Six Search Engines to Try When Google Isn't What It Used to Be

Google’s appearance is about to change drastically, and if you’re not a fan of AI Overviews, you won’t like what’s ahead.

During this week’s Google I/O 2026 keynote, the company revealed a major overhaul of Search, shifting toward a conversational, AI-driven experience. Users can even ask AI agents to automatically alert them when, say, their favorite band goes on tour.

“This is the most significant upgrade to our iconic search box since it launched more than 25 years ago,” said Elizabeth Reid, who leads Search at Google.

Now, when you search on Google, you can choose AI mode from the outset. Even without AI mode, your results may include an AI Overview, which now features a chat box for follow-up questions. Once you open that chat box, Google starts to resemble ChatGPT more than the search engine that has been part of our daily lives for decades.

The announcement didn’t get the response Google was hoping for. Many users view it as another instance of a tech company forcing AI agents and chatbots into every product, making it hard to browse the internet without running into one. Especially after the rocky launch of AI Overviews — remember when Google advised people to stare at the sun? — users are wary of yet another change.

Image Credits: Google

On Google’s video announcing the Search updates, a commenter wrote, “this is the best advertisement letting people know it’s time to switch to a different search engine.”

They have a point. The new Google Search, which Reid calls “AI search through and through,” is bound to alienate users. Beyond generative AI, some users are tired of Google’s overwhelming dominance — a U.S. District Court ruled in 2024 that Google illegally maintained a monopoly in online search.

If you’re curious about alternative search engines, you’ve come to the right place. Here are some to try (or, embrace chaos and see where Open Web Engine leads you).

Kagi

Before Google’s AI Overview annoyed us, ads did. Ads are essential for Google — that’s how Search generates revenue. But could a search engine survive without ads?

That’s what Kagi aims to do. For $5 per month (or $10 for unlimited searches), you get an ad-free search engine with no AI overviews.

Kagi isn’t just an ad-free version of Google. It lets users personalize their search by filtering sites and refining results with “lenses.” For instance, if you’re a student, you can use the academic lens to find journal articles instead of blog posts.

If you occasionally find Google’s AI Overviews helpful, Kagi offers an AI-powered “Quick Answer” feature that summarizes search results with source links. But if you’d rather skip AI summaries, you can simply not use them.

DuckDuckGo

Maybe you don’t want to pay for search. That’s fair. DuckDuckGo offers a free search engine that earns money from ads, but unlike Google, it doesn’t track your search, browsing, or purchase history. Instead, it shows ads based on the topic of your query — search for concert tickets, and you might see a SeatGeek ad.

Like many alternatives, DuckDuckGo’s interface resembles Google’s — and it can also show AI-generated answers. But if that’s not your thing, you can turn off all AI features in the settings.

Startpage

While DuckDuckGo uses its own search index, Startpage acts as a proxy for Google.

Startpage serves as a middleman between you and Google. When you search, it removes personal data like your IP address, forwards the query to Google through the cloud, and brings back the results. So you get Google results without Google knowing who you are. The downside? It’s still Google. At least you can disable AI features.

&udm=14

What if you simplified Startpage? The search engine &udm=14 takes its name from the string it adds to every Google search.

Adding &udm=14 to your Google searches gives you the same results without an AI overview. Doing it manually each time is tedious, so &udm=14 handles it automatically.

The developer has also published the code on GitHub, so you can run your own version of &udm=14 if you like.

If privacy is a concern, Startpage might be a better choice than &udm=14, but both deliver Google results without AI.

Brave

Brave provides both a browser and a search engine. Because the browser is built on Chromium (the same open-source foundation as Chrome), you can use Chrome extensions in Brave. If you want to ditch Chrome but can’t live without your LastPass plugin, Brave might be a good fit.

For search, Brave lets you apply third-party “Goggles” (not Googles) to curate results. Options include “News from the Right,” “News from the Left,” “Tech Blogs,” and niche choices like “Hacker News/1k short,” which favors domains commonly cited on Y Combinator’s Hacker News but excludes the top 1,000 most popular sites, filtering out mainstream sources. Then there’s “No Pinterest,” which is self-explanatory (and amusing).

Yes, Brave lets you toggle AI features on and off. No reason you can’t, Google.

Ecosia

Like Brave, Ecosia offers a browser and a search engine, also built on Chromium, so Chrome plugins should work. As the name hints, Ecosia’s main appeal is its eco-friendly approach.

Ecosia earns revenue from ads but donates roughly 80% of its profits to global tree-planting projects. While tree-planting can raise greenwashing concerns, Ecosia collaborates with local reforestation communities, publishes monthly financial reports for transparency, and blogs about the real impact of its work.