16 Little-Known Search Engines (That Aren’t Google)
When we think of search engines, Google immediately comes to mind — and for good reason. But it’s not the only player in the game. Whether you’re looking for more privacy, specialized information, or just something different, there’s a whole world of alternative search engines out there.
Here are 16 little-known search engines you may not have heard of — but just might want to start using.
🌐 General & Privacy-Focused
1. DuckDuckGo
A privacy-first search engine that doesn’t track users or store personal data. Great for anonymous browsing.
2. Startpage
Delivers Google results with total privacy — no tracking, ads, or profiling.
3. Mojeek
An independent crawler-based search engine (not just a metasearch) that prioritizes privacy and unbiased results.
4. Qwant
Based in France, Qwant is a privacy-focused engine with a clean interface and results that respect user anonymity.
📚 Academic & Research
5. Wolfram Alpha
Not a traditional search engine — it’s a computational knowledge engine perfect for solving math problems, analyzing data, and answering factual queries.
6. RefSeek
Designed for students and researchers, RefSeek searches academic papers, encyclopedias, and scholarly sources.
7. BASE (Bielefeld Academic Search Engine)
One of the largest academic search engines, indexing millions of documents from university repositories and databases.
8. Semantic Scholar
An AI-powered engine for academic research, especially strong in computer science and biomedical literature.
🔍 Niche and Specialized
9. Yippy
Great for deep web content, Yippy clusters results and pulls from sources that standard search engines may not index.
10. Boardreader
Searches forums, message boards, and online communities — a goldmine for niche discussions and opinions.
11. Million Short
Lets you remove the top million websites from search results to uncover the “hidden” web.
12. Searchcode
Specifically for developers — this engine searches open-source code and documentation across multiple platforms.
🖼️ Visual & Media
13. Pixabay Search
While technically a stock photo platform, its search engine is a fantastic tool for free, high-quality visuals.
14. CC Search (Now part of Openverse)
Searches openly licensed content — photos, music, and more — under Creative Commons.
🌍 Multilingual & International
15. Swisscows
A family-friendly, privacy-focused search engine based in Switzerland that uses semantic data to improve results.
16. Yandex
Russia’s largest search engine — useful for accessing Russian-language content or local perspectives.
