Just because one dominant search engine overwhelms the market doesn't mean there are no other ways to search the web. In the first two decades of the 21st century, web users have gotten used to one search engine doing things one way. But new users are starting to question how much longer the entire Internet can be filtered through the corporate interests of just a few sites. Web visitors are starting to look for something new.
Here are our picks for new search engines that are exploring the horizon and pushing the boundaries of what can be done with a search query. Give them a try, and you're guaranteed to stumble upon new insights into what the web has to offer. Also, you can find many onion links that can be easily accessed here.
Yandex
Yandex has long been the hidden treasure on the Internet as far as the English-speaking world is concerned. Founded in 1997, Yandex has also grown and developed alongside the World Wide Web. They have many other features and services like one would expect of a seasoned web portal. Their results tend to have a more international focus and don't wrap the user in a selective content bubble.
BoardReader
Compared to general-purpose searches, BoardReader indexes only discussion platforms: blogs, forums, bulletin boards, message boards, and communities. This screens out corporate data to leave only the "man on the street" point of view. It helps take the pulse of the web audience, find public opinion on topics, and get candid answers to niche questions that are too trivial for sites to address.
Gigablast
Gigablast is a free, open-source search engine coded in the C programming language. This offers a decentralized experience, a crowd-sourced utility that expresses what the public thinks a search should be. Since it has no specific owner, it will never fall under the influence of a for-profit. Gigablast even provides indexes to other niche search engines out there.
HotBot
HotBot is a search engine developed by privacy and security advocates. It strives to address the common complaints of today's web users, from mining data to filtering bubbling to malware in results. Billing itself as a safety-first alternative, HotBot is designed to provide a protected environment for general-purpose web search queries.
DuckDuckGo
Perhaps the most outspoken advocate for web user privacy, DuckDuckGo has a vocal cult following as the top data-safe search engine on the web. Vowing never to mine user data for profit, DuckDuckGo aggregates search queries from other search engines and serves up the results anonymously, stripped of all intrusive ad targeting and other personal data usages.
