Startpage Search Engine

Hopefully this is the appropriate forum, but have any of you used and tried a search engine called Startpage? I just learned about it from my Vivaldi browser update that recommends setting and using it as the default search engine vs Google, Bing, Duckduckgo etc. I did a little digging and it sounds pretty good so thought I'd share a little info on what I found:

Startpage is considered a very secure search engine when it comes to user privacy, as it claims to not track user search history or collect personal information, essentially providing Google search results while anonymizing your queries by removing your IP address from requests sent to Google.

Startpage is privacy-focused and doesn't store your internet activity. Startpage doesn't record your IP address and browsing history on other search engines like Google or DuckDuckGo. Every search query on Startpage is encrypted using HTTPS.

According to most privacy experts, Startpage is generally considered more secure than DuckDuckGo because it does not collect any personal information about users, including their IP address, while DuckDuckGo may collect some limited data, making Startpage the more privacy-focused option.

Startpage is regarded as the world's first and most private search engine on the planet. It was founded in the Netherlands in 2006 and since then has provided high-quality search results without collecting any personal information since then. Startpage has been trusted for over 15 years and has continuously been profitable since its inception.

Think I'm going to give it it try but just wondered if anyone had experience with it good or bad. I know Google and Bing track everything you do as well as your IP address.

I use it occasionally, amongst others, there is nothing at all to criticize about it but I prefer Brave Search and DuckDuckGo.

I consider myself immune to being "tracked" on the basis that tracking me would render null value to the "tracker".

Try it and see what you think

trevo said:

I use it occasionally, amongst others, there is nothing at all to criticize about it but I prefer Brave Search and DuckDuckGo.

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I've currently got it set as default on my Vivaldi and Firefox browsers to give it a good test run for a bit. I honestly never had heard of it before my Vivaldi browser promoted it.

I used it before, not anymore. To sum it, if you want privacy, go ahead, but if you want to find anything, look elsewhere.

TairikuOkami said:

I used it before, not anymore. To sum it, if you want privacy, go ahead, but if you want to find anything, look elsewhere.

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I thought it basically used Google and other search engines but just didn't provide them with your information or IP?

Each search engine uses it's own filtering, censoring, settings and personalization matters. For example I had to dump Bing, because it still showed non relevant local results, even though language and location was set to USA. DDG uses Bing, but it has no problems.

TairikuOkami said:

Each search engine uses it's own filtering, censoring, settings and personalization matters. For example I had to dump Bing, because it still showed non relevant local results, even though language and location was set to USA. DDG uses Bing, but it has no problems.

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I should point out the Startpage website advertises that it allows users to obtain Bing Search and Google Search results while protecting users privacy by not storing personal information or search data and removing all trackers.

FrancoDT said:

I should point out the Startpage website advertises that it allows users to obtain Bing Search and Google Search results while protecting users privacy by not storing personal information or search data and removing all trackers.

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I've been using it for years and haven't had any substantial problems with it at all. I'm very adapted to it and it's very user friendly. It doesn't have all that extraneous glitz that other engines lean on and I can find practically anything I look for online with it. Highly recommend it if you're tired of GOOGLE's hooks. I use it with FireFox.

Scannerman said:

I've been using it for years and haven't had any substantial problems with it at all. I'm very adapted to it and it's very user friendly. It doesn't have all that extraneous glitz that other engines lean on and I can find practically anything I look for online with it. Highly recommend it if you're tired of GOOGLE's hooks. I use it with FireFox.

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Thanks for the feedback. I'm new to it having just discovered it but been trying it out the last couple days. So far don't really have any complaints so I well see how it goes given some time. Just wanted to post as an FYI and see what kind of feedback and thoughts people had about it.

I've been using Startpage with Firefox for years and years now, without problems. The only thing I don't like is that they don't have an “advanced search” anymore. But for the rest... a-okay.

If you use the internet you're being tracked regardless how great your search engine is