Startpage or Ixquick - the check

In addition to the world-famous search engine Google, there are numerous alternatives such as Startpage or Ixquick. Just like DuckDuckGo and Disconnect Search, these promise to respect and protect your privacy - unlike Google. We compared the first two pages for you.

Similarities: Startpage or Ixquick - one company, one approach

Both Startpage.com and Ixquick.com are services of Surfboard Holding BV based in the Netherlands.

• Data protection: Startpage and Ixquick are the only search engines in the world that have been certified by external software specialists. Among other things, it was confirmed that no IP addresses are logged and the search behavior of the user is not tracked.
• Proxy: In both search engines you will find a "proxy" button next to the hits, which you can use to access the respective page via the company's own proxy server. This also protects your privacy.
• Services: With Startpage as well as with Ixquick you can also search for pictures and videos. In both cases, "Bing.com" is used for image search and "YouTube.com" for video search.
• Risks: Parts of the data are stored in the United States (and not in the Netherlands), making them subject to the notorious Patriot Act. However, you can specify in the search engine settings that your search queries are only carried out via servers in the EU.
• Cookies: By default, Ixquick and Startpage save the search settings in cookies. Alternatively, you can "save" your settings in a generated URL and thus completely do without cookies.

Ixquick vs. Startpage - the quality of the search results

• When it comes to choosing the right search engine, matching hits are one of the most important selection criteria. Here, of all things, the two search engines differ significantly because they rely on the results of different services.
• While Startpage.com only uses Google search results, Ixquick.com is a so-called meta search engine. You will see the results of several search engines, in the case of "Yahoo!", "Gigablast" and "Yandex".
• Our check shows that the hits with Startpage were significantly more precise - which is not surprising given the familiar quality of Google.
• In the image and video search, the hits are identical, since the same sources are used here. In the video search in particular, it is a shame that only YouTube is searched here.

Conclusion: Ixquick, Startpage - or an alternative?

• Both Ixquick and Startpage can convince with their functions in the check. Both search engines are recommended in terms of privacy and data protection - and miles ahead of Google.
• If you rely on exact hits for professional reasons or simply don't want to get used to it, the Startpage will do much better. Here you get the same search results as Google - but completely anonymous.
• If you want maximum data protection, you should take a look at the alternatives Yioop.com and Metager.de. While the former is one of the many open source search engines, Metager.de is a German search engine that can be accessed via a TOR hidden service and whose servers are located exclusively in Germany.
• As a compromise between security, privacy, features and hit accuracy, Startpage.com comes out of our search engine check as a relatively clear winner. We explain in our picture gallery how to set up and use the search engine optimally.