SearXNG and Private Search Engines

2026.06.06

Obviously, the default search engine is awful. Looking online, there are alternatives but I have some reservations about these. The first alternative people switch to is DuckDuckGo, which used to be good when it was newer. But, now that it has gained more popularity, it has switched to using AI and has, more concerningly, become what it sought to replace. Slowly, it has drifted from good to bad. 

This then led to the discovery of SearXNG. This seems great, a meta search engine, where you can choose what is searched for. You can choose the sources it draws from. It's like an RSS feeds for searches [1]. The downside to this, however, is that what you can choose from is limited. There are a lot of options but that doesn't mean your options aren't still controlled. It's the same as the illusion of freedom. You are presented X and think you are free from Y but person A controls both X and Y. Supposedly, you can add your own URLs but I haven't seen that process. If so, then it is 100% worth it.