Startpage vs DuckDuckGo
Both are ad-funded private search engines, and neither requires a login. Startpage is operated by a named Dutch company, Surfboard Holding BV in The Hague, and offers Anonymous View for opening results. DuckDuckGo says where its links come from (mostly Bing) but names no country of establishment. For Startpage the reverse holds: the company is clear, while the index behind its organic results went unstated on the pages we could read.
Sebastiaan SmitsFounderVendors can pay for more visibility on this website, for example a higher place in a ranking or more room on a page. Commercial relationships can also affect which products we feature and how prominently. Every vendor link is marked the same, whatever the arrangement behind it. How that works.
Choose Startpage ifyou want a private search engine from a named Dutch company and like opening results anonymously through the engine.
Choose DuckDuckGo ifyou want the vendor to state plainly where its links come from, and you want optional AI features you can opt out of.
Startpage and DuckDuckGo side by side
| Startpage | DuckDuckGo | |
|---|---|---|
| Our search engines rank | #4 of 12 | #7 of 12 |
| Established in | Netherlands | Not stated by the vendor |
| List price, 2 November 2026 | Funded by sponsored links; an account and subscription exist, with the price absent from the pages we read | Searching is free, with ads. A Plus and Pro subscription is offered, though amounts were not visible on any page we read |
| Free tier | — | Yes |
| Open source | — | — |
| Self-hostable | — | — |
| Built for | Users who want private search from a Dutch company, with anonymous visiting of results | Users who want a no-account private default with optional AI features |
| Not for | Buyers who must know whose index ranks their results | Buyers who want results from an index independent of Microsoft |
Both are reviewed in full in our search engines ranking: Startpage and DuckDuckGo.
Where they differ
Startpage 2 · DuckDuckGo 2 · open 1- 01
Who runs it and where
According to its privacy policy, Startpage is owned and run by Surfboard Holding BV at Wilhelmina van Pruisenweg 104 in The Hague, and the Dutch Data Protection Authority supervises it. DuckDuckGo's operator is Duck Duck Go, Inc., but neither a country nor an address is given anywhere in the privacy, terms or company pages we read. Startpage is much easier to locate.
Edge: Startpage
- 02
Disclosure of the index
DuckDuckGo's help page describes its own crawler and many indexes, with most traditional links and images taken from Bing. On Startpage, the about page FAQ would not render without JavaScript, so we saw no statement of where organic results originate. Startpage's independence cannot be judged, while DuckDuckGo at least declares its sources.
Edge: DuckDuckGo
- 03
Logging and data requests
Startpage states that it logs no search queries and keeps no IP address for search, and that only Dutch judicial authorities may make data requests, answered when legally required. DuckDuckGo states that it keeps no search history and stores no IP address with searches. Both claims are strong, but the legal route for requests is described by Startpage alone.
Edge: Startpage
- 04
Ads and their suppliers
Startpage labels its sponsored links and retrieves them from platforms such as Google AdSense; video results run through YouTube API Services. DuckDuckGo's help pages name Microsoft, Tripadvisor and Yelp as ad suppliers. Each depends on big ad platforms, so neither stands out.
Depends on the buyer
- 05
Paid tiers and AI
A supplemental privacy policy dated 13 August 2026 shows Startpage now offers an account and subscription, though the pages we read show no price. DuckDuckGo lists Plus and Pro plans, likewise without amounts, plus optional AI controls and a noai address. The AI choice is documented by DuckDuckGo and not by Startpage.
Edge: DuckDuckGo
When neither fits
If you want results you can trace to a stated index, Brave Search says its results come from its own index. If you want to pay and see no ads, Kagi publishes its monthly prices.
Startpage or DuckDuckGo: questions
3 answersIs Startpage a European company?
Yes, by its own account: the privacy policy says Surfboard Holding BV of The Hague, the Netherlands, owns and operates it.
Does Startpage have a paid plan?
Apparently so. A supplemental privacy policy updated on 13 August 2026 covers an account and subscription, but the pages we read gave no price.
Which engine tells you where results come from?
DuckDuckGo does. Its help page names Bing as the main supplier of links and images, whereas Startpage's source details were unavailable on the pages we could read.
Sources
Checked 2 November 2026- Startpage privacy policy: Dutch operator, ad suppliers, YouTube API Services, judicial requests, policy dated 13 August 2026.
- Startpage about page: Dutch launch in 2006; Anonymous View; no result sources stated.
- DuckDuckGo privacy policy: operator name; IP logging.
- DuckDuckGo help on result sources: own crawler; Bing; ad suppliers; Plus and Pro; AI controls.
- DuckDuckGo company help page: country absent; amounts absent.