Is DuckDuckGo Safe?

June 26, 2020236

Is duckduckgo safe? You hear good things regarding DuckDuckGo when it comes to privacy but how true all of it is? What data do they take from you and can you trust them? Find it here!

DuckDuckGo is a search engine and just like any other search engine, takes a search keyword from you and finds websites and articles related to that keyword it had previously indexed.

Table Of Contents hide

1. DuckDuckGo Privacy

2. Does DuckDuckGo collect information on me?

3. Pros and Cons of DuckDuckGo

4. Is DuckDuckGo safer than google (DuckDuckGo vs Google)

5. Does DuckDuckGo use Google

6. DuckDuckGo Safe Search

7. Conclusion

8. Further Reading

DuckDuckGo Privacy

Most search engines take your search, address, account, time and browser information into their server for personalizing the search based on their assumed interests of yours. This can and cannot necessarily help your search but this storing of information can be a huge issue because it can be exploited by hackers. Not only hackers, but your data can be leaked for “research purposes” without your intent to do so. Search engines might claim that their server is the most secure but as servers evolve so do hackers.

DuckDuckGo on the other hand, unlike most search engines, does not even store the data which means information cannot be leaked even if agencies or hackers want because there is no information to be leaked. This means no personalized advertisements and no personalized searches based on your “interests”.

Does DuckDuckGo collect information on me?

Yes, they do not collect harmful information like IP addresses, search history, and account details. The information they collect won’t be able to determine a singularity on who it is. They collect cookies which are for your DuckDuckGo settings changes.

Search suggestions for the sole purpose of correcting your misspelled searches. Advertisement display when you search something for commission. The advertisement display is not as lucrative as Google, they simply display an advertisement from your keyword.

Feedback given is the final way of having any of your information but then again they wont know it is someone because they simply get data and not from who or where. All this information does not harm you in any way because they don’t store it and even if they did they would not know whose particular information it is because it cannot be tracked.

Pros and Cons of DuckDuckGo

The pros of DuckDuckGo:

It doesn’t track you.
Doesn’t ask for your location.
!bang functions are cool and so are the other features.

The cons of DuckDuckGo:

You don’t get personalized search results.
DuckDuckGo can’t match the efficiency of major search engines like Google yet. To remedy, you can put !g in front of your query to go to Google.

Is DuckDuckGo safer than google (DuckDuckGo vs Google)

Whenever you search something on Google, they will save your search history, IP address and account details to give you personalized searches and advertisements from which most of their revenue comes from. Everything you have searched in Google is always stored in their database which is scary. This means Google knows everything about you. This information is usually accessible to companies and governments. The storage itself of the information makes it vulnerable of potential hackers.

On the other hand, DuckDuckGo does not store information on you when you make a search. They do not give you personalized searches like google nor do they collect your IP addresses. This means there is nothing to be afraid of from potential hackers because there is no information on you. The whole Google ecosystem tracks each and every bit of action you make which is not what users want. DuckDuckGo is the obvious choice to go if you want to be secure all the time.

Does DuckDuckGo use Google

No. DuckDuckGo doesn’t use google for search. However they choose to show YouTube videos which is not anonymous. But, they inform you of it like in the screenshot below.

DuckDuckGo Safe Search

Safe Search is a feature from DuckDuckGo that allows you to remove adult contents from your search results.

You can adjust your safe search level by clicking the dropdown box under the search box in the results pages.

Safe Search - DuckDuckGo — Safe Search – DuckDuckGo

Alternatively, you can also use safe.duckduckgo.com which sets your safe search level to ‘strict’ automatically.

Conclusion

If you value your privacy before everything else, DuckDuckGo is your safest bet but you won’t get accurate results and personalized experience you get on other popular search engines like Bing or Google. So, it’s up to you to choose which one is better for you.