Startpage icon
Startpage icon

Startpage

Privacy-focused search engine that uses Google results minus trackers and ads, it stores no personal data, offers Anonymous View, and breaks filter bubbles for diverse results, built by Surfboard Holding B.V., Startpage is committed to privacy by controlling user data.

Dark theme

Cost / License

  • Free
  • Proprietary

Application type

Platforms

  • Online
  • Android
  • iPhone
  • Android Tablet
  • iPad
  • Google Chrome
  • Safari
  • Tor
  • Mozilla Firefox
Light theme
Startpage screenshot 2
+1
Startpage screenshot 3
Startpage alternatives  
305likes
106alternatives
2articles
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Features

Properties

  1.  Privacy focused
  2.  No AI
  3.  Support for Themes

Features

  1.  Built-In Proxy
  2.  No Tracking
  3.  Deletion after timeout
  4.  Dark Mode
  5.  GDPR Compliant
  6.  No registration required
  7.  Ad-free
  8.  Video search
  9.  Extensible by Plugins/Extensions
  10.  Block Trackers
  11.  Built-in VPN

 Tags

Startpage News & Activities

Highlights All activities

Recent News

Recent activities

  • mckabsngdfty05 liked Startpage
  • brickelt963-altto liked Startpage
  • Juan Anderson liked Startpage
  • Jose-David-Vite-Bautista liked Startpage
  • Lewis John Villamor liked Startpage
  • alt-search liked Startpage
  • TBayAreaPat replied to a comment / review on Startpage
  • buggyyyy liked Startpage
  • Dakota_Nomad liked Startpage
  • Mohamed Mostafa liked Startpage

Comments and Reviews

   
Comment summary: Startpage is valued for delivering Google results while limiting personal-data exposure and offering anonymous browsing through a proxy. Some users prefer it to Google or DuckDuckGo, including because it avoids AI-generated search results. However, recent comments question its privacy after System1’s acquisition and allege tracking or fingerprinting. Users also report intrusive bot protection, limited transparency, slow development, and concerns about proprietary ownership.
Top Positive Comment
Kapp96
8

Startpage fetches its results from Google while obfuscating all personally identifiable information from your query.

[Edited by Kapp96, March 26] Fixed spelling errors

Top Negative Comment
MrGoatsy
20

Sold to an ad company called System1.

K0RR
-1

It's just Google in another skin. Since it's proprietary it's possible it's actually worse for your privacy.

Galactic Man
Replying to @K0RR

Worse than Google? Is that even possible?

in the five years since the ad company bought it there has not been one single evidenced red flag raised against the Search Engine by anyone on either advertising or privacy. It very much seems to be doing exactly what it says it's doing: protecting you.

Tom
1

I think it's one of the best search engines. It doesn't use artificial intelligence for searches, which I prefer. It can visit websites through its Proxy and lets you choose whether to use the closest (or fastest) servers or servers in the US or Europe, respecting the GDPR.

The only problem with this search engine is that it might ask you to complete a CAPTCHA test if you use a VPN, which isn't ideal for a search engine that's all about protecting your data. But overall, it's a solid search tool.

ij7zx
0

Would be great if they could provide a changelog on their website Development seems to be very slow

panoptes
-1

Google in sheep's clothing, also fingerprinting users (search for "startpage fingerprinting") would avoid

Galactic Man
Replying to @panoptes

https://discuss.privacyguides.net/t/startpage-has-apparently-started-to-fingerprint-users/18434/74

The problem they're trying to solve with this is not barring genuine users based on VPN IPs, while still keeping at bay the massive uptick in bot-crawls since the AI age began.

Please don't spread uninformed opinion.

Minnie Chang
-1
Privacy Inspector

Just a private way of getting Google's results and owned by an ad company, really don't have much faith in them to be honest. What happens with this ad company when they need MORE MONEY???

Galactic Man
Replying to @Minnie Chang

If only people had been this paranoid back when Google started......! Startpage's owners have had five years to "Be Evil" and so far not one single evidenced complaint, just folks being leery about the ad company purchase.

7 of 17 comments

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Official Links

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What is Startpage?

Why did we create Startpage.com?

As kids, we’re all taught not to touch stuff that doesn’t belong to us. It’s a good guideline. So why are online companies harvesting our personal data without our consent? They shouldn’t. That’s why we’re developing online tools that help you stay in control of your personal information. Search is done. Expect other private versions of common digital services soon. Why? Because it’s our belief that personal data should be your data, not Big Data. Period.

How we made search private

You can’t beat Google when it comes to online search. So we’re paying them to use their brilliant search results in order to remove all trackers and logs. The result: The world’s best and most private search engine. Only now you can search without ads following you around, recommending products you’ve already bought. And no more data mining by companies with dubious intentions. We want you to dance like nobody’s watching and search like nobody’s watching.

No personal data storage

We don’t collect or share your personal information. Ever. There’s literally no data about you on our servers. None. We can’t profile you, and we can’t be forced to hand over your data to authorities, simply because we don’t have any data to hand over.

Anonymous View

Clicking search results means leaving the protection of Startpage.com. This could lead to a barrage of cookies being installed on your device. That’s why we developed the "Anonymous View" feature. With "Anonymous View" you can visit search results in full privacy, and keep on browsing: They’ll never know you were there. You’ll find the feature next to every search result.

No filter bubble

Other search engines use your search habits to serve you results they think you want, essentially trapping you in an echo chamber of results. With Startpage.com, you break through the filter bubble to see a wider variety of results.

Startpage Videos

Startpage information

AlternativeTo Categories

Online Services, Security & Privacy, Web Browsers

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Our users have written 17 comments and reviews about Startpage, and it has gotten 305 likes

Startpage was added to AlternativeTo by Pablo_Mendoza on and this page was last updated . Startpage is sometimes referred to as ixquick, StartPage.com.