The Chronicle (South Tyneside and Durham)
JUSTIN CONNOLLY LY Browsing for a new search engine?
WE ROUND UP SOME OF THE BEST ALTERNATIVES TO GOOGLE
ARE you searching for something? A better internet experience, perhaps?
Chances are that when you spend time on the web, you’ll do most of your searching using whatever the default search engine your browser comes with – and that is more than likely Google.
But it’s no longer a given that Google is the best way to find what you want – over the years, the lean search machine that Google once was has been somewhat compromised by ever-more paid-for results.
There are lots of competing search engines you can use – some of them have unique offerings, and many of them come with their own browser… so you don’t even have to use the standard Chrome, Edge, or Safari that your device comes with.
Here are some alternatives that might serve your purpose better.
Arc Search Arc Search is a new app out this week from the Browser Company of New York, and it’s the one on the list that is most clearly at the cutting edge.
While you can use it like a regular web browser with Google search and tabbed windows, it can also use artificial intelligence (AI) to “browse the web for you”.
What this means is that it will gather information from various online sources based on your search criteria and present the most relevant information for you in a concise summary without you having ever visited a website.
So if you ask it how your favourite football team got on in its most recent game, it’ll tell you the result, note any controversial moments, explain what the result means, and outline the most significant event in the game.
Sadly, Windows and Android users are both out of luck — the app is IOS only for now.
■ Find out more at arc.net
Brave
Brave browser has a few things going for it that make it well worth a try – for a start, it’s very fast… faster than Chrome to open and return results.
It comes with a built-in search engine, also called Brave, but allows you to customise that setting to offer other search engines if you want them.
The other big selling point is privacy and security — Brave offers incognito windows, private search and built-in VPN to help keep you safe and secure while online.
Also included are free video calling, offline music playlists, and a customisable news feed… all in the one app.
In addition, there’s a simple one-click set-up system that imports all your bookmarks from your old browser to get you up and running in no time.
Available on all platforms.
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Mojeek This is a search engine that lives inside any browser – all you need to do is visit the website and search away.
It’s interesting and unique, although it prides itself on privacy just as much as the other search engines and browsers listed here.
So far, so standard – the unique bit is that Mojeek also offers something it calls “emotional” browsing.
You can ask it to return results which match certain moods, including love, anger, humour, and sadness. The positive settings are certainly an antidote to the negativity that plagues the web.
■ Visit mojeek.com to try it out
Mozilla The Mozilla Foundation is somewhat unusual in the tech world in that it doesn’t exist to make a profit, rather, it wants to make the web a better place for all.
Its browser – Firefox – has been around for a long time and is now a stable and secure piece of software that offers private and secure browsing with advanced features.
Mozilla’s Firefox is very customisable
It boasts a very robust plug-in system that allows you to add extensions that cater to your needs and interests – so it’s a browser for anyone. You can customise both how it works and how it looks.
■ Find out more about Firefox at mozilla.org
Duckduckgo This search engine is available on just about every platform now.
We all know that Google makes its money by tracking your online movements and serving you ads based on that data.
Duckduckgo puts a stop to all that by blocking trackers and allowing you to browse privately without anything murky going on in the background.
Duckduckgo is upfront about how it makes its money from this free-to-use service – it serves up ads on your searches… just without the tracking.
There’s also a mobile app that offers even more security.
■ Find out more at duckduckgo.com
Ecosia
The USP here is simple – Ecosia makes money so it can plant trees around the world. Yes, you read that right – a tech company with impeccable eco credentials.
As the name suggests, the whole thing is eco-friendly – the company claims it generates enough power through its network of solar panels to power all Ecosia searches twice over.
That doesn’t mean the search element of the system is lacking – it’s a fully-featured system that’ll find what you want on the web just as well as any other search engine.
At the time of writing, the company is approaching an impressive milestone. It’s paid for the planting of almost 200 million trees across the planet in a bewildering array of countries.
■ Find out how and why by visiting ecosia.org
Kagi
Finally, we have Kagi, which is very different from all the others listed here in one critical regard – you have to pay for it.
Kagi pitches itself as a premium service, and shows no ads, only high-quality search results or whatever it is you’re looking for.
If the long list of ads at the beginning of any Google results page is the thing that drives you up the wall, perhaps the £8-a-month you have to pay for unlimited searches will be worth it to you.
You get 100 searches a month for free… so there’s no reason not to give it a try.
■ Visit kagi.com to find out more