My go to search engine is (please boost for greater exposure):

[leeloo@c.im]

@ctt
StartPage.

Basically a Google frontend that blocks the tracking, AI, etc.

[louisy@mastodon.nl]

@ctt startpage.com

[lunadragofelis@void.lgbt]

@ctt Qwant

[dess@gts.klaji.dev]

@ctt local instance of searxng

[john@fediverse-rocks.de]

@ctt Startpage

[dirkhaun@tinycities.net]

@ctt Metager

[hammerwell@troet.cafe]

@ctt https://noai.duckduckgo.com/

[fanfalla@meow.social]

@ctt Searxng for me.

[matera@mastodon.sdf.org]

@ctt
I've gotten used to StartPage, so it's my current default, but I still play around, and of course I have to use the Duck for Bangs now and then.

Ecosia disillusioned me quickly.

[alesroubicek@indieweb.social]

@ctt https://StartPage.com

[scottwilson@infosec.exchange]

@ctt @QueerMatters

Specifically, this DuckDuckGo No AI Search, which I save as a custom search engine:

https://noai.duckduckgo.com/search?q=%s

[kyonshi@dice.camp]

@ctt I am using a searxng installation on my vps, although that's only as good as the search engine it uses. I think by now most of my search results come from bing and ddg, with qwant and ecosia mixed in.

It has its own problems though. It's slightly slower (after all it queries first go to other engines) and for some stuff the results really aren't good. Anytime I search for a specific product available locally I have to turn to Google or ddg instead.

[rickd_card@socialbc.ca]

@ctt StartPage

[scottwilson@infosec.exchange]

@QueerMatters @ctt Oh my gosh, without a doubt!

[vgammieri@mastodon.uno]

@ctt qwant

[hiker@akk.fedcast.ch]

@ctt Startpage

[jasonbeets@newsie.social]

@ctt @cris

Startpage is the default search engine in the Vivaldi browser.

[yuvalne@433.world]

@ctt used to be @ecosia until they started adding AI shit... now it's specifically noai.duckduckgo.com. their filters aren't perfect but at least i'm guaranteed to not get custom-tailored bullshit to my query in the form of a chat window.

[iris@neuromatch.social]

@ctt @Ronnie alright, neat, I'm giving it a shot now!

[iris@neuromatch.social]

@cris @ctt not again, ugh.