DuckDuckGo vs Google | Which One Should You Prefer? [2024 Updated]
A quick comparison to begin with…
| Feature | DuckDuckGo | |
| Search results | Personalized. | Generic. |
| Privacy | Tracks your history. | General: non-personalized results. |
| Specialty | Works around an ecosystem (Gmail, maps, etc.). | Simple, minimalist interface showing non-personalized search results. |
Predominantly, Google is the most popular search engine, with a 91.54% share of the search market. Not just search Google revolves around an ecosystem where they provide end-to-end solutions ranging from Gmail, docs, sheets, maps, and many more.
On the other hand, the daily searches on DuckDuckGo have multiplied by 9.8X since 2015.
Source: Backlinko
But who are they? Basically, DuckDuckGo is becoming increasingly popular among privacy-concerned users. That’s not the end! It also has much more to offer searchers than just improved privacy safeguards.
This content piece will be an in-depth comparison of DuckDuckGo and Google so that you can make an educated decision.
So, let’s begin…
Table Of Content
What Is DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo, is a search engine that promises never to retain personal information about its users.
As a result, all queries conducted through the search engine are always anonymous.
And, with common people’s rising worries about user privacy, it’s clear that between DuckDuckGo vs Google, the former is doing something right.
“The search engine that doesn’t track you,” according to DuckDuckGo. Most search engines capture and retain information about your searches, with Google even connecting that information to your account.
The information collected is used to customize your search results and display targeted advertisements to you. But DuckDuckGo (DDG) does not monitor you and does not customize your search results.
Who Owns DuckDuckGo?
Gabriel Weinberg, the founder and CEO of DuckDuckGo, founded the company in 2008. He owns and operates DuckDuckGo Inc., which is a privately held corporation.
The firm now employs over 124 people who are working behind the scenes to keep DuckDuckGo developing. When it comes to privacy, it’s important to know a little something about the individuals who manage the businesses you entrust with your data.
Gabriel Weinberg created the Names Database, one of the first-wave social networks, before founding DDG. In 2006, he sold the company for roughly $10 million. The funds were utilized to self-fund DDG’s development throughout the company’s early years. Weinberg went on to co-author Traction, a book about how to develop a business.
Can DuckDuckGo Be Trusted?
Many technological corporations have proven in recent years that they cannot be trusted with your data. Several data breaches have put you in danger, beginning from the Facebook app selling your data to corrupt third parties and to Spotify changing the passwords of over three hundred thousand compromised profiles.
Luckily, there are numerous ways to defend oneself from a data breach.
Enter DuckDuckGo. The company’s laudable business strategy and the founder’s privacy-focused background are fantastic beginning points. But there are lots of other reasons to trust DDG.
Recently, DuckDuckGo has launched App Tracking Protection. This cool feature tracks when other apps on your phone send data to third-party tracking apps.
What DuckDuckGo Has Said About App Tracking Protection:
“For example, when Facebook tries to track you in a health app. Our protection works to block tracking requests that occur over HTTPS, which includes the majority of app traffic on the Internet.”
Let’s now explore the distinctive characteristics of DuckDuckGo.
1. Privacy Policy
Their Privacy Policy is also reassuring to read since it provides clarity on the limited amount of information they gather.
The most important takeaways are that they do not keep IP addresses or unique User-Agent identification and that they would only use a cookie to save site preferences.
And they are constantly strengthening their privacy promises. Regarding the same, they have recently said On X:
“DuckDuckGo is way more than a private search engine.
Our web browser uses top-of-the-line tracker blocking technology to block hidden trackers watching what you do online.”
2. Open-Source
DDG has made parts of its software open source in addition to employing free and open-source software (FOSS). On DuckDuckGo’s GitHub website, you may find many of the site’s designs, browser extensions, whitelists, and fast answers.
Although the principal search engine is proprietary, most other elements of the site have been open-sourced, allowing anybody with the desire to look at the code to do so.
3. Donations To Privacy
DDG, like many other businesses, gives a percentage of its profits to charitable organizations. They handpick groups who share their “goal of increasing the bar for internet trust.”
Each year, DuckDuckGo chooses a new set of charities, even soliciting nominations on Reddit. They’ve given $2.65 million to their selected charities thus far. Each gift they’ve given is listed on their website’s Donations page, which is organized by year.
4. Beyond Search
DuckDuckGo went beyond search in January 2018, offering a set of tools to help you preserve your online anonymity. They updated their mobile applications and browser extensions to incorporate tracking protection, encryption, and easy access to their private search.
The update also included a Site Data Grade assessment system that ranges from A to F, allowing you to determine how well a site protects your privacy. Many of the features in the browser extension and mobile applications are aimed at preventing tracking and safeguarding your privacy. DuckDuckGo’s privacy applications, in other words, seek to keep you secure online.
Is DuckDuckGo Safer Than Google?
In order to have a complete understanding of Duckduckgo vs Google, you must know the advantages and disadvantages of both DuckDuckGo and Google. So, let’s start with the pros and cons of DuckDuckGo, and then we will shift to Google.
Pros And Cons DuckDuckGo
Here is a complete chart of both the advantages and disadvantages of DuckDuckGo.
| Advantages Of DuckDuckGo | Disadvantages Of DuckDuckGo |
| ✅DuckDuckGo was built from the bottom up to be a privacy-conscious environment that does not retain IP addresses or user information. | ❌DuckDuckGo still relies on advertising to make money, so you’ll see advertisements in your searches. The distinction is that the advertisements aren’t tailored to each particular user. |
| ✅You have the option of searching directly on the DuckDuckGo website or using the DuckDuckGo for Chrome plugin. | ❌DuckDuckGo does not include any anti-virus, anti-malware, anti-ransomware, or anti-malware protection. |
| ✅There are no customized advertisements or search results included. This produces a search experience that is significantly different from Google’s and far less “Big Brother”-like. | ❌As compared to Google (90.68%), DuckDuckGo’s market share is only 0.35%. This is also less than Bing, Yahoo, Naver, and others. This implies that information will not be readily available all the time. |
Pros And Cons Of Google
Here is a complete chart of both the advantages and disadvantages of Google.
| Advantages Of Google | Disadvantages Of Google |
| ✅Google is the most popular search engine for a reason. Some people might still prefer Google’s search results over DuckDuckGo’s. | ❌Google collects vast user data to improve search results and deliver targeted advertisements. This concerns privacy and data security since users’ search histories and personal information are stored. |
| ✅By launching ‘incognito’ browsers, Google Chrome may be made even more private. | ❌Not all information available on the internet is accurate or up-to-date. Due to Google’s algorithms, misinformation can appear in search results (for non-verified sources). |
| ✅Other privacy-enhancing improvements include the ability to adjust encryption options in Chrome’s settings to change how data is gathered or to choose which web services it utilizes. | ❌Too much dependency on dependency on Algorithms. Using complex algorithms for ranking search results means that the process is not entirely transparent. This lack of transparency can lead to frustration and dissatisfaction among users who may not under. |
7 Reasons Why People Are Choosing DuckDuckGo Instead Of Google
In the last ten years, the market share of DuckDuckGo has constantly thrived.
1. No Tracking
Many individuals are unaware that their online activities, such as search history, are recorded, packaged, and sold to marketers. Behavioural advertising is the term for this technique.
This is why you frequently encounter Google adverts for topics you’ve searched for or even said aloud. Google will create customized advertising for you in order to maximize your profits.
2. !Bangs Feature
DuckDuckGo offers a unique feature that allows you to search the web without using their search engine. Bangs is the name of this feature. Essentially, you type the “!” punctuation mark followed by the URL of the site you wish to search. For example, if you want to rapidly search Wikipedia, put “!w duckduckgo” into the URL bar.
This eliminates the need to go via DuckDuckGo to find a Wikipedia page. Every website has its own unique shorthand, such as !a for Amazon, and even !g for Google. There are 13,000 distinct bangs in Bang Shortcuts. This tool allows you to surf the web in a matter of seconds.
3. Unbiased Outputs
Whether you’re looking for meals or conducting the study, Google will offer you skewed results. This implies they can keep some information hidden from specific people. As a result, you may not always obtain the top results, only those that are based on your profiles.
The same is true of your political beliefs, with Google displaying specific websites based on your region and political beliefs. A filter bubble is a term for this occurrence. DuckDuckGo does not place its users in a filter bubble and instead provides you with impartial results.
4. Minimal Advertisements
Although we all dislike advertisements, they are important for search engines to earn money. With a billion-dollar corporation like Google, they can diversify their revenue streams. As a result, you’d expect them to run less advertising.
On the contrary, it’s the other way around. Not only does Google have a lot of advertising, but it also has ones that follow you. DuckDuckGo features a small number of adverts, all of which are non-tracking. This one is also one of the best comparisons of Duckduckgo vs Google.
5. Personal Info Control
Many individuals seek medical advice from search engines. Some people are sensitive about this topic, and they would not welcome personal information being revealed. Google, for example, might use your search to target you with specific drugs linked to what you were looking for.
DuckDuckGo opposes this. They even demonstrate their opposition to this by contributing money to groups that work to improve the Internet for everyone.
6. Privacy
With the advancement of technology, the concept of privacy seemed to have vanished in a world of telephones and cameras. People are most susceptible to the internet, where we enter our credit card information while making an online purchase or save our passwords on our laptops.
Everything is now accessible via the Internet: bank accounts, work, personal information, and so on. The entire idea of DuckDuckGo is to provide a safer and more secure browser that safeguards customers from large corporations trying to steal and sell their personal information. DuckDuckGo is superior in this regard since it strives to keep its users secure.
7. No Ecosystem
Over the years, Google has acquired a large number of businesses. As a result, they frequently promote their own websites as top results. For example, instead of Yelp, they have Google Places and Google Products instead of Amazon. Google is essentially attempting to conquer the globe and will display its items first, regardless of whether or not others rank higher.
In this way, they’ve created an ecology in which they recycle their own sites throughout the web more than sites with better rankings. Some argue that you should avoid investing in the Google ecosystem. As we are reading about DuckDuckGo vs Google, DuckDuckGo isn’t interested in creating an ecosystem. Their objective is to put the user and their requirements first.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs):
We believe after going through this article, you might have got the information you were looking for. But we understand that there might be some questions that are bothering you. Do let us know about them. We will try to answer all your queries as soon as possible.
Till now, here are some most common questions that a lot of people have asked us. So, when we were covering the topic of DuckDuckGo Vs Google, we thought of answering them. These will also help you.
A: All of it depends on your personal preferences and priorities. DuckDuckGo is known for its strong privacy protection, as it doesn’t track your searches or store personal information. If privacy is your top concern, DuckDuckGo is a suitable alternative.
On the other hand, Google offers a more extensive search index and advanced features, making it potentially more effective in providing relevant search results.
Google may be better if you value comprehensive search results and services like Google Maps, Gmail, and integrated services.
Ultimately, weigh your privacy concerns against what you need from a search engine. You can try both and decide which one you like best.
A: To start with DuckDuckGo’s search results may not be as comprehensive or relevant as those of Google.
While Google offers a wide range of integrated services like Maps, Gmail, Drive, and more, DuckDuckGo lacks these integrated features.
Finally, it comes with fewer advanced search Tools. Google offers advanced search operators and filters that allow users to refine their search queries more effectively. DuckDuckGo’s search options might be more limited in comparison.
A: Not really! Citing what DuckDuckGois has said “No. We are not and have never been owned by Google or any other entity. We have been an independent company since our founding in 2008. “
Moreover, they mentioned that they are not sourcing any answers from Google. Lastly, none of their extensions are integrated with Google.
A: If you are someone who cares about privacy, go for DuckDuckGo. Because DuckDuckGo comes with much better privacy policies.
And…The Final Verdict
Your hunt for DuckDuckGo vs Google comes to an end.
At this point, the standpoint is crystal clear: priorities matter! So, you cannot say one is better than the other
If you are a privacy person, go for DuckDuckGo. In contrast, if you are someone who enjoys personalized results, Google is the clear winner.
If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.
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