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

Google is about to look very different, and if you’re not a fan of AI Overviews, you’re not going to like what’s coming.

At its Google I/O 2026 keynote this week, the company announced that it is overhauling search to embrace a conversational AI-based approach, and even invited users to enlist AI agents to automatically notify them if their favorite band, for example, is going on tour.

“This is the biggest upgrade to our premium search box since it debuted more than 25 years ago,” said Elizabeth Reed, head of Google’s search organization.

Now, when you search on Google, you are given the option to use AI mode from the start. Even if you choose not to use AI mode, you may get a search result through the AI ​​overview, which will now include a chat box for you to ask follow-up questions. Once you open the chat box, Google starts to look more like ChatGPT than the search engine that has been ingrained in our lives for decades.

This announcement did not elicit the reaction Google was hoping for. Instead, many users see this as another example of a tech company squeezing AI agents and chatbots into whatever it can, making it impossible to navigate the internet without encountering a chatbot. Especially after the rocky launch of Google AI Overviews – remember when Google asked people to stare at the sun? – Users do not want to make another modification.

In Google’s video announcing the search updates, one commenter wrote: “This is the best ad to let people know it’s time to get a different search engine.”

They make a good point. Google’s new search, which Reed describes as “holistic AI-driven search,” is sure to alienate users. Aside from generative AI, some users are also fed up with Google for its sheer dominance – a US district court ruled in 2024 that Google acted illegally to maintain its monopoly on online search.

If you are interested in alternative search engines, you are in the right place. Here are some places to start (or embrace the chaos and see where the Open Web Engine takes you).

Kaji

Before we were bothered by Google’s take on AI, we were bothered by ads. Ads are non-negotiable for Google, and this is how Google Search makes money. But if a search engine runs without ads, can it still make money?

This is what Kaji is trying to achieve. For $5 per month — or $10 for unlimited searches — you get access to an ad-free search engine without an AI overview.

Kagi is not just an ad-free Google. The search engine also allows users to customize their search experience by allowing them to filter specific websites and refine search results using “lenses.” If you’re in school, for example, you can use Kagi’s academic lens to find journal articles on a topic, rather than blog posts.

If you find Google AI Overviews useful from time to time, you can use Kagi’s AI-powered Quick Answer feature to summarize an answer to your paper and include links to its sources. But if you don’t want those AI summaries, guess what? You don’t have to generate it.

Duck, duck, go

Maybe you don’t want to pay to search for things online. This is understandable. DuckDuckGo offers a free search engine that makes money by selling ads, but unlike Google, it doesn’t collect user data in the form of search, browsing, and purchase history. Instead, DuckDuckGo chooses which ads to show based on the topic of your search — so if you’re searching for concert tickets, you might see an ad for SeatGeek.

Like many alternative search engines, DuckDuckGo has an interface reminiscent of Google — and like Google, it can display an AI-generated answer to a question in search results. But if that bothers you, DuckDuckGo allows you to completely opt out of AI features in the settings menu.

Home page

While DuckDuckGo has its own separate search index from Google, Startpage is a proxy for Google.

This means that Startpage acts as an intermediary between you and the tech giant. When you search for something on Startpage, the company removes personal data like your IP address from your query, sends it to Google via the cloud, and returns the information to you. So, it’s Google without Google knowing who you are. The downside is that it’s still Google. At least Startpage lets you turn off AI features.

&udm=14

What if you took Startpage and made it simpler? The &udm=14 search engine is named according to the string of characters it appends to all your searches on Google.

If you add &udm=14 to your Google searches, you’ll get the same results as Google, just without the AI ​​overview. But doing it yourself after every search is very annoying. That’s why &udm=14 does it for you automatically.

The developer even put the code on GitHub so you can run your own version of &udm=14 if that’s your thing.

If you’re concerned about privacy, you’ll probably choose Startpage over &udm=14, but both will give you an AI-free Google.

brave

Brave offers a browser and search engine. Since the browser is built on Chromium, the same open source base as Google Chrome, you can use Chrome extensions within the Brave browser. So, if you don’t want to use Google Chrome, but can’t work without the LastPass plugin, Brave might be the solution for you.

In terms of search, Brave allows users to apply certain third-party “Goggles” (not Google!) to their searches, which organizes the results. These include “News from the Right,” “News from the Left,” “Tech Blogs,” and some other niche options, such as “Hacker News/1k short,” which prioritizes common domains referenced in Y-Combinator’s Hacker News forum, but without the 1,000 most popular domains, so it ignores more mainstream sites. Then there’s “No Pinterest,” which is self-explanatory (and funny).

And yes, Brave lets you turn AI features on and off. There’s no reason you can’t do this, Google.

Ecosia

Like Brave, Ecosia also offers a browser and search engine, and is built on top of Chromium, which means Chrome plugins should work on Ecosia as well. As its name suggests, the main attraction of Ecosia is that it is supposed to be more environmentally friendly than other search platforms.

Ecosia makes money from advertising, but donates about 80% of its income to tree planting initiatives around the world. Planting trees can sometimes be a red flag for greenwashing, but Ecosia works with communities involved in local reforestation efforts, publishes monthly financial reports for transparency, and blogs about the actual impact of its efforts.