Internet, Networking, & Security Browsers 1,873 1873 people found this article helpful The Best Search Engines of 2021 Google might be the biggest but there are other, arguably better, search engines by Paul Gil Writer Paul Gil, a former Lifewire writer who is also known for his dynamic internet and database courses and has been active in technology fields for over two decades. our editorial process Paul Gil Updated on December 11, 2020 reviewed by Christine Baker Lifewire Tech Review Board Member Christine Baker is a marketing consultant with experience working for a variety of clients. Her expertise includes social media, web development, and graphic design. our review board Article reviewed on Aug 07, 2020 Christine Baker Tweet Share Email Browsers Chrome Safari Firefox Microsoft Most people prefer to rely on just one or two search engines that deliver three key features: Relevant results (results you are interested in) Uncluttered, easy-to-read interface Helpful options to broaden or tighten a search The options this article highlights should help you find the best search engine for your needs. Lifewire / Theresa Chiechi These are mainly web page search engines, but others exist, too, for specific searches. Other search engines exist just for people, images, and, of course, jobs. 01 of 09 Google Search What We Like Favors fresh content. Ranks blogs and services. Accessible on any device. What We Don't Like Collects information on users. Hidden content might damage ranking. Search delivers too many results. Google is the reigning leader of spartan searching and is the most used search engine in the world. Google is fast, relevant, and the most extensive single catalog of web pages available. Try Google images, maps, and news features; they are outstanding services for locating photos, geographic directions, and headlines. Visit Google 02 of 09 Duck Duck Go Search What We Like Does not track or store user information. Fast searches. Optional one-month search window. What We Don't Like Search results are not dated. Limited image search results. No personalized results. At first, DuckDuckGo.com looks like Google. However, many subtleties make this search engine different. DuckDuckGo offers some slick features, like zero-click information wherein all your answers appear on the first results page. DuckDuckgo offers disambiguation prompts that help to clarify what question you are asking. Most significantly, DuckDuckGo does not track information about you or share your search habits with others. Give DuckDuckGo.com a try. You might really like this clean and simple search engine. Visit DuckDuckGo 03 of 09 Bing Search What We Like Favors older, established web pages. Ranks home pages, not blogs. Crawls hidden and non-hidden content equally. What We Don't Like Ranks forums low in search results. Instant search is slower than Google. Some ad-heavy search result screens. Bing is Microsoft's attempt at unseating Google, and it's arguably the second-most-popular search engine today. In the leftmost column, Bing tries to support your research by offering suggestions; it also provides search options across the top of the screen. Things like wiki suggestions, visual search, and related searches might be beneficial to you. Bing is not dethroning Google soon, but it is worth trying. Visit Bing 04 of 09 Dogpile Search What We Like Links to "favorite fetches" on whimsical home screen. Pulls from multiple databases for broad results. Fast search results. What We Don't Like Result screen entries aren't dated. No home screen personalization. Lots of sponsored results. Years ago, Dogpile preceded Google as a fast and efficient choice for web searching. Things changed in the late 1990s, Dogpile faded into obscurity, and Google became the leading platform. Today, however, Dogpile is coming back, with a growing index and a clean and quick presentation that is a testimony to its halcyon days. If you want to try a search tool with an engaging appearance and desirable crosslink results, definitely try Dogpile. Visit Dogpile 05 of 09 Yippy Search What We Like Blocks undesirable websites. Search result previews. Cloud of related topics in results. What We Don't Like Cannot turn off the filtering process. Ad-supported. No intuitive search. Yippy is a Deep Web engine that searches other search engines for you. Unlike the regular internet, which uses robot spider programs for indexing, Deep Web pages are usually harder to locate by conventional search. That's where Yippy becomes very useful. If you are searching for obscure hobby interest blogs, hard-to-locate government information, offbeat news, academic research, and similar content, then Yippy is your tool. Visit Yippy 06 of 09 Google Scholar Search What We Like Save articles to read later. Citations in several styles. Results include how many times an article has been cited and by whom. What We Don't Like Wide-ranging but not comprehensive. No criteria for what makes a result "scholarly." No way to limit results by discipline. Google Scholar is a particular version of the main platform. This search engine will help you win debates. Google Scholar focuses on scientific and hard-research academic material that has been subjected to scrutiny by scientists and scholars. Example content includes graduate theses, legal and court opinions, scholarly publications, medical research reports, physics research papers, and economics and world politics explanations. If you're looking for critical information that can stand up in a heated debate with educated people, then Google Scholar is where you want to go to arm yourself with high-powered sources. Visit Google Scholar 07 of 09 Webopedia Search What We Like Focuses on technical terms and applications. Friendly to non-tech users. A different Term of the Day every day. What We Don't Like Searches only Webopedia's 10,000+ word and phrase database. Search results are not dated. You have to open the article to find out more. Webopedia is one of the most useful websites on the web. Webopedia is an encyclopedic resource dedicated to searching technology terminology and computer definitions. Teach yourself what domain name system is, or what DDRAM means on your computer. Webopedia is a perfect resource for non-technical people to make more sense of the computers around them. Visit Webopedia 08 of 09 Yahoo Search What We Like Home screen includes news and trending topics. One-stop shop for search, email, horoscope, and weather. Options to search verticals rather than the web. What We Don't Like Ads aren't clearly labeled as ads. Search results aren't dated. Large ads on the home screen. Yahoo is several things: a search engine, a news aggregator, a shopping center, an email service, a travel directory, a horoscope and games center, and more. This web-portal breadth of choice makes this a beneficial site for internet beginners. Searching the web should also be about discovery and exploration, and Yahoo delivers. Visit Yahoo! Search 09 of 09 The Internet Archive Search What We Like Search text, news, archived websites, and much more. Advanced search also available. "Wayback Machine" lets you search old websites. What We Don't Like Vast amount of archived content can be overwhelming. Advanced search requires a learning curve. Not practical for daily use. The Internet Archive is a favorite destination for longtime Web lovers. The Archive has been taking snapshots of the entire World Wide Web for years now, helping users to virtually travel back in time to see what a web page looked like in 1999, or what the news was like around Hurricane Katrina in 2005. It's essential to think of the Internet Archive as much more than a web page archiver; it's a versatile search engine that also finds movies and other videos, music, and documents. You won't visit the Archive daily like you would Google or Yahoo or Bing, but when you do need historical context, use this search site. Visit The Internet Archive Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. 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