Startpage is a Dutch search engine company that highlights privacy as its distinguishing feature.ExpressVPN.com
"Free Search Engines: What You're Looking For?"
19 January 2015, retrieved 5 April 2016. The website advertises that it allows users to obtain

Google Search Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

results while protecting users' privacy by not storing personal information or search data and removing all trackers. Startpage.com also includes an Anonymous View browsing feature that allows users the option to open search results via

proxy Proxy may refer to: * Proxy or agent (law), a substitute authorized to act for another entity or a document which authorizes the agent so to act * Proxy (climate), a measured variable used to infer the value of a variable of interest in climate ...

for increased anonymity. Startpage.com began as a sister company of Ixquick, a metasearch engine founded in 1998. The two websites were merged in 2016. In October 2019, Startpage received a significant investment from Privacy One Group, a subsidiary of System1.

History

Early history

Ixquick was created in 1998 by David Bodnick in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. Initially, it provided metasearch for 14 different web and directory search engines as well as images, news, and

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...

engines. Results were sorted after evaluating how relevant each of the search tools found the query. Surfboard Holding BV, a company based in

Zeist Zeist () is the capital and largest town of the municipality of Zeist. The town is located in the Utrecht province of the Netherlands, east of the city of Utrecht. History The town of "Seist" was first mentioned in a charter in the year 8 ...

, Netherlands, and led by CEO Robert E. G. Beens, acquired Ixquick in 2000. Ixquick was re-launched on 23 March 2005 with new features including a redesigned metasearch algorithm. Startpage.com began as a

web directory A web directory or link directory is an online list or catalog of websites. That is, it is a directory on the World Wide Web of (all or part of) the World Wide Web. Historically, directories typically listed entries on people or businesses, and th ...

in 2002 and started mirroring Ixquick the following year. On 7 July 2009, the company re-launched Startpage.com to fetch results only from the

Google search engine Google Search (also known simply as Google) is a search engine provided by Google. Handling more than 3.5 billion searches per day, it has a 92% share of the global search engine market. It is also the most-visited website in the world. The ...

. Prior to the release of

Tor Browser Tor, short for The Onion Router, is free and open-source software for enabling anonymous communication. It directs Internet traffic through a free, worldwide, volunteer overlay network, consisting of more than seven thousand relays, to conc ...

version 4.5 in April 2015, Startpage.com was its default search engine.

Merger and recent history

On 29 March 2016, Ixquick.com was merged into the Startpage.com search engine. As of 2017, Startpage fields an estimated 2 billion searches. The company was one of 200 European companies that opposed the F.C.C. implementation of policies ending

net neutrality Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...

. In October 2019, Privacy One Group, owned by adtech company System1, acquired a majority stake in Startpage but, according to the company, its "founders may unilaterally reject any potential technical change that could negatively affect user privacy". By maintaining its headquarters and operations in the Netherlands, Startpage continues to be protected by Dutch and

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

(EU) privacy laws. In May 2020,

Vivaldi Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (4 March 1678 – 28 July 1741) was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music. Regarded as one of the greatest Baroque composers, Vivaldi's influence during his lifetime was widesprea ...

announced that its browser had added Startpage as an optional or default search engine.

Products

On 27 June 2006, following criticism of Google Shopping, the website began to delete private details of its users. Ixquick stated that it does not share the personal information of users with other search engines or with the provider of its sponsored results. According to ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...

''' '' Wirecutter'', Startpage does not store user's personal information or search data. A May 2020 review of the website on

ZDNet ZDNET is a business technology news website owned and operated by Red Ventures. The brand was founded on April 1, 1991, as a general interest technology portal from Ziff Davis and evolved into an enterprise IT-focused online publication. His ...

also states that Startpage "does not track, log, or share data or searching history". In 2011, Startpage received the European Privacy Seal, a European Union–sponsored initiative that indicates compliance with EU laws and regulations on data security and privacy through a series of design and technical audits. It was re-certified in 2013 and 2015.Ixquick.eu press release
"EuroPriSe: Privacy-friendly Internet search with Ixquick and Startpage reaffirmed"
20 July 2015, Surfboard Holding B.V., Bonn, Germany, on Ixquick.eu website, retrieved 5 April 2016. The company has also completely ended the recording of user IP addresses since January 2009. Because Startpage is based in the Netherlands, it is also "not subject to US laws like the

Patriot Act The USA PATRIOT Act (commonly known as the Patriot Act) was a landmark Act of the United States Congress, signed into law by President George W. Bush. The formal name of the statute is the Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appro ...

, and cannot be forced to comply with US dragnet surveillance programs, like

PRISM Prism usually refers to: * Prism (optics), a transparent optical component with flat surfaces that refract light * Prism (geometry), a kind of polyhedron Prism may also refer to: Science and mathematics * Prism (geology), a type of sedimentary ...

." Startpage has also contributed €20,000 to

NOYB NOYB – European Center for Digital Rights (styled as noyb, from "none of your business") is a non-profit organization based in Vienna, Austria established in 2017 with a pan-European focus. Co-founded by Austrian lawyer and privacy activist Ma ...

, the non-profit organization founded by

Max Schrems Maximilian Schrems (born 1987) is an Austrian activist, lawyer, and author who became known for campaigns against Facebook for its privacy violations, including violations of European privacy laws and the alleged transfer of personal data to t ...

, which is committed to launching strategic court cases and media initiatives in support of the EU's General Data Protection Regulation. The company also provides a stand-alone

service, Startpage.com Proxy, which is incorporated into the Startpage search engine. This feature, known as Anonymous View since 2018, allows users the option to open all search results (except advertisements) via the proxy. StartMail, founded in 2014 by Startpage CEO Beens, was developed to offer a privacy protecting

email Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" mean ...

service. StartMail also allows the creation of disposable and permanent email aliases for each account.

Phil Zimmermann Philip R. Zimmermann (born 1954) is an American computer scientist and cryptographer. He is the creator of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), the most widely used email encryption software in the world. He is also known for his work in VoIP encryption ...

, the inventor of the PGP encryption system who Startpage hired in 2018 to advise the company on privacy technology, has also helped develop StartMail's PGP-encrypted email service. Since Startpage.com does not collect user data, it does not serve

targeted advertising Targeted advertising is a form of advertising, including online advertising, that is directed towards an audience with certain traits, based on the product or person the advertiser is promoting. These traits can either be demographic with a focu ...

based on user data history. The company generates revenue from its search engine by providing

contextual advertising Contextual advertising is a form of targeted advertising for advertisements appearing on websites or other media, such as content displayed in mobile browsers. In context targeting, advertising media are controlled on the basis of the content of ...

based on the keyword used to perform a search. File:Startpage screenshot 2011.jpg, Startpage website in 2011 File:Startpage 2009.png, First Startpage logo, until 2015 File:StartPage logo.png, Second Startpage logo, until 2018 File:Startpage.com logo.svg, Third Startpage logo, until 2021 File:Startpage 2021.svg, Fourth Startpage logo, current

Features

Startpage uses results from

Google Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...

, for which it pays. As of July 2020, Startpage allows searches in 82 languages, including

Bengali Bengali or Bengalee, or Bengalese may refer to: *something of, from, or related to Bengal, a large region in South Asia * Bengalis, an ethnic and linguistic group of the region * Bengali language, the language they speak ** Bengali alphabet, the w ...

Danish Danish may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Denmark People * A national or citizen of Denmark, also called a "Dane," see Demographics of Denmark * Culture of Denmark * Danish people or Danes, people with a Danish a ...

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Finnish Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, French, German,

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance language *** Regional Ita ...

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

Norwegian Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to: *Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe * Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway * Demographics of Norway *The Norwegian language, including ...

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles Poles,, ; singular masculine: ''Polak'', singular feminine: ''Polka'' or Polish people, are a West Slavic nation and ethnic group, w ...

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, Simplified and Traditional Chinese,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

and Turkish. The website has tabs for web searches as well as tabs for image and video searches. In November 2019, Startpage added a tab for news. According to the company, news searches are "not curated or personalized" and "every user who looks up the same term at the same time gets the same news". In June 2022, the company added " Instant Answers", a feature that displays information directly on the search engine for topics such as weather, maps and Wikipedia. Unlike Google, Startpage doesn't offer " featured snippets", which are answers extracted directly from relevant websites. In contrast, Startpage's "Instant Answers" only get information from a dozen websites.

References

External links

* {{Web search engines navbox Internet properties established in 1998 Internet search engines