DuckDuckGo is the wholesome search engine that really puts privacy first. No tracking, no strange captures of your data. You search, done.
It launched in 2008 by Gabriel Weinberg. Ultimately it’s own by a private company that promotes privacy, not ads.
What’s it like to use?
It feels good. Searches load fast. You don’t see personalized ads. In fact, it even blocks trackers and hides the odd fingerprinting going on.
You just get your hits, without prying eyes on your search.
Key Things It has going on
It is multilingual, and serves users worldwide (except in China and Indonesia). You can use “bangs” like !w to jump right to the right Wikipedia page.
There are over 13,500 bangs, so smart shortcuts! Plus it recently added the Email Protection feature an email service that strips email tracking and a paid Privacy Pro version with VPN, identity protection, etc.
Who’s actually using it?
It doesn’t track you, so they only can guess how many users they have.
Some competitive intelligence sources estimate DuckDuckGo has somewhere around 80 million users worldwide.
There are other sources that say 46 million users searching 3.1 billion searches per month. Similar Web estimated the site traffic at around 737 million visits last month.
Traffic & Audience vibes
It’s big. 2.16 billion visits in July 2025 huge. Approximately 56% of traffic is from the US.
Social Media Followers (all platforms, rough total)
Hard to get exact. Let’s give a rough guess of 5 million+ users, mostly from installs from its Chrome extension not to mention other sources.
Pricing Chatter (in text)
Free always okay for basic search. Paid all month; Privacy Pro with VPN, identity recovery, personal info removal, etc.
Founded on no tracking; all about supporting privacy first options.
Pros
It’s private. Really private. Blocks trackers. Bang shortcuts.
No filter bubble. Simple interface. No weird targeting. Easy on the mind.
Cons
No custom fancy. Fewer results than some heavy hitters. Some advanced features behind a price wall.
Final Vibe
DuckDuckGo is a kinda chill privacy hero. You search, you are anonymous. No data creep. No follow you around ads. Clean, real results.
Good overall that’s good if you value control and peace of mind.
