DuckDuckGo is the search engine known for its privacy-focused, no-tracking policy. Its central pitch is that searches are not used to build a personal profile of an individual’s search history.
Gabriel Weinberg launched DuckDuckGo in 2008, positioning it as an alternative to search services that personalize results and advertising through extensive user data. The service generally avoids storing or sharing personal search histories, and its privacy tools also include tracker blocking, cookie protections, and removal of some URL tracking parameters.
Privacy does not mean complete anonymity. DuckDuckGo still earns revenue from advertising, and advertisements can be shown in response to the search terms entered without requiring a long-term personal profile. Visiting a third-party website can also expose a user to that site’s own tracking practices. Its privacy reputation is therefore about limiting DuckDuckGo’s collection and personalization, not making every activity on the internet invisible.
Bing and Google also offer privacy controls, but DuckDuckGo is the canonical answer because privacy is its defining brand promise.