Google AI Search Shift Spurs 5 Free Alternatives With Privacy Trade-Offs

4 articles · Updated · CNET · May 23

Five free alternatives to Google Search—Brave, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Qwant and Startpage—were highlighted after Google said Search is entering an “agentic” AI era.
Privacy is the main draw: Brave and DuckDuckGo block trackers, Startpage anonymizes queries sent to Google and Bing, and Qwant says it does not retain or sell search data.
Those benefits come with thinner coverage, as some rivals may return less comprehensive results and can require more specific queries; using them inside Chrome may also limit some advantages.
Several still rely partly on larger platforms: Brave can fall back to Google, while Ecosia and Startpage use Google or Bing results and Qwant has historically used Bing’s API.
The alternatives also pitch distinct extras beyond privacy, from Ecosia’s claim of planting more than 250 million trees to Qwant Junior for ages 6 to 12 and built-in AI tools that can sometimes be turned off.

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