Six search engines worth trying now that Google isn’t really Google anymore

Google is about to look actually completely different, and if you happen to’re not a fan of the AI Overviews function, you then’re not going to love what’s coming.

On the Google I/O 2026 keynote this week, the corporate introduced that it’s overhauling Search to embrace a conversational, AI-driven method, even inviting customers to enlist AI brokers to mechanically notify them if, for instance, their favourite band had been to go on tour.

“That is the most important improve to our iconic search field since its debut over 25 years in the past,” mentioned Elizabeth Reid, chief of the Search group at Google.

Now, once you search on Google, you’re given the choice from the begin to use AI mode. Even if you happen to decide to not use AI mode, you would possibly get a search end result with an AI Overview, which can now embrace a chat field so that you can ask follow-up questions. When you open the chat field, Google begins to look extra like ChatGPT than the search engine that’s ingrained itself into our lives for many years.

This announcement didn’t elicit the response that Google would’ve hoped for. As a substitute, many customers see this as one more instance of a tech firm squeezing AI brokers and chatbots into all the pieces it may, making it not possible to navigate the web with out encountering a chatbot. Particularly after the rocky rollout of Google’s AI Overviews — bear in mind when Google instructed individuals to stare into the solar? — customers should not keen for an additional adjustment.

On Google’s video saying the Search updates, one commenter wrote, “that is the very best commercial for letting individuals understand it’s time to get a distinct search engine.”

They make a very good level. The brand new Google Search, which Reid describes as “AI search by means of and thru,” is certain to alienate customers. Generative AI apart, some customers have additionally grown weary of Google for its sheer dominance — a U.S. District Court docket dominated in 2024 that Google had acted illegally to take care of a monopoly in on-line search.

When you’re interested by various search engines like google, you’re in the best place. Listed here are some locations to begin (or, embrace chaos and see the place Open Net Engine takes you).

Kagi

Earlier than we had been aggravated by Google’s AI Overview, we had been aggravated by adverts. Advertisements are non-negotiable for Google — that’s how Google Search makes cash. But when a search engine had been to function with out adverts, might it nonetheless make cash?

That’s what Kagi is making an attempt to perform. For $5 per 30 days — or $10 for limitless searches — you may entry an ad-free search engine with out AI overviews.

Kagi isn’t simply ad-free Google. The search engine additionally lets customers customise their search expertise by letting them filter sure web sites and refine search outcomes with “lenses.” When you’re at school, for instance, you should use Kagi’s tutorial lens to seek out journal articles a few subject, moderately than weblog posts.

When you discover Google’s AI Overviews helpful sometimes, then you should use Kagi’s AI-powered “Fast Reply” function to summarize a solution to your search and embrace hyperlinks to its sources. However if you happen to don’t need these AI summaries, guess what? You don’t must generate them.

DuckDuckGo

Perhaps you don’t wish to pay to look stuff on-line. That’s comprehensible. DuckDuckGo affords a free search engine that makes cash by promoting adverts, however in contrast to Google, it doesn’t acquire consumer information within the type of search, looking, and buy historical past. As a substitute DuckDuckGo chooses what adverts to serve primarily based on the subject of your search — so if you happen to seek for live performance tickets, you would possibly see an advert for SeatGeek.

Like many different search engines like google, DuckDuckGo has an interface that’s paying homage to Google — and like Google, it may show an AI-generated reply to a query in your search outcomes. But when that bothers you, DuckDuckGo permits you to utterly decide out of AI options within the settings menu.

Startpage

Whereas DuckDuckGo has its personal separate search index from Google, Startpage is a proxy for Google.

Because of this Startpage acts as a intermediary between you and the tech big. While you seek for one thing on Startpage, the corporate strips private information like your IP handle out of your question, sends it to Google by way of the cloud, and returns the data to you. So, it’s Google with out Google understanding who you’re. The draw back is, nicely, it’s nonetheless Google. A minimum of Startpage helps you to flip off AI options.

&udm=14

What if you happen to took Startpage and made it less complicated? The search engine &udm=14 is called for the string of characters it appends to all your searches on Google.

When you add &udm=14 to your Google searches, you’ll get the identical Google outcomes, solely with out an AI overview. However doing that your self after each search is fairly annoying. That’s why &udm=14 does it for you mechanically.

The developer even put the code on GitHub so you may run your personal model of &udm=14 if that’s your factor.

When you’re involved about privateness, you then’d in all probability go for Startpage over &udm=14, however each will principally get you AI-free Google.

Courageous

Courageous affords each a browser and a search engine. Because the browser is constructed atop Chromium, which is similar open-source base as Google Chrome, you should use Chrome extensions throughout the Courageous browser. So, if you happen to don’t wish to use Google Chrome, however you may’t perform with out your LastPass plug-in, Courageous may very well be for you.

When it comes to search, Courageous permits customers to use sure third-party “Goggles” (not Googles!) to their searches, which curate the outcomes. These embrace “Information from the Proper,” “Information from the Left,” “Tech Blogs,” and another extra area of interest choices, like “Hacker Information/1k brief,” which prioritizes frequent domains referenced on Y-Combinator’s Hacker Information discussion board, however with out the 1,000 hottest domains, so it omits extra mainstream websites. Then, there’s “No Pinterest,” which is fairly self-explanatory (and humorous).

And sure, Courageous does allow you to toggle AI options on and off. There’s no motive you may’t do that, Google.

Ecosia

Like Courageous, Ecosia additionally affords each a browser and a search engine, and it’s additionally constructed atop Chromium, which means that your Chrome plug-ins ought to work on Ecosia too. As its title suggests, Ecosia’s essential draw is that it’s imagined to be extra eco-friendly than different search platforms.

Ecosia makes cash from adverts, however it donates about 80% of its revenue to tree-planting initiatives world wide. Tree-planting can generally be a crimson flag for greenwashing, however Ecosia works with communities concerned in native reforestation efforts, publishes month-to-month monetary experiences for transparency, and blogs in regards to the precise affect of its efforts.