Researched by a General · 12 August 2026
I’ve been using Kagi for about a year now and I genuinely get worried that there are no alternatives if it goes out of b
20
companies, each with its evidence
20
contact routes found, not published here
This is the map, not the contact sheet. The named person at each company, their verified email and their phone number went to whoever commissioned the research and are deliberately not on this page. Everything below is companies and public evidence.
01**Kagi (Kagi Inc.)**
AWhat they do (one line)
Paid, ad-free search engine with its own index and AI features
Location
Palo Alto, USA
Size signal (basis)
~50,000 paying subscribers; ~$3M founder-bootstrapped (industry write-up)
Why it fits your criteria
Your own engine; the benchmark for "paid, ad-free, privacy-first"
Evidence + source
Kagi is an ad-free, subscription-only search engine with fifty thousand paying subscribers and a public-benefit charter; founded in 2018 by Vladimir Prelovac who self-funded with ~$3M before outside capital
02**Startpage (Surfboard Holding BV)**
BWhat they do (one line)
Privacy search proxying Google/Bing results, no tracking, Anonymous View
Location
The Hague, Netherlands
Size signal (basis)
Multi-market, app + extensions; owned by ad-tech parent
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-focused, ad-model but no personal-data storage; a top-ranked Kagi alternative
Evidence + source
Startpage is owned and operated by Surfboard Holding BV, majority owned by System1, an American internet advertising company; "said Startpage General Manager Alexandra Kubiak"
03**Swisscows AG**
BWhat they do (one line)
Swiss privacy + family-friendly search, paid Pro ad-free tier
Location
Egnach, Switzerland
Size signal (basis)
~$6.7M annual revenue (2026, third-party profile); 20+ yr team
Why it fits your criteria
Paid ad-free option (Swisscows Pro), strong privacy, Swiss jurisdiction
Evidence + source
For over 20 years founder and CEO Andreas Wiebe and his team have been researching search technologies; Swisscows Pro is offered as the safest, fully anonymous option: free with advertising, or fully anonymous with Pro
04**Ecosia**
BWhat they do (one line)
Green search engine, profits to tree-planting; co-owner of EUSP index
Location
Berlin, Germany
Size signal (basis)
20M+ users (own site); steward-owned
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-leaning, ad-funded but building an independent EU index for durability
Evidence + source
Ecosia, based in Germany, operates a green search engine with over 20 million users; "the index contains around one billion web pages, Ecosia CEO Wolfgang Oels told heise online"
05**Qwant**
BWhat they do (one line)
French privacy-first search; co-owner of EUSP; French-government preferred
Location
France
Size signal (basis)
Biggest French engine; tied to OVH cloud
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-first, no behavioral tracking, building EU independence
Evidence + source
Qwant is based in France, affiliated to Europe's largest cloud provider OVH, operates the biggest French search engine, and is the preferred supplier to the French government due to its focus on data protection
06**Presearch**
BWhat they do (one line)
Decentralized, token-rewarded, privacy-focused metasearch
Location
Originally Canada
Size signal (basis)
4.5M+ users, ~1M searches/day (market listing)
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-focused, non-Google model, community-owned durability angle
Evidence + source
Presearch is a decentralized search engine with more than 4.5 million users and 1 Million searches per day; by end of 2026 it has evolved into a dual-engine (consumer + enterprise) company
07**xPrivo (Restoflix)**
BWhat they do (one line)
100% European private search + AI, on an independent EU index
Location
Luxembourg
Size signal (basis)
Small; self-funded; iOS/Android apps
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-first, ad-free-by-design, EU data sovereignty, independent index
Evidence + source
xPrivo was developed in Luxembourg and is a project of the independent, self-funded company Restoflix, which specializes in privacy-friendly software; xPrivo 4.0 now features its own fully independent European search index
08**Stract**
BWhat they do (one line)
Open-source, independent-index search for tinkerers/developers
Location
Denmark
Size signal (basis)
Founder-run; NLnet-funded
Why it fits your criteria
Independent index, customizable, ad-free today; developer-aligned
09**Mwmbl**
CWhat they do (one line)
Non-profit, open-source, community-curated search with its own index
Location
UK (Mumbles, Wales)
Size signal (basis)
~$320/yr budget; ~50-60 daily crawlers (Open Collective)
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free, non-profit, independent-index; the donation-funded durability model
Evidence + source
Mwmbl is a non-profit, open source search engine where the community determines rankings, with its own index powered by its community; estimated annual budget ~$320 USD
10**MetaGer (SUMA-EV)**
CWhat they do (one line)
German non-profit privacy metasearch, now paid/token ad-free only
Location
Hannover, Germany
Size signal (basis)
Non-profit; laid off all staff in 2024
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free, paid (token/key), privacy-first, non-profit governance
Evidence + source
MetaGer will no longer exist in its familiar form; it is no longer possible for SUMA-EV to continue to employ staff; all employees are being made redundant; now an anonymous paid account (MetaGer Key) is required; pay-as-you-go
11**DuckDuckGo**
CWhat they do (one line)
Free privacy search + browser; most-used privacy engine
Location
Paoli, USA
Size signal (basis)
Largest privacy engine by usage
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-focused (free/ad-model); the default many Kagi-curious users start from
Evidence + source
DuckDuckGo is the most widely used privacy-focused engine with mainstream UX, a private browser, and a Tor .onion endpoint
12**Ask Brave / Brave Search API**
CWhat they do (one line)
Brave's search API + AI answer product (same company as #4)
Location
USA / distributed
Size signal (basis)
Part of 115M-user Brave; 15M AI answers/day
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free premium + privacy; the B2B index-access angle for the segment
Evidence + source
Brave generates more than 15 million AI-powered answers daily
13**SearXNG (community project)**
CWhat they do (one line)
Open-source, self-hostable metasearch aggregator, no ads/tracking
Location
Global / distributed
Size signal (basis)
Large open-source contributor base
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free, privacy-first, fully user-controlled; the "own your own" durability answer
Evidence + source
Self-hosted meta engines like SearXNG let you proxy and anonymize queries across many engines; experts recommend it for sovereignty
14**Startpage Anonymous View users / privacy-tool community (privacytools-style)**
CWhat they do (one line)
The community and directories that curate these engines
Location
Global
Size signal (basis)
AlternativeTo lists 50+ Kagi alternatives
Why it fits your criteria
Directly where "users seeking alternatives to Kagi" congregate
Evidence + source
There are more than 50 alternatives to Kagi Search across platforms; AlternativeTo now partners with Uruky
15**Whoogle Search (open-source project)**
CWhat they do (one line)
Self-hosted, ad-free, privacy front-end to Google results
Location
Global / distributed
Size signal (basis)
Open-source, self-hosted
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free, no-tracking, self-hostable; privacy-tool audience
Evidence + source
Listed among primary Kagi alternatives: Other great apps like Kagi Search are Startpage, Brave Search, SearXNG and Google Search (Whoogle appears across the same directory family as a Google-proxy option)
16**YaCy (community project)**
CWhat they do (one line)
Decentralized, peer-to-peer open-source search
Location
Germany / distributed
Size signal (basis)
Volunteer/open-source
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free, decentralized, privacy-first; resilience via decentralization
Evidence + source
Listed as a Kagi/EU alternative: Other interesting alternatives to Kagi Search are Searx, Qwant, Ecosia and YaCy
17**Oscobo**
CWhat they do (one line)
Privacy search created solely to protect user privacy
Location
UK
Size signal (basis)
Small
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-focused, no-tracking; niche Kagi alternative
Evidence + source
Oscobo is a search engine created for the sole purpose of protecting your privacy while you search the web
18**findx**
CWhat they do (one line)
Privacy search, no logging, hosted in Europe, transparent algorithms
Location
Europe
Size signal (basis)
Small
Why it fits your criteria
Privacy-first, EU-hosted, no-tracking
Evidence + source
findx: no logging, no tracking, transparent algorithms, hosted in Europe
19**Swisscows sister: Hulbee Enterprise AG**
CWhat they do (one line)
Enterprise semantic search ("Google alternative" for companies)
Location
Egnach, Switzerland
Size signal (basis)
Sister company of Swisscows AG
Why it fits your criteria
Paid, privacy-oriented enterprise search; adjacent buyer segment
Evidence + source
Swisscows AG has a sister company, Hulbee Enterprise AG, which offers enterprise search and is one of the best-known Google alternatives in the enterprise segment
20**Meta-Press.es**
CWhat they do (one line)
Browser-add-on news metasearch, no third-party trackers
Location
France / open-source
Size signal (basis)
Founder-run; NLnet-funded
Why it fits your criteria
Ad-free, privacy-first, independent discovery (news vertical)
Evidence + source
Simon Descarpentries, lead developer of Meta-Press.es, which lets you explore the news without a middle man and avoids third-party trackers
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