The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (2023)

Let’s talk search engines.

Did you know there are search engines other than Google? And that using a different search engine might actually suit you better?

Perhaps you prefer a well-seasoned and reliable search tool. Or gravitate toward more socially conscious and green options. Or maybe privacy is your biggest concern.

Whatever your reasons, you have a choice.

While Google is the most popular search engine, with over 80% of the global market, there are plenty of Google alternatives out there.

This post will highlight the 15 best search engines, some of which may surprise you.

But first, have you ever stopped to think about what a search engine is? According to Techopedia, “A search engine is a service that allows Internet users to search for content via the World Wide Web (WWW).”

Simple, right?

So, with that definition in mind… let’s check them out!

15 Top Search Engines

1. Google

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (1)

Google focused on giving people what they want, quickly becoming the #1 search engine in the world with 87% of the market share.

Google’s algorithm learns users’ habits and desires to deliver targeted information fast. Bloggers optimize for these Google algorithms to make money from their blog writing.

Part of what makes Google so effective is the collection of users’ browsing data (that it shares with marketers). Clearly, privacy is not their priority.

Noteworthy Features

  • Filters (Books, Images, Google Scholar) help fine-tune search results.
  • “Local Search” and “Google Maps” enable users to find local businesses on the go.
  • “I’m feeling lucky” takes the searcher straight into their #1-ranked article.

2. Microsoft Bing

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (2)

Microsoft Bingis the default search engine for Windows PCs.

With fewer bells and whistles than Google, Bing provides great search results while ensuring more privacy and security.

(Video) Top 15 Search Engines in the World: Google, Bing, Yahoo & More. #shorts

Bing’s uncluttered appearance makes for a pleasant user experience, especially for its older audience.

Noteworthy Features

  • Their reward program allows users to accumulate points for products like apps and movies while surfing the internet for information.
  • Searchers can use their voice, an image, or text to search from the toolbar.
  • “My Saves” acts as a bookmarking tool.

3. Baidu

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (3)

With features similar to Google, Baidu is China’s most popular search engine, serving 72% of the Chinese market.

Originally funded by Silicon Valley investors, Baidu is a Chinese company, compliant with China’s laws and censorship.

This search engine is focused on the needs of the local (not global) market and, although accessible worldwide, Baidu’s search results are displayed only in Chinese.

Their first page results are mainly ads, profiting from the commonly-held Chinese belief that the ability to pay for ads indicates a reliable company.

Noteworthy Features

  • “Baidu Maps” covers the Greater China region.
  • “Baidu Knows” provides a site for registered members to post and answer questions in order to share their knowledge and experience.
  • “Baidu Translate” supports 200 languages.

4. Yahoo

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (4)

Yahoo! (Yet Another Hierarchical Officious Oracle) is a web portal that provides multiple services, including a search engine, email, online forums, news, entertainment, and a whole lot more.

One of the oldest web search engines, Yahoo! is a favorite with the 65+ crowd.

It’s the default search engine for the Firefox browser.

Noteworthy Features

  • The “Hotel” tool allows users to compare hotel availability and rates.
  • “Price Tracker” automatically compares prices to help users get the best deal.
  • “Safe Search” blocks mature and sexually explicit content.

5. Yandex

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (5)

Yandex (Yet Another iNDEXer) is a Russian search engine used mainly in Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Turkey, and Ukraine.

43% of the Russian people use Yandex.

Its simple homepage displays favicons that make search channels obvious.

Search results are available in 10 languages. And if you’re not happy with Yandex’s results, you can click on the Google or Bing option at the bottom of each search results page.

Noteworthy Features

  • “Quick Answers” responds to user queries with details related to each search query.
  • Filtering modes (no filter, moderate, family search) help avoid unwanted content.
  • “Video Timestamp” starts videos at precise “search term” locations, skipping irrelevant content.

6. Ask

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (6)

(Video) Top 10 Search Engines: Google, Yahoo, Bing, Duckduckgo, Baidu & More

Originally known as Ask Jeeves, this website rebranded to Askin 2006 with a focus on culture, travel, and entertainment information.

Their mission is “to enable curious people to find the information they need.”

Ask.com owns Ask.fm, a Q&A site where people can ask and answer controversial questions anonymously.

Notable Features

  • The Ask home page is full of current and trending articles.
  • Results are based on subject-specific popularity which adds an editorial flavor.
  • Minimal ads create a pleasant user experience.

7. DuckDuckGo

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (7)

If you love privacy, check out DuckDuckGo.

This open-source search engine doesn’t collect, store, or pass on user information. And since they don’t profile their users, everybody sees the same results.

The downside to this privacy is the ads shown aren’t as relevant to the searcher, and search results may be of lower quality.

Noteworthy Features

  • “Instant Answers” gives you a quick answer at the top of the page,
  • “!bangs” shortcuts allow you to search within 13,564 websites directly from DuckDuckGo,
  • Search results scroll infinitely, so no need to click “next page.”

8. Naver

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (8)

Naver (derived from navigate) is a web portal and Korea’s #1 search engine.

It sports a busy Yahoo!-type home page with trending news stories, weather reports, and plenty of ads.

Its search results are Google-esque, displayed in Korean and English.

Like Google, Naver focuses on the user experience.

Noteworthy Features

  • Searchers see 10 – 15 sponsored ads per page.
  • “Comprehensive Search” splits results into sections for easy browsing.
  • “Naver Knowledge” finds snippets of useful information based on a user’s query and displays it in either text, list, or table format.

9. AOL

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (9)

Like Yahoo!, AOL is an American web portal and online service provider.

It’s best known from the early days when you “dialed up” your internet connection.

The search engine feature is aptly called AOL Search.

(Video) Top 10 Search Engines In The World

Noteworthy Features

  • Homepage displays the latest news on a variety of topics.
  • AOL Search results look like an old-fashioned Google page: many organic links with a smattering of paid ads.
  • AOL’s “SafeSearch” prevents sites with sexually explicit content from appearing in your search results.

Both AOL and Yahoo are being sold to Apollo Group in 2021 so big changes may be coming to this search engine soon.

10. Ecosia

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (10)

Ecosia is known as “the search engine that plants trees.”

This German-based company generates revenue through ads which then pays for tree-planting, forest restoration, and social projects.

Powered by Bing, this alternative search engine has a clean, easy-to-navigate layout.

Like DuckDuckGo, Ecosia doesn’t track or sell data.

If privacy is important to you and climate change is your cause, give Ecosia a try.

Noteworthy Features

  • They vow to be transparent about profits, are carbon-neutral, and are privacy-friendly.
  • Approximately 45 searches generate enough revenue for one tree; Ecosia funds a tree a second.
  • “Green Search” icons indicate whether a website is planet-friendly (a green leaf) or if it contributes to climate change (a fossil fuel factory).

11. YouTube

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (11)

YouTube is a video social media platform that happens to be the 2nd most popular search engine — right behind its parent company Google.

YouTube’s 2.3 billion users watch over 1 billion hours of video each day.

With over 500 hours of video being uploaded to YouTube every minute, searchers can find a video on just about anything.

Noteworthy Features

  • Hashtags make finding videos on a specific topic super simple.
  • “YouTube Music” is the leading music streaming platform.
  • “YouTube Go” allows videos to be downloaded and viewed offline.
  • “YouTube Originals” presents original content (series, movies, events), often awarding exclusive access to bonus content (ie, director’s cuts and extra scenes).
  • “Content ID” identifies and manages copyrighted content on YouTube.

12. Amazon

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (12)

Amazon started as a small online bookstore and has grown into a powerful e-commerce search engine.

In fact, 63% of buyers start their online shopping searches on Amazon.

If you’re looking to buy or research a product, it’s hard to beat Amazon.

Noteworthy Features

  • In-depth descriptions, images, videos, Q&A, customer reviews, and pricing make it easy to discover, learn and compare products.
  • Amazon matches consumers with relevant products based on their search term.
  • More than 1.9 million small and medium-sized businesses sell on Amazon, making up almost 60% of Amazon’s retail sales.

13. Facebook

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (13)

(Video) Most Popular Search Engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo)

Facebook is both a social media site AND a powerful search engine.

The 3rd most visited website in the world, Facebook claims more than 2 billion searches a day.

Keyword queries find results from friends, people your friends have interacted with, or pages you like.

Noteworthy Features

  • Filters target relevant information (posts, groups, videos, events, etc).
  • “Places” is a powerful local business directory.
  • 600 million people visit Facebook business pages each day.

14. Twitter

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (14)

Twitter, an easy-to-use social media platform, also functions as a powerful search engine.

With 326 million monthly users and 500 million daily tweets, you’ll find real-time information on almost any topic.

Noteworthy Features

  • “List” keeps the subjects and people you follow easily accessible.
  • “Bookmark” saves tweets too good to lose.
  • During a crisis or emergency, Tweeters close to the action often provide the most up-to-date news.

15. Internet Archive

The 15 Best Search Engines in the World (Google, Bing, & More) (15)

Internet Archive, a legitimate and safe-to-use site, is an American search engine with a mission for “universal access to all knowledge.”

It’s also a member of the American Library Association.

Noteworthy Features

  • Free, public access to digitized materials, including websites, software apps and games, music, movies and videos, images, and books.
  • Home to the Wayback Machine, a tool that documents the history and changes of websites. It’s been taking snapshots of the internet since the 1990s.
  • Most of the information is under creative commons licenses or in the public domain, making downloading generally legal.

Which Search Engines Will You Try Next?

So there you have it: the top 15 search engines.

Some similar, some different, and some surprising.

Now that you know about search engines other than Google, give one or two a try.

If privacy is your concern, hang out with DuckDuckGo or Ecosia. Need to translate a document, try Yandex. Interested in the Asian market, check out Baidu or Naver.

With so many great options, the world is truly at your fingertips.

Happy searching!

FAQs

Which is the No 1 search engine in world? ›

1. Google. With over 80% of the search market share, Google is undoubtedly the most popular search engine.

Which search engine is best and safest? ›

Here is our list of the 12 most popular and trustworthy private search engines to choose from:
  • DuckDuckGo.
  • StartPage.
  • Qwant.
  • Searx.
  • SearchEncrypt.
  • Gibiru.
  • Yippy.
  • Ecosia.
Jan 5, 2023

What search engines do hackers use? ›

Top 8 Search Engines for Hackers
  • (1) Shodan. Shodan is popular for the identification of IoT infrastructure across the globe. ...
  • (2) Binaryedge. Binaryedge is a search engine for acquiring, analyzing, and classifying a company's data available on the internet. ...
  • (3) Censys. ...
  • (4) Hunter. ...
  • (5) IVRE. ...
  • (6) Spyse. ...
  • (7) Onyphe. ...
  • (8) Google.
Oct 13, 2022

What is the best free search engine to find a person? ›

What are the best free people search sites?
Free people search siteSearch methodPremium plan available
WhitepagesName, phone, address, business
Zaba SearchName, phone
TinEyePhoto
Peek YouName, social media username
1 more row

What is the #2 search engine? ›

What Are the Top Search Engines Today?
RankingSearch EngineShare of visits (% US market through Semrush .Trends)
1Google75.71
2Amazon11.27
3Yahoo!7.24
4Bing3.32
6 more rows
Oct 7, 2021

What search engine is most used in China? ›

Baidu – China's Answer To Google

Much like “to Google” has become a standard verb meaning to look something up online, in China people “Baidu” something. It controls more than 75% of the search engine market in the PRC and even brings in some users from other countries, including the U.S. and Japan.

What is the most used search engine in America? ›

Market leader Google generated 61.4 percent of all core search queries in the United States.

What is the smartest search engine? ›

  1. Google. Besides being the most popular search engine covering over 90% of the worldwide market, Google boasts outstanding features that make it the best search engine in the market. ...
  2. Bing. ...
  3. 3. Yahoo. ...
  4. Baidu. ...
  5. Yandex. ...
  6. Duckduckgo. ...
  7. Contextual Web Search. ...
  8. Yippy Search.
Jan 24, 2022

What are the 5 top search engines? ›

According to statistics from Netmarketshare, Statista and StatCounter, the top 5 search engines worldwide in terms of market share are Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, and Yandex.

What is the most unpopular search engine? ›

Keep reading to discover 9 unique search engines you haven't tried (or maybe even heard of) yet.
  • DuckDuckGo.
  • Shodan.
  • TinEye.
  • Ecosia.
  • The Wayback Machine.
  • FindSounds.
  • Dogpile.
  • Million Short.
Jan 20, 2022

What is a better search than Google? ›

#1 – DuckDuckGO

DuckDuckGo is the perfect choice if privacy is your top browsing concern. Like Google, DuckDuckGo offers their own mobile & desktop browsers. By default, this browser doesn't collect or store any personal information at all.

What search engine doesn't track you? ›

DuckDuckGo (DDG) is a popular privacy search engine. Like Brave, DDG doesn't build user profiles, so it will always show the same search results to all users. And it prevents online tracking of searches or clicks.

Does Bing track you? ›

When you search using Bing, Microsoft collects the search terms you provide, along with other information, such as your IP address and location, the unique identifiers contained in our cookies, the time and date of your search, and your browser configuration.

Why should I use DuckDuckGo instead of Google? ›

DuckDuckGo is fairly safe and offers much more privacy than mainstream browsers. First of all, DuckDuckGo's main appeal is your search privacy. This means that DuckDuckGo doesn't collect user data and track your search history. Unlike Google, it doesn't associate what you look for online with your IP address.

What do hackers want the most? ›

Unfortunately, some attackers want to steal your data just to prove that they can. They are not motivated by monetary gain, access to free resources or the ability to steal your users' identities. They simply want to prove to themselves – and their hacker friends, perhaps – that they can break past your defenses.

How do hackers try to trick you? ›

The process of getting tricked into giving your sensitive information to a hacker is called phishing. Phishing is the fraudulent attempt to obtain sensitive information, or data, such as usernames, passwords and credit card details by disguising oneself as a trustworthy entity in an electronic communication.

What spyware do hackers use? ›

Keylogger is a type of spyware and is one of the most common and dangerous types of malware that steals sensitive data. Software companies legitimately use keylogger software to get feedback for development improvements, but it's also used maliciously by hackers to steal data.

What search engine do old people use? ›

Users aged between 45 and 64 were most likely to be found using Bing (with usage being most common among the 55-64 age group), while for users aged 65+, Yahoo! was the most popular search engine. So if you've ever asked yourself the question, “Who even uses Yahoo! any more?”, the answer appears to be 65+ year olds.

What is a truly free people search? ›

LOS ANGELES, CA / ACCESSWIRE / August 23, 2022 / Unmask, an online people search engine, has launched services that are 100% free to use. With Unmask, users can browse public records for key information about a person that can be useful in background checks or re-establishing a lost connection.

What is the best free website to investigate someone free? ›

Top 5 People Search Sites
  • TruthFinder – Best Website to Investigate Someone Online.
  • Intelius – Best for Accurate Public Records Search.
  • Instant Checkmate – Best for Searching Government Records.
  • Spokeo – Best on a Budget.
  • US Search – Best for Beginners.
Aug 25, 2022

What is Russian search engine? ›

Yandex Search (Russian: Яндекс) is a search engine. It is owned by Yandex, based in Russia. In January 2015, Yandex Search generated 51.2% of all of the search traffic in Russia according to LiveInternet.

What is Russia's search engine? ›

Despite the global dominance of Google as a primary search engine, Russian consumers gave their preference to homegrown Yandex and Mail.ru.

What is the name of Russia search engine? ›

While much of this material spreads through well-hidden channels, such as the so-called dark web, there is a major culprit hiding in plain sight: Yandex, Russia's largest technology firm. Yandex is the most-used search engine in Russia and the fifth most popular worldwide.

Is TikTok a search engine? ›

With over three million downloads worldwide and a growing audience, the use of TikTok as a search engine has rapidly been rising, to the point that many are asking whether it might eventually dethrone Google and end its decades-long supremacy.

What is Japan's search engine? ›

Goo (Japanese: goo) is an Internet search engine (powered by Google) and web portal based in Japan, which is used to crawl and index primarily Japanese language websites (before switching to Google). Goo is operated by the Japanese NTT Resonant, a subsidiary of NTT Communications.

What does China use instead of Facebook? ›

Today, WeChat is the largest social media platform in China, with over 1 billion monthly active users. Compare this to Facebook's 2 billion worldwide. Given that WeChat's user base is concentrated heavily in China it's easy to see why many users call it the Chinese Facebook.

What search engine does the US government use? ›

Science.gov is a gateway to government science information and research results. Currently in its fifth generation, Science.gov searches over 50 scientific databases and 200 million pages of science information with just one query, and is a gateway to over 2100 scientific websites.

What percent of Americans use Bing? ›

Flash forward to today, and Bing holds less than 3% of the global search engine market. Yet in a market dominated by Google, Bing is still the second most popular search engine worldwide. And it's increasingly used in Microsoft products like Cortana.
...
Bing market share in the US.
YearMarket share
202040.14%
202138.46%
8 more rows
Oct 25, 2021

Who is smarter than Google? ›

Google's score is slightly below a six-year-old human's IQ of 55.5, but more than double Siri's IQ of 23.9. By their measure, Siri is not as smart as Microsoft's Bing or Baidu, which have respective IQs of 31.98 and 32.92. All AI's IQs are significantly less than an average 18-year-old's 97 IQ.

What website is smarter than Google? ›

The Washington Post reports that a new search engine called Omnity is on the way, which is targeted at researchers and students. Not only is it being recognized for unique features that Google doesn't offer, many publications are calling it “smarter than Google.”

What is the deepest search engine? ›

Torch is the earliest and most well-known deep web search engine to search the hidden web. It presently has over 290,000 . onion pages indexed and serves over 80,000 requests daily. It's really simple to use and comprises merely a search box into which you can enter your search phrases.

Which search engine is faster than Google? ›

1. Bing. Bing is a search engine by Microsoft and is second in terms of market share after Google. It was launched in 2009, and its origin traces back to earlier search engines offered by Microsoft, such as MSN Search and Live Search.

What's the oldest search engine? ›

Beginning with Archie in 1990, considered the first search engine, moving on to Excite and Lycos and Infoseek, by the mid 90s there was a veritable flood of search engines, particularly after Google showed how it should be done in 1996.

What will replace Google? ›

You might not be able to envision a world in which Google is no longer the most reliable search engine but the New York Post has written about a company called OpenAI that has created an AI chatbot called ChatGPT that could replace Google and some human workers in the near future.

Does Google own DuckDuckGo? ›

DuckDuckGo (DDG) is privately owned.

What are the top 100 Google searches? ›

Top 100 Google searches globally
#KeywordSearch volume
1cricbuzz213,000,000
2weather189,000,000
3facebook140,000,000
4whatsapp web123,000,000
48 more rows
Dec 29, 2022

What is the best search engine to replace Google? ›

  1. Bing. Bing search engine. Microsoft's Bing is the second largest search engine after Google. ...
  2. DuckDuckGo. DuckDuckGo search engine. ...
  3. 3. Yahoo! Yahoo search engine. ...
  4. Ask. Ask search engine. ...
  5. Baidu. Baidu search engine. ...
  6. WolframAlpha. WolframAlpha search engine. ...
  7. Boardreader. Boardreader search engine. ...
  8. StartPage. Startpage search engine.
Aug 31, 2022

Is there a better search engine than Google? ›

#1 – DuckDuckGO

DuckDuckGo is the perfect choice if privacy is your top browsing concern. Like Google, DuckDuckGo offers their own mobile & desktop browsers. By default, this browser doesn't collect or store any personal information at all.

What are the top 10 search engines 2016? ›

List of Top 12 Best Search Engines in The World
  • Google. Google Search Engine is the best search engine in the world and it is also one of most popular products from Google. ...
  • Bing. Bing is Microsoft's answer to Google and it was launched in 2009. ...
  • Yahoo. ...
  • Baidu. ...
  • AOL. ...
  • Ask.com. ...
  • Excite. ...
  • DuckDuckGo.
Nov 11, 2016

What is the most googled thing in 2022? ›

Google has released its annual “Year in Search” report outlining the top searches of 2022 around the world. The report reveals that popular online game Wordle topped the list globally.

What is the most googled item 2022? ›

Both in the US and globally, the most searched term on Google in 2022 was “Wordle”, that daily online word game that millions of people became hooked on in late 2021 and through the following year.

What are the top Google searches 2023? ›

Searches
  • Wordle.
  • India vs England.
  • Ukraine.
  • Queen Elizabeth.
  • Ind vs SA.
  • World Cup.
  • India vs West Indies.
  • iPhone 14.
Dec 28, 2022

What are the 5 most commonly used search engines? ›

According to statistics from Netmarketshare, Statista and StatCounter, the top 5 search engines worldwide in terms of market share are Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu, and Yandex.

What search engine is popular in the early 2000's? ›

Yahoo! is still one of the most well-known search engines today. It was created in 1994, but didn't become popular until the early 2000s when it began using its own services to look for search results.

What was the most popular search engine in 90s? ›

AltaVista went live in December 1995 and quickly became one of the most popular search engines in the 1990s.

Which search engine did people use in the 2000's? ›

There were a variety of search gods — Infoseek, Excite, Lycos and more. Yahoo was more powerful than the others, but it didn't rule supreme. In the 2000s, Google effectively swept aside those other gods.

Videos

1. Top 5 Best Search Engines In The World || Yahoo , Bing , Baidu|| Google||
(TOP FIVE BEST Hindi 10k views)
2. What is Search Engine and How Do They Work? | Google, Bing, Yahoo, Baidu & More - Explained
(WsCube Tech)
3. 15 Search Engines You Can Use Instead of Google!
(TechTinge)
4. 7 Great Search Engines You Can Use Instead of Google
(Search Engine Journal)
5. 15 educational search engines college students should know about !
(Research Circle)
6. How to Make Google the Default Search Engine in Microsoft Edge
(Russell Smith)
Top Articles
Latest Posts
Article information

Author: Aracelis Kilback

Last Updated: 01/31/2023

Views: 5725

Rating: 4.3 / 5 (64 voted)

Reviews: 87% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Aracelis Kilback

Birthday: 1994-11-22

Address: Apt. 895 30151 Green Plain, Lake Mariela, RI 98141

Phone: +5992291857476

Job: Legal Officer

Hobby: LARPing, role-playing games, Slacklining, Reading, Inline skating, Brazilian jiu-jitsu, Dance

Introduction: My name is Aracelis Kilback, I am a nice, gentle, agreeable, joyous, attractive, combative, gifted person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.