Do you value digital privacy when surfing? Then the DuckDuckGo browser on Windows (or Mac) offers an interesting but not yet perfect alternative to Google Chrome or Microsoft Edge.

DuckDuckGo has become a well-known concept in the digital world. The search engine, which celebrates its fifteenth anniversary on September 25, has made a name for itself as a “privacy-friendly” alternative to Google. DuckDuckGo is now attempting to bring this formula to the browser market to once again compete with Google. After a successful launch on Mac in 2022, it’s now Windows’ turn.

Like so many smaller browsers, DuckDuckGo will never rival Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari in terms of market share. So why are we paying attention to this strange duck? DuckDuckGo is playing the privacy card to convince internet users who are fed up with the antics of the tech giants. In this review we take a closer look at the Windows version, but the browser for Mac includes the same functionalities.

Installation and setup

DuckDuckGo is available for Windows 11 and Windows 10. To install the browser, navigate to this webpage and the file will automatically download. Look under the menu in Explorer Downloads and run the installation. It is not yet possible to install the app via the Microsoft Store.

After installation, the browser usually starts automatically. The famous duck mascot is ready to welcome you. You now have the ability to transfer bookmarks from other browsers. This worked for us almost immediately on Google Chrome, but it didn’t work on Firefox. As of version 0.44.1 you can also do this manually with HTML files.

The browser doesn’t prompt you to create an account, and it doesn’t trick you into setting the browser as the default like Microsoft likes to do with Edge. The standard search engine is of course that of the house brand, but the browser also gives you free choice here. It would be strange to choose DuckDuckGo browser and still set Google as search engine.

Fast engine

DuckDuckGo looks and feels like a full browser and is already stable enough to easily install on your desktop device. The interface is clean, although the toolbar takes up quite a bit of real estate on your screen. But how can this young challenger withstand established values? Very good, according to the Tacho 2.1 test.

We ran three rounds of testing with DuckDuckGo and the “main” Windows browsers. The results in the table reflect the best result and rounded averages. DuckDuckGo quickly races away from Chrome and Firefox and is only beaten at the finish by the sprint bomb Edge. Not surprisingly, the results are closer to Edge: both browsers run on the same WebView2 engine, although DuckDuckGo assures that the similarities stop there.

Keep in mind that the browser is in beta and not everything is working perfectly yet. In particular, support for extensions is far from complete. You don’t have a menu where you can manage and install extensions, making adding useful applications almost impossible. DuckDuckGo wants to be more open to other parties’ applications through future updates.

Privacy first

DuckDuckGo’s main selling point is privacy. In the (otherwise rather limited) settings menu you can tick all sorts of options to protect your data. We’ll discuss some interesting features that we’re already using.

No more trackers

DuckDuckGo’s slogan is “Down with the trackers!”. The browser boasts that it does not install any trackers on your device during an active surfing session: this is even written in black and white in the data protection declaration. This means that DuckDuckGo disables URL and cookie trackers, among other things, and prevents apps from creating a “digital fingerprint” of your device. This is all built into the browser by default and you don’t need to turn it on anywhere.

You can see how effective these blocks are on the browser’s homepage. DuckDuckGo shows you how many trackers were stopped in the last seven days: you will be surprised how quickly this counter adds up.

The only caveat: blocking trackers is not the same as blocking ads. Like any internet company (or any high-quality IT website), DuckDuckGo needs this income to survive. However, the search engine includes a hidden setting to turn off ads. All data is also deleted after each session if you close the browser with the fire icon instead of the traditional cross. This ensures that nothing is left for outsiders.

fireproof

Tired of cookie menus on websites? Although by law they are there to protect us, in practice it is only an apparent decision whether or not you want to accept cookies. DuckDuckGo is happy to make this decision for you. Through the settings or when visiting a website for the first time, you can have pop-up menus filled in automatically, whereby the browser always selects the fewest number of cookies.

The ongoing deletion of data and cookies means that you also have to constantly log into your accounts. If you find that rather inconvenient, you can fireproof a website. The browser then remembers your active registrations and these remain protected from trackers.

email alias

Even if you create a new account somewhere, DuckDuckGo has a neat trick up its sleeve. The email protection service, which has been publicly available since last year, allows you to create a secure @duck.com alias that you associate with your regular email address. This allows you to register on a website without having to reveal your personal email address. DuckDuckGo sends newsletters you subscribe to via the alias to your mailbox. The header can sometimes be deleted during forwarding. Existing accounts cannot be converted to an alias.

You can work with a fixed alias or have one randomly generated for each new account, for example a password. Email Protection appears in the form of the DuckDuckGo logo on newsletter fill-in forms and sign-up pages. The autofill feature will then help you remember all these aliases. A password manager isn’t built into the browser, and as mentioned, adding an external app is still a tricky process for now.

YouTube without ads

The flagship of the DuckDuckGo browser is the built-in video player Duck Player. This video player is specially designed to play YouTube videos outside of Mother Google’s all-seeing eye. No need to sift through annoying ads before the video starts or worry about your viewing history being saved somewhere. Image and audio quality can also be adjusted directly in the video player.

In the settings, choose whether you want to make Duck Player your regular media player. You can return to YouTube at any time, for example if you want to comment on a video.

rough diamond

This is how we would like to describe the DuckDuckGo browser on Windows. It’s not a perfect browser yet, but one with huge potential. The browser offers a variety of privacy-friendly functionalities, which are also offered to you in bite-sized form. That alone is a relief compared to Google Chrome, for example, which also offers many of the features mentioned above, but tends to make it difficult for the user to find them.

Is DuckDuckGo a potential challenger for Chrome or Edge? It is still too early for such strong statements. The browser still has some rough edges that it needs to work out of the user experience. Given the browser’s young age, that’s totally understandable and we expect future versions to improve.

Currently, Firefox and Opera are perhaps even more comprehensive alternatives for those looking to surf in a privacy-conscious manner. But this odd duck has what it takes to become a beautiful swan in the browser market.