected Yahoo and besides notation to its finance section.

Currently, according to Statista, Yahoo has the dubious honor of starring the ranking of the astir compromised information records successful selected information breaches worldwide. Not a bully motion for a hunt engine.

5. Baidu

In 5th place, we person Baidu, the Chinese hunt motor astatine 0.71% marketplace share.

Like Yandex, portion it lone has a tiny information of the planetary marketplace share, it’s #1 erstwhile you constrictive it down to China. It is fundamentally the Google of China. (Incredibly, Bing is besides doing well.)

While galore radical deliberation of Baidu arsenic a transcript of Google, it isn’t. Baidu’s founder, Robin Li, created the RankDex site-scoring algorithm for leafage ranking (the ground of Baidu) successful 1996. RankDex was referenced 2 years aboriginal by Larry Page, erstwhile helium filed the patent for PageRank.

Like the Western hunt engines, Baidu has besides moved quickly, moving with DeepSeek R1 to supply AI-powered hunt and different features:

6. DuckDuckGo

At fig six we person DuckDuckGo, with 0.67% of the marketplace share.

Named aft the children’s game, DuckDuckGo is the astir well-known backstage hunt engine. Private due to the fact that DuckDuckGo doesn’t usage immoderate tracking cookies oregon store your idiosyncratic data, similar your IP addresses.

While DuckDuckGo doesn’t person its ain crawler and gets its hunt results from over 400 sources, DuckDuckGo assures each of america that it doesn’t stock our idiosyncratic accusation with them.

The astir absorbing diagnostic that DuckDuckGo has, and different mainstream hunt engines don’t, is its “Bangs” feature. Typing 1 of these “bangs” sends you straight to a hunt result. For example, !w and a keyword similar “SEO” sends you straight to the leafage connected SEO connected Wikipedia.

Mainstream hunt engines are convenient, casual to use, and the go-to for astir people. But they person downsides, the astir salient of which is privacy.

Mainstream hunt engines way your information and stock it crossed their assorted services. Some person besides been known to cooperate with authorities surveillance programs.

If you’re wary of large tech, privation to support your integer privacy, but inactive privation to usage search, you’ll person to usage backstage hunt engines.

DuckDuckGo is the astir celebrated backstage hunt engine, but determination are different alternatives too.

1. Brave Search

Brave Search is developed by the aforesaid radical down Brave browser, a privacy-focused browser. Its founders see Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and a co-founder of Mozilla Firefox, and Brian Bondy, a erstwhile elder level technologist astatine Mozilla.

At archetypal glance, Brave Search doesn’t look excessively dissimilar from Google. It has akin features similar representation and video search, news, and SERP features similar “Discussions”, which showcases threads from Reddit:

It besides has “AI Overviews”, but with a flimsy twist—you tin inquire further questions:

If you’re ever unsatisfied with Brave’s hunt results, they supply the enactment of turning to Google, Bing, oregon Mojeek:

You tin besides modify Brave Search’s rankings utilizing their Goggles feature—a acceptable of rules and filters:

If you dislike their pre-built Goggles, you tin marque your own:

Unlike different alternate hunt engines, Brave Search doesn’t trust connected Google oregon Bing for its SERPs. It uses its ain scale with the assistance of the Web Discovery Project.

2. Startpage

Predominantly utilizing hunt results from Google, Startpage utilized to literally be Google without the tracking. However, successful 2023, they announced that they were besides partnering with MapQuest, HERE Technologies, Priceline, Tomorrow.io, Search Expander, and Microsoft Bing.

Despite their wide scope of partners, they guarantee users that they bash not usage immoderate tracking cookies and anonymize each queries earlier pulling SERPs from their partners. For further reassurance, Startpage is based successful the Netherlands, wherever they comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), a European Union regularisation that protects users’ data.

For adjacent further insurance, their “Anonymous View” diagnostic lets you sojourn websites from their hunt results anonymously.

If you similar the cleanable UX that Google offers but dislike the large tech tracking, Startpage is an evident choice.

3. Yep

Made by Ahrefs (that’s us), Yep is simply a privacy-oriented hunt motor that lone collects idiosyncratic information erstwhile you voluntarily supply it to us, e.g., erstwhile you interaction america for lawsuit support. Otherwise, we store thing permanently: not your hunt history, your IP address, nor User-Agent strings.

Unlike astir alternate hunt engines which get their SERPs from Bing, our scale is populated by our own crawler. In fact, we person the astir progressive web crawler successful the SEO manufacture and it’s besides the 2nd astir progressive crawler successful the world.

That means we observe caller pages and refresh our scale each the time.

Another unsocial happening astir Yep is that we’re creator-friendly. Our program is simply a 90/10 gross stock model, wherever 90% of advertizing gross volition beryllium paid straight to creators. It’s our antagonistic to Google and different mainstream hunt engines “stealing” contented from hardworking creators (to make their SERP features and AI Overviews) and not crediting nor rewarding them.

It’s inactive successful beta, but effort it and fto america cognize what you think!

4. Kagi

Most alternate hunt engines are conscionable a flimsy twist connected Google, e.g. removing tracking but inactive serving results from them. Kagi, however, has decided to rethink the full concern exemplary from the ground-up.

After all, wherefore bash hunt engines request to way you? It’s due to the fact that of the modular hunt motor concern model: hunt is free, truthful hunt engines marque wealth via ads instead. To service amended ads and assistance advertisers scope customers efficiently, hunt engines need data.

But what if hunt isn’t free? What if hunt worked much similar SaaS, wherever radical wage a monthly subscription to entree it? That way, Kagi could support hunt backstage without immoderate request for tracking.

Paying for hunt whitethorn dependable preposterous to galore people, but it works. As of February 25, 2025, Kagi has 40,648 paying members.

5. Mojeek

One of the earliest backstage hunt engines, Mojeek was the archetypal hunt motor to person a nary tracking privateness argumentation backmost successful 2006. It besides uses its ain hunt index, presently lasting astatine over six cardinal pages.

There’s thing fancy astir Mojeek—just a elemental interface with links, representation search, news, and an AI summary for the apical web results.

It does person 1 unsocial feature: emotion-based search. In concern with EMRAYS Technologies, you tin participate a keyword and hunt by emotion connected Mojeek:

With AI taking implicit the world, much radical are moving distant from mainstream hunt engines similar Google and moving to AI ones, including myself.

Even though galore mainstream hunt engines contiguous person AI elements, similar Google’s AI Overviews oregon Bing’s Deep Research, but these are search engines that are predominantly AI-based.

1. Perplexity

An AI-powered conversational hunt engine, Perplexity works similar Google’s AI Overviews, but connected steroids. Ask it immoderate question oregon adjacent conscionable participate a keyword, and Perplexity volition make answers with citations successful the output.

You tin besides inquire Perplexity to absorption only on definite types of sources, similar web results, world papers, oregon Reddit discussions:

Perplexity is acceptable to Auto mode naturally, but you besides get 5 enhanced queries each day. Enhanced queries means you get to take from Perplexity’s ain Pro Search (which looks astatine much sources and adjacent clarifies questions) to reasoning models from OpenAI and DeepSeek.

They besides precocious released Deep Research, wherever Perplexity volition execute dozens of searches, reads hundreds of sources, and reasons done the worldly to autonomously present a broad report. It’s a rival to OpenAI’s caller feature, besides called Deep Research.

To get much queries, you tin motion up for their Pro version.

2. ChatGPT

I’m 99% definite you’re acquainted with ChatGPT. Even if you’re not utilizing it arsenic a hunt engine, you’re astir apt utilizing it arsenic a coding partner, assistance you with your homework, oregon automate your tasks.

But it works arsenic a hunt motor too. If ChatGPT determines an reply would payment from existent information, it automatically searches the web. However, you tin besides click the web hunt icon to get ChatGPT to hunt the web, which makes it relation arsenic a hunt engine.

ChatGPT besides precocious released Deep Research, an cause that volition find, analyze, and synthesize hundreds of online sources utilizing its reasoning models to make a broad report. The diagnostic has been getting bully reviews online:

After DeepSeek (see below) shook the AI satellite with its velocity and accuracy (at a little grooming cost), OpenAI rapidly released its cost-efficient reasoning model, o3-mini-high to the public.

3. DeepSeek

Essentially China’s reply to ChatGPT, DeepSeek is simply a Hangzhou-based chatbot founded successful July 2023 by Liang Wenfeng, a hedge money co-founder.

First released connected 10 January 2025, it shocked the full AI satellite by providing responses comparable to OpenAI’s o1. Not lone was DeepSeek not operated by a full-time AI institution (e.g., OpenAI), it was seemingly besides trained astatine a much, overmuch little outgo (US$6 million) compared to OpenAI’s GPT-4 ($100 million). It requires a tenth of the computing powerfulness of a comparable LLM.

DeepSeek’s merchandise contributed to the largest driblet successful U.S. banal marketplace history, adjacent wiping distant $600 cardinal successful marketplace worth for Nvidia. Crazy. We’re truly successful an AI arms race now.

Anyway, similar ChatGPT, toggling the web hunt icon turns DeepSeek into a hunt engine.

Search engines are notorious polluters—an estimation suggests that Google is accountable for ~40% of the internet’s c footprint.

Every hunt contributes to clime change. If you’re concerned, past see these hunt engines.

1. Ecosia

Powered by Bing, the Berlin-based hunt motor Ecosia pledges to donate 80% of profits to tree-planting projects. This is astir 1 histrion for each 45 searches.

As of February 1, 2024, Ecosia claims to person planted much than 200 cardinal trees.

For further reassurance to its cause, Ecosia besides built their ain star plants truthful that their servers tin tally connected cleanable power. Pretty cool.

To item environmentally affable companies, they besides constituent them retired successful the hunt results with a green leaf:

They besides constituent retired ‘polluting’ companies with a fossil fuel icon:

In 2024, Ecosia announced that it’ll spouse with Paris-based backstage hunt motor Qwant to make their ain European hunt index.

2. Ekoru

Add the Ekoru Chrome hold to your browser and it turns each caller tab you unfastened into an Ekoru search. Or much accurately, a Yahoo hunt arsenic Ekoru fundamentally redirects to Yahoo (which is powered by Bing by the way).

Confusing, I know. Welcome to the satellite of alternate hunt engines.

The lone crushed you’ll bash that is due to the fact that you attraction astir Ekoru’s cause: they’re pledging to donate 60% of their gross to water conservation. When you click connected an ad, the wealth goes to Big Blue Ocean Cleanup, a nonprofit dedicated to cleaning waterways, coastal areas, and oceans, and Operation Posidonia, an inaugural led by the University of New South Wales to replant water seagrass.

Ekoru is besides powered by hydroelectricity to guarantee they bash not make immoderate CO2 emissions.

Final thoughts

This database is comprised of hunt engines that telephone themselves hunt engines. But you don’t person to statement yourself arsenic a hunt motor to relation as one.

In fact, for the younger generation, societal media has replaced their conception of ‘search engines’.

For example, a 2024 survey by Adobe suggested that 1 successful 10 Gen Zers trust connected TikTok much than Google arsenic a hunt engine. And radical whitethorn crook straight to YouTube to look for videos, alternatively than usage an ‘intermediary’ hunt engine.

Anecdotally, I’ve besides heard from my Chinese friends that Baidu is progressively nary longer the go-to hunt engine. Young radical contiguous usage Douyin (the Chinese mentation of TikTok) oregon Xiaohongshu.

These numbers are not reflected successful hunt motor marketplace stock numbers due to the fact that they’re not technically hunt engines. But arsenic agelong arsenic you usage them similar one, they are search engines.