Why is DuckDuckGo the default search engine in Tor Browser?

Tor Browser uses DuckDuckGo as its default search engine because it does not log or share personal information, making it better aligned with Tor's privacy goals.

Starting with Tor Browser 6.0.6, DuckDuckGo became the default search engine. Previously, Tor Browser used Disconnect, a meta search engine that let users choose between providers. But when Disconnect lost access to Google's results, it fell back to Bing, which provided lower-quality results.

DuckDuckGo speichert, sammelt oder teilt keine Daten, welche die Privatsphäre der Nutzer oder Ihre Suchanfragen betreffen, und ist damit in bester Position, deine Privatsphäre zu schützen. Die meisten anderen Suchmaschinen speichern Ihre Suchanfragen zusammen mit anderen Informationen wie Suchzeitpunkt, Ihre IP-Adresse oder die Accountdaten, mit denen sie eingeloggt sind.

If you're having a problem with DuckDuckGo, please see the DuckDuckGo support portal.

DuckDuckGo onion service

DuckDuckGo also operates an onion service for private search over Tor.

In Tor Browser, clicking the “Onionize” option in DuckDuckGo will automatically switch you to the onion version of their search engine.