Tools, services and organisations that do less harm than the default choice, in 43 categories. We’re re-checking every entry against our checklist, one category at a time.
Most search engines here show Google or Bing results, so what sets an ethical search engine apart is who owns it and how it pays its way. We look for ones that keep no profile of you.
Our top picks: Mojeek, a UK search engine with its own 9-billion-page index and no tracking, paid for by contextual ads and its search API. And GOOD Search, ad-free and owned by a non-profit foundation; the trade-off is a fee from €19 a year, and its results come from Brave’s index.
There’s more in our guide to Google alternatives.
How we choose: every listing is checked against the 6 principles in our manifesto: who owns it and how it makes money, what it collects, how it treats people, honesty, openness and staying power. We last checked this list on 13 October 2026.
Open-source metasearch you can run yourself, pulling results from up to 261 search services
Swedish open-source search engine with its own index that favours small, non-commercial sites
Ad-free search on Brave's index from a foundation-owned Berlin B Corp, €19 a year
UK search engine with its own 9-billion-page index, no tracking, since 2004
Ad-free metasearch from German non-profit SUMA-EV; paid only, €5 lasts about 2 months
French search owned by OVH's founder, partly on its own EU index; ads come via Microsoft
Google and Bing results without the tracking; ads via Google, majority owned by System1
Search engine that spends its profits on planting trees; ads come via Google and Microsoft
Founder-owned search with contextual ads, mostly served through Microsoft's ad network