Answer engines, private search, research and code search, workplace search, search APIs and visual search, each described in a plain line we wrote ourselves.
What a featured listing costs · from $199 a month
Perplexity is an answer engine. You type a question, it runs web searches, reads a set of pages and writes a short answer with numbered citations that link to each…
Google Search needs little introduction, but it has changed. For many queries it now shows an AI Overview at the top of the page: a short written summary built from…
DuckDuckGo is a search engine built around not tracking people. Its policy says it doesn't keep a search history tied to you or build a profile for ad targeting, and…
Brave Search is the search engine from the company behind the Brave browser. Unlike many alternatives, it runs its own web index instead of renting results from a larger engine,…
Kagi is a search engine you pay for. In return there are no ads, and the company says your searches aren't used to build an advertising profile. The idea is…
Google Scholar searches academic literature: journal articles, conference papers, theses, preprints, books and court opinions. Each result shows where it was published, how many later works cite it and, where…
We list tools that help someone find information: on the web, in research, in code, at work or in a picture.
We open the official site and confirm the tool is live and does what our description says.
We write one factual line in our own words and add a longer write-up for widely used tools.
Features we can't confirm show as not enough info, and tools we can't confirm stay unlisted.
Search tools change quickly. Engines add AI answers, change which partners power their results and update their privacy terms, so we describe what each tool is for and what to check, rather than scoring it. A listing tells you a tool exists and what it does; testing it on your own questions tells you whether it suits you.
Facts on each listing, such as whether a tool shows its sources or has a developer API, are set only when we have confirmed them. Anything we haven't confirmed shows as not enough info. Paid placements are always labeled Sponsored and never change our descriptions.
Makers can submit or claim a listing. A person checks every request. Published by Zwings LLC.
Start with the question you ask most often, because search tools are built for different jobs. If you want a quick written answer to a general question, an answer engine such as Perplexity, or a chat assistant that searches the web, will save time. If you want to choose your own sources, a classic results page is still better. Research questions call for academic search, code questions for code and documentation search, and questions about your own company's files for workplace search.
Next, decide how much you need to check. Any tool that writes an answer is summarizing pages it chose, so citations matter. Prefer tools that link each claim to a source, and make a habit of opening the source for anything you will act on. Look for the date on the page and who published it, and prefer primary sources such as official documentation, government pages and the original study.
Then look at privacy. Search queries reveal a lot about a person or a company. Read what each tool keeps, for how long, whether it is tied to your account and whether conversations are used to train models. Privacy-minded engines such as DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, Startpage and Kagi make different promises from the large engines, and paid tools can offer stricter terms than free ones. For work, check what your employer allows before pasting internal information into any public tool.
Think about where the results come from. Some engines run their own index of the web, others license results from a larger engine, and AI tools may call a separate search partner behind the scenes. The source affects how fresh and how varied your results are, especially for local searches and recent news.
If you are building something, the choice shifts to search APIs and site search engines. Test candidates on your real queries, compare freshness, coverage, speed and cost at your expected volume, and read the terms on storing and showing results.
Cost is the last check. Many search tools are free with limits, and paid plans add stronger AI models, more questions per day, fewer ads or stricter data terms. Decide which of those you actually need before paying, and watch for tools that bundle search into a larger subscription you may already have.
Finally, try two or three tools side by side on a week of real questions. Differences that never show in a quick demo, such as how a tool handles a vague question or a very recent event, become obvious in normal use.
An AI search engine searches the web or another collection of documents and then writes an answer, usually with links to the sources it used. Some, like Perplexity, are built around this. Others add AI answers to a normal results page.
They are often right but can misread or mix up sources. Open the cited page for any claim that matters, check its date and publisher, and prefer official or primary sources for health, money, legal and travel questions.
Several engines, including DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, Startpage, Mojeek and Kagi, say they don't build profiles of users. Their policies differ in detail, so read what each one logs and how long it keeps it.
No. We describe what each tool does and list what we have confirmed. There are no star ratings or best-of rankings, and sponsored placements are labeled and never change a description.
We only list tools we can confirm are live and that fit a category here. You can suggest one through the submission page, and we reply by email after checking it.
Yes. Listing is free. Submit it through the Get listed page. We check that it is live and write the description ourselves, and paid placements are available separately.