I ditched Google Search for a service that actually respects my privacy
I ditched Google Search for a service that actually respects my privacy
https://www.makeuseof.com/i-stopped-using-google-search-this-is-what-i-use-now/
Publish Date: 2026-06-18 16:00:00
Source Domain: www.makeuseof.com
“Small tech” is having its moment. There has been a substantial increase in people switching to community-driven software that is built to serve its users, rather than suits at large faceless organizations. A few examples of such software include the note-taking app Obsidian, the image editing tool GIMP, and the decentralized social media network Mastodon.
When it comes to search engines, Google has hovered around 90% market share for more than a decade. However, this doesn’t mean that alternative search engines are suffering. In fact, many users, including me, have switched to privacy-first alternatives like DuckDuckGo, which saw growth of 30.5% on May 25 (after Google I/O 2026), according to Thurrott. And for good reason.
DuckDuckGo isn’t profiling me with each search
The occasional irrelevant ad is a small price to pay for privacy
Google’s business model still relies on ads. Your activity across Google products, such as web search, YouTube, and Google Maps, is used to create a detailed profile of you, which Google uses to serve you targeted ads. In fact, this profiling isn’t limited to your activity on Google apps; Google also tracks you across third-party websites that use Google Analytics and Ads.
DuckDuckGo, too, serves ads. However, these ads are contextual and not based on your search history or web activity. It’s not logging your IP addresses and other unique identifiers,…
