Can This Alternative Browser Make Search Good Again?

Here’s how searching online used to work: you’d type in some keywords, find a linked source with the information you needed, and off you’d go.

You chose the keywords. You picked the link. You decided if your source was credible, timely, and appropriate for your needs. You were your own information-seeking agent.

The online search experience has evolved. Browsers have come and gone, and today’s “infodemic” has made searches more complex. Throw in Google’s recent rollout of AI Mode, which replaces result links with a super-synthesized overview (with and without citable sources), and the searcher is further separated from their ability to choose which results to explore.

But there are alternatives.

DuckDuckGo offers a complete suite of online protections for the privacy-minded searcher (who may also be wary of AI’s reach). You decide which content you want to explore further from an organized array of results uncluttered by ads and unrelated tracker-heavy content, and tools bring choice into AI features.

Product Overview/Description

DuckDuckGo was established in 2008 as an independent search engine designed to elevate the user’s right to privacy on the Internet; protect personal data; and promote a safer web-searching and browsing experience that blocks “hackers, scammers, and privacy-invasive companies” (DuckDuckGo, 2025a). In 2022, the company launched a browser for Mac and an email-forwarding service, with a Windows browser and AI summary for search following in 2023. Last year, their suite of offerings expanded to include Privacy Pro, a paid service for virtual private network (VPN), personal information removal, and identity theft restoration, as well Duck.ai, a tool that provides private access to AI chatbots.

Today, DuckDuckGo’s desktop and mobile options are used in over three billion searches each month; the platform has been downloaded six million times (DuckDuckGo, 2025e). DuckDuckGo does not track its users’ searches. Consistent with its focus on privacy, DuckDuckGo is primarily built using free and open-source software (FOSS) (DuckDuckGo, 2025c). It is available as a standalone browser for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows platforms, as well as an extension that can be added to Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera.

The DuckDuckGo browser includes a native player for YouTube content (Figure 1), which excludes “targeted ads and keeps what you watch from influencing your YouTube recommendations” (DuckDuckGo, 2025b).

Users can decide in the DuckDuckGo browser settings whether to always, optionally, or never use the Duck Player.

DuckDuckGo offers two optional AI tools to supplement the search experience. AI-assisted answers provide a brief answer or description based on the results of a web search. They can be customized in settings to appear often, sometimes, on demand, or never, and warn users that the response is “[a]uto-generated based on listed sources (Figure 2). May contain inaccuracies.” If the tool is activated in sometimes mode, an AI-assisted answer may appear at the bottom of the results page, out of the way of the initial list of results.

The platform also includes Duck.ai, a free service that allows users to engage in private, anonymized conversations with third-party AI chat tools, including GPT and Claude. Neither Duck.ai nor the third-party tools train on these conversations (Figure 3).

DuckDuckGo’s free email forwarding service, Email Protection, removes hidden trackers from emails and also allows users to create multiple unique private email addresses—known as Duck Addresses—ad hoc.

User Experience

DuckDuckGo claims no metaphorical relationship to its near-namesake game; the company has coined the verb “duck it” to describe the action of searching with the tool (DuckDuckGo, 2025d).

In my experience, I can duck it just as easily and using the very same strategy as I would with its competitors—that is, enter a search and scroll through the results. With DuckDuckGo, however, I know that I’m closer to actual answers than advertisements, although some search-specific advertising does exist (I’ll address this in more detail in the Critical Evaluation section).

I compared my searching experience using DuckDuckGo to Googling with a typical user’s privacy-enhancing steps engaged—a fresh browser with a clean search history, cleared cookies, and an emptied cache.

Today my hot topic is the dire wolf.

The two searches (Figure 4, Figure 5) provide similar results, with obvious differences in look and feel. Google’s results include more multimedia, which offers more tracking opportunities, as well as user-created content and pathways to additional information by topic. Here, I get the feel of “everything and the kitchen sink” as I decide where I click next, which is both overwhelming and suspicious.

DuckDuckGo’s results meet more of my information-seeking preferences in form and function, providing textual information over user-created content or search pathways. Various elements make me feel more in charge of my search: the layout of the results, the prevalence of images, and the single area for related searches (versus Google’s People also ask, What people are saying, Things to know, For context, People also search for, etc., which beg the question: who are all these “people,” and what do they know about my search?).

The recently added AI features are easy to use, ignore, or toggle as needed.

The mobile browser is just as navigable (and AI features just as ignorable); since I am more likely to be searching from my phone for information throughout the day, my privacy protections travel with me. Here is what the same dire wolf search looks like on my phone:

The mobile search experience is similar to the full desktop version, though it prioritizes textual content over images. I find the quick summary provided by Wikipedia as the first result helpful—a good match for my on-the-go information-seeking (although I can quickly switch over to images, videos, news, maps, or shopping results if preferred).

DuckDuckGo does not track web searching or browsing. But in order to create revenue, it does employ private advertising and anonymous localized results based on search terms in which I’m already interested (DuckDuckGo, 2025g). For instance, my next search, plane ticket to visit a dire wolf, yields several sponsored results:

Most of DuckDuckGo’s ad-clicks are managed by Microsoft (another ad-managing partner is TripAdvisor), but my data is not stored, shared, or associated with me, in accordance with DuckDuckGo’s policies. I can also report ads back to DuckDuckGo if they start to look low quality or concerning.

Overall, as far as protecting my digital footprint is concerned, I’d choose to duck it any day.

Contracting and Pricing Provisions

DuckDuckGo’s web browser, browser extension, Duck Player, AI tools, and Email Protection are free. The browser is available from the DuckDuckGo Installer on their website and in mobile app stores for Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android devices.

In 2024, DuckDuckGo introduced Privacy Pro, which offers three subscription services: VPN, personal information removal, and identity theft restoration (DuckDuckGo, n.d.) for $9.99 a month (or $99.99 annually). These paid services are beyond the scope of this review.

Authentication Models

N/A

Competitive or Related Products

DuckDuckGo presents itself as the most widely used alternative, privacy-driven browser competing with Chrome, Edge, or Firefox.

Against Brave Browser, a rival privacy-promoting platform, DuckDuckGo offers a similar suite of products and private searching experience in both standalone web browser and extension formats. Brave Browser is newer to the market and includes Linux as an available operating system; DuckDuckGo does not (Volobueva, 2024). For the average person interested in protecting their online privacy who knows that there is still no 100 percent ironclad private option, having a growing field of competition for private browsers will continue to provide the best options over time (Nield, 2024; Osborne, 2025).

Critical Evaluation

The DuckDuckGo results page is designed not to reveal its search totals, which can have implications for more advanced or professional information-seekers engaged in ongoing literature searches that require documenting comparison results over time. As the company explains:

We get results from a variety of sources (including our own). Because of this unique way of generating results, we cannot easily determine the number of results for a particular search ahead of time. That’s why we do not display such a number in our search results. (DuckDuckGo, 2025i)

For the average user who sets DuckDuckGo as their browser, even desired actions—for example, clicking on a promotional link in an email to make an online purchase, or using a tracker-heavy commercial site—can be sluggish or restricted as DuckDuckGo does its job to protect you from yourself by removing trackers, ads, and cookies behind the scenes.

From an accessibility standpoint, DuckDuckGo operates as an independent search engine, and while the company provides copious documentation on its regulatory reporting and adherence to privacy protections, the site does not include a page dedicated to accessibility.

DuckDuckGo continually asserts that its primary mission is to protect its users’ digital privacy at a time when digital surveillance is at an all-time high. But it has not avoided controversy. In early 2022, the company’s partnership with Microsoft came under scrutiny over advertising data tracking. DuckDuckGo swiftly addressed the criticism, revising their agreement with Microsoft to block the third-party tracking scripts that were the source of the contention (Lomas, 2022a; Lomas, 2022b; “More Privacy,” 2022). They defend the partnership on a “Misconceptions” page on their website (DuckDuckGo, 2025h). Additional updates about web tracking protections are provided on their dedicated help page (DuckDuckGo, 2025f).

On the constructive side of community engagement, DuckDuckGo annually supports other organizations that protect online privacy, promote open-source project teams, and advocate for digital protections. In 2024, the company made donations totaling $1.1 million to programs supportive of privacy rights, digital literacy, and improvements overall to “a better Internet ecosystem” nationally and internationally (“2024 DuckDuckGo Charitable,” 2024). In 2020, DuckDuckGo became “carbon negative dating back to [its] founding in 2008” (“Great for Privacy,” 2024).

Recommendation

For the average Internet-user who wants a private experience searching or browsing the web, DuckDuckGo is an excellent option. It looks, feels, and functions like a traditional web browser, making the learning curve nearly non-existent; the ability to explore additional protective features (e.g., Duck Player, Email Protection) enhances the experience.

It is refreshing to have the choice to toggle DuckDuckGo’s AI-assisted answers to your own level of preference on any given search. A user who chooses to duck it over an AI-riddled alternative can maintain agency over their search strategy to access, appraise, and apply information. Despite the challenge posed by the absence of search totals, DuckDuckGo can enhance structured literature searches beyond the “Google bubble” and what is achieved through incognito mode in other browsers.

While additional options for privacy-supporting internet browsers come online every year, DuckDuckGo has an established track record and a well-established suite of resources that it continually improves. If you are concerned about the privacy of your online data, protections for your digital footprint, and responsible engagement in AI-assisted inquiry, add DuckDuckGo to your information-seeking toolkit.

References

2024 DuckDuckGo charitable donations: $1.1M to support digital rights, online privacy, and a better Internet ecosystem. (2024, December 3). Spread Privacy. https://spreadprivacy.com/2024-duckduckgo-charitable-donations/

DuckDuckGo. (n.d.). DuckDuckGo Privacy Pro. https://duckduckgo.com/pro?origin=funnel_marketing_website_protaglineexp_control

DuckDuckGo. (2025a). About. https://duckduckgo.com/about

DuckDuckGo. (2025b). About Duck Player. https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/duck-player

DuckDuckGo. (2025c). Are DuckDuckGo apps and extensions open source? https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/open-source/opensource-overview

DuckDuckGo. (2025d). Company name. https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/name

DuckDuckGo. (2025e). DuckDuckGo – Protection. Privacy. Peace of mind. https://duckduckgo.com/

DuckDuckGo. (2025f). DuckDuckGo web tracking protections. https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/privacy/web-tracking-protections

DuckDuckGo. (2025g). How does DuckDuckGo make money? https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/company/how-duckduckgo-makes-money

DuckDuckGo. (2025h). Misconceptions. https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/misconceptions

DuckDuckGo. (2025i). Why doesn't DuckDuckGo Search display the number of results?https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/number-of-results

Great for privacy, great for the environment: DuckDuckGo is now carbon negative. (2024, January 31). Spread Privacy. https://spreadprivacy.com/duckduckgo-goes-carbon-negative/

Lomas, N. (2022a, May 24). DDG has a tracker blocking carve-out linked to Microsoft contract. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2022/05/24/ddg-microsoft-tracking-blocking-limit/

Lomas, N. (2022b, August 5). DuckDuckGo removes carve-out for Microsoft tracking scripts after securing policy change. TechCrunch. https://techcrunch.com/2022/08/05/duckduckgo-microsoft-tracking-scripts/

More privacy and transparency for DuckDuckGo web tracking protections. (2022, August 5). Spread Privacy. https://spreadprivacy.com/more-privacy-and-transparency/

Nield, D. (2024, April 6). It’s time to switch to a privacy browser. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/privacy-browsers-duckduckgo-ghostery-brave/

Osborne, C. (2025, April 30). The best secure browsers for privacy: Expert tested. ZDNET. https://www.zdnet.com/article/my-top-6-browsers-after-trying-nearly-every-one-spoiler-none-are-chrome/

Volobueva, M. (2024). Brave vs DuckDuckGo. Incogni. https://blog.incogni.com/brave-vs-duckduckgo/