DuckDuckGo Statistics: Google’s Avian Adversary in Numbers

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Lack of privacy is a huge concern for today’s internet users: From the search engines we use to seek answers to social media and even our favorite online games, everything seems to be able to track us. But thanks to services like DuckDuckGo, reclaiming our privacy on the internet is still possible.

Originally created as an alternative to Google’s search engine, DuckDuckGo has, over the years, grown into a fully-fledged browser. Let’s look at some DuckDuckGo statistics to fully grasp how important and big this website is.

Key DuckDuckGo Stats

  • DuckDuckGo users perform over 100 million searches a day.
  • It’s estimated that DuckDuckGo has 70 to 100 million monthly users.
  • DuckDuckGo is the second most commonly used mobile search engine in North America.
  • DuckDuckGo’s mobile app gets downloaded 6 million times a month.
  • Advertising on DuckDuckGo can be up to 10 times more affordable than on Google.

DuckDuckGo Usage Statistics

In February 2012, DuckDuckGo reached 1 million searches a day.

(DuckDuckGo)

Even though it launched four years prior to this achievement, the search engine had a lot of trouble reaching a wider internet audience. Thanks to various ad campaigns and a total graphics overhaul, it finally spread its wings and started recording significant growth.

DuckDuckGo users now perform over 100 million searches a day.

(DuckDuckGo)

What started as a humble little search engine is now a powerhouse for safe and fast internet searches. According to DuckDuckGo, the popularity of its engine is constantly growing and is now averaging more than 100 million searches every single day. It might still not be anywhere near Google’s numbers, but it’s definitely registering record growth on a year-by-year basis.

There were more than 35 billion search queries through DuckDuckGo in 2021.

(DuckDuckGo)

It’s interesting and inspiring to look at how the numbers rose for DuckDuckGo. Just 10 years ago, the total number of searches made through DuckDuckGo was close to half a billion, while in the year 2021, that number was 70 times higher. 

Users made over 4.8 billion search queries in Q1 2022 alone.

(DuckDuckGo)

According to DuckDuckGo traffic statistics, the number of users and queries grows for DuckDuckGo on an annual basis. During the first months of 2022, that trend continued, with each day seeing over 100 million searches made through this engine. Analysts estimate the total number of searches will surpass 50 billion in 2022.

DuckDuckGo Market Statistics

It’s estimated that DuckDuckGo has 70 to 100 million monthly users.

(DuckDuckGo)

The fact that this search engine is so dedicated to total user privacy is at the same time the reason we can’t really say with certainty how many people use it. DuckDuckGo conducts occasional surveys and, according to the latest data coupled with market share, the company estimates that over 70 million people use its services each month.

27 million Americans use DuckDuckGo.

(DuckDuckGo)

DuckDuckGo doesn’t collect any data on its users, nor does it store any browsing history. Instead, its team conducted a survey to gather some DuckDuckGo usage stats, discovering that 9% of Americans used this search engine in 2021.

DuckDuckGo is the second most used mobile search engine in North America.

(DuckDuckGo)

Google is still securely at the top of the search engine market, especially on mobile, but position number two has seen significant turmoil. Previously, Microsoft’s Bing was the second most common choice of internet users in the US and Canada, but now that position has been overtaken by DuckDuckGo.

At 2.52%, DuckDuckGo’s market share is the highest in the US.

(Statista)

DuckDuckGo’s market share sits at 0.63% globally. The US is the leading market, followed by Germany with a 1.05% adoption rate, the UK with 0.87%, and France with 0.6%. European countries prefer this engine to other Google alternatives, which became evident once the EU forced Google to offer Android users a clear choice between the browser and search engine on this mobile OS.

On desktop, DuckDuckGo’s US market share is 2.87%.

(Statcounter)

It seems that Americans stick to tried-and-true search engine options when it comes to desktop usage. Google comes in first with a market share of 79.8%, followed by Bing (12.36%) and Yahoo! (4.47%). DuckDuckGo holds fourth place on desktop.

Advertising on DuckDuckGo can be up to 10 times more affordable than on Google.

(Larry Ludwig)

Marketing expert Larry Ludwig points us toward some interesting DuckDuckGo advertising statistics. The cost per click for running a PPC campaign on DuckDuckGo is approximately $0.41, while Google’s ads run for $4.93 per click. The caveat is that, in this research, the ads shown through DuckDuckGo generated 80% fewer clicks compared to Google. Additionally, DuckDuckGo’s campaigns actually run through Yahoo! and Bing. Thanks to advertising, the company has been operating with profits since 2014.

Statistics on DuckDuckGo Extensions and Apps

DuckDuckGo’s apps get downloaded 6 million times a month.

(DuckDuckGo)

After making the security-focused search engine, the team behind DuckDuckGo developed several desktop and mobile apps. Today, you can download browser extensions, as well as an internet browser powered by DuckDuckGo’s technology. Users particularly like the DuckDuckGo mobile browser, which currently has a 4.8 rating on Google Play.

According to DuckDuckGo’s download statistics, its Google Chrome extension has over 6 million users.

(Google Chrome)

DuckDuckGo’s Google Chrome extension blocks various tracking cookies and scripts, making it an attractive alternative to Google for privacy-concerned users.

DuckDuckGo’s mobile browser is among the top 200 most popular apps on Google Play.

(Similarweb)

All those millions of downloads and great user scores have helped the DuckDuckGo mobile browser rise through the ranks in the world of Android apps. Among millions upon millions of apps available on Google Play, this browser is at the 193rd spot and 17th in the Tools category.

On the App Store, DuckDuckGo is ranked 18th in Utility apps.

(Apple)

DuckDuckGo is available for iOS devices, too, but the DuckDuckGo mobile statistics for iOS aren’t as detailed as those for Android. IPhone and iPad users rated this app 1.2 million times, bringing the total score to an impressive 4.9 out of 5. The Mac app, on the other hand, isn’t nearly as popular – it only has 308 ratings and a 4.5 average score.

Random Interesting DuckDuckGo Statistics and Facts

DuckDuckGo pulls its data from over 400 sources.

(DuckDuckGo)

On its official website, DuckDuckGo proudly states that “When people search, we believe they’re really looking for answers, as opposed to just links.” That is why DuckDuckGo sources include not just what the DuckDuckBot manages to crawl from millions of websites but also 400-plus vertical sources that provide niche Instant Answers.

As of January 2022, 169 people were working at DuckDuckGo.

(Craft)

Although the project is long past its “bunch of nerds coding a website from their garage” phase, it’s still not as massive as it may appear to be. The company has yet to reach 200 employees and that includes the board members, the executive team, and founder Gabriel Weinberg. 

DuckDuckGo donates 125% of its net emissions to Gold Standard projects.

(DuckDuckGo)

DuckDuckGo statistics reveal that, as of September 2021, the company has not only achieved its goal to become carbon-neutral but has become carbon-negative. DuckDuckGo has managed to negate all of its carbon emissions since it was founded in 2008 and is continuing the push. 

DuckDuckGo donated $1 million to privacy-based organizations in 2021 alone.

(DuckDuckGo)

Over the past 10 years, DuckDuckGo has donated $3.6 million to organizations and foundations that promote cybersecurity. Its donation recipients include the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Center for Information Technology Policy, European Digital Rights, and the Tor Project.

DuckDuckGo has received $113 million in funding so far.

(Crunchbase)

When it comes to stats on DuckDuckGo’s funding, the company has been very successful in attracting venture capital investments. Over three rounds of funding, 18 investors in total have put their trust into this project, most recently, HOF Capital and Thrive Capital. The latest funding round was in December 2020.

In late 2021, DuckDuckGo introduced app tracking protection for Android devices.

(DuckDuckGo)

Currently still in beta, the tracking protection on the Android version of the DuckDuckGo app blocks various third-party trackers from snooping around users’ devices. The trackers that go beyond their native apps are rampant on modern smartphones, so the new feature is looking to mitigate that and help users reclaim their privacy. Since 96% of popular apps contain some form of tracking, this feature is very popular, and the DuckDuckGo team had to create a waitlist for beta testers.

The offline promotion of DuckDuckGo in 2020 included 4,500 billboards across the US and Europe.

(Billboard Insider)

On to some unusual DuckDuckGo advertising stats. In the spring of 2020, DuckDuckGo launched a massive campaign promoting its privacy-first approach by using good old – billboards. The campaign was run on 2,245 billboards in the US and 2,261 billboards in Europe. Users were encouraged to snap photos of billboards and share them with DuckDuckGo’s team over social media.

According to Alexa, DuckDuckGo is the 140th most visited website globally.

(Alexa)

On a global scale, DuckDuckGo is growing every single month. The search engine has improved its Alexa ranking significantly during the first weeks of the year 2022 and, in countries like the US, the UK, and Germany, it’s within the top 100 most visited websites. Speaking of visits, US internet users make up the majority of its clients, accounting for 49.1% of the total traffic this website gets.

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