Mojeek: The Independent Search Engine Redefining Privacy

“I generally use DuckDuckGo, it's been my main default search engine for a very long time, but came to know about Mojeek through Privacy Guides. After experimenting Mojeek, I've been really starting to like it from a privacy stand point, as it has it's own index and is very independent and at least according to their privacy policy, they seem just as good as DuckDuckGo when it comes to privacy…”

- Reddit 

In today's digital world, users need search engines that provide unbiased results while protecting privacy. Mojeek is a search engine that has an independent index and verifies searches are not tracked and influenced by user profiles. This transparency delivers truly independent search results and gives users confidence in the information they find.

To manage the information efficiently, UPDF allows users to save, organize, annotate, and summarize PDFs. The combination of Mojeek and UPDF creates a streamlined workflow for managing research and documents, ensuring accurate information handling and maintaining productivity.

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Part 1. How Mojeek Search Engine Works

Users who value privacy and unbiased results need to know how Mojeek collects and organizes information. Now, let's understand its approach to help users trust the search results and use them more effectively.

reviewing mojeek search engine

Independent Crawling and Indexing

It utilizes its own web crawler to collect and index web pages without depending on third-party sources.  By building its own index, Mojeek can provide fully unbiased and transparent search results. This independence ensures that users see results based on content relevance rather than personalization and tracking.

unbiased web crawling collect pages

Understanding Mojeek's Search Rankings and Independence

Next, we'll explain how users can benefit from Mojeek's unique features and why its independent approach matters for unbiased search results.

Ranking System

Mojeek ranks web pages by analyzing how closely their content matches the query's words and intent. It does not adjust results based on previous searches or a stored profile, so individual history is not part of the ranking process. This approach verifies that every user receives identical search results for the same query.

Approach to Unbiased Search Results

It delivers unbiased search results by avoiding user tracking and advertising signals in page ranking. Instead, it focuses on signals drawn from the pages themselves to improve the web rankings. This gives users confidence that what they see reflects what is actually on each page.

mojeek website search ranking system

Comparison With Other Engines

Having discussed how Mojeek works, let's compare it with other search engines to explore the differences.

AspectMojeekGoogleBrave
Own Web IndexIndependent, smaller scaleVery large index.Growing, mid‑scale
Uses Other Engines' ResultsStandalone onlyNoneNo Google/Bing dependence
Personalized RankingSame query, same resultsHeavy personalizationSome personalization
Tracking/ProfilesNo tracking, no profiles.Extensive profilingReduced tracking, some data
Ads and RankingAds separate from rankingAds tightly integratedAds separate in principle

Part 2. Key Advantages of Mojeek

After comparing Mojeek with other major search engines, let's examine its main advantages and benefits for users.

1. No User Tracking or Profiling

User behavior is not stored or turned into long‑term profiles, which helps keep searches private and less linkable to a person's identity. Search logs are minimized to prevent sensitive queries from accumulating in large behavioral datasets. This arrangement appeals to individuals and organizations that want to reduce the extent to which their activity can be observed or monetized.​

2. Fully Independent Search Results

Mojeek operates its own crawler and index so that results are generated from infrastructure it directly controls. Reliance on in‑house crawling avoids depending on the results or APIs of the dominant search providers. Independence at this level helps keep result sets distinct and reduces outside influence over what appears and in what order.​

3. Transparency for Privacy‑Conscious Research

Identical queries with the same settings return consistent results, rather than being reshaped per user. This consistency benefits researchers, journalists, and auditors who need reproducible output for testing and documentation. A predictable, non‑personalized index also makes it easier to compare Mojeek's results with those of other engines in a fair way.​

4. Developer‑Friendly Access via API

Programmatic search access allows Mojeek to be embedded into applications, services, and internal tools. Developers can integrate an independent, privacy‑respecting search backend without handing data to large advertising platforms. Such integration supports use cases like private search portals, research dashboards, and custom search utilities.​

5. Non‑Personalized Ranking

Result ordering relies on page content and general relevance signals rather than on personal histories or behavioral scores. Reducing personalization limits filter‑bubble effects, since two users issuing the same query are more likely to see the exact ordering. A stable ranking model also simplifies evaluating temporal changes, which can help monitor quality and bias.​

key benefits mojeek users

Part 3. Use Cases of Mojeek

Next, we'll explore the main use cases of Mojeek and show how users can benefit from its features.

where mojeek mostly used

1. Liam - A Cybersecurity Engineer Avoiding Data Tracking

Needs: Private searches, no profiling, no behavior tracking
How he uses Mojeek:
Liam deals with sensitive security research every day and doesn't want his search history forming a long-term behavioral profile on mainstream engines. He sets Mojeek as his default search engine to look up vulnerability reports, security standards, and privacy documentation.

Benefits: 

  • None of his searches are used to build advertising profiles
  • Sensitive queries stay private and aren't logged by large platforms
  • Reproducible results help him verify technical information consistently

2. Emily – A Graduate Student Conducting Academic Research

Needs: Consistent, reproducible search results for citations
How she uses Mojeek:
Emily is writing a thesis on media bias and needs search results that don't shift based on personal history or algorithmic assumptions. She uses Mojeek to run keyword searches over time and compare how results evolve.

Benefits: 

  • Identical queries always return the same results
  • Easier to track search changes for research documentation
  • Less influence from personalization or filter bubbles

3. Robert – A Journalist Investigating Sensitive Topics

Needs: Access to objective sources without algorithmic manipulation
How he uses Mojeek:
Robert regularly covers topics involving public policy and consumer rights. He often runs the same keywords through multiple engines. Mojeek's independent index helps him see what appears when personalization is removed.

Benefits: 

  • A"clean baseline" for research free from behavioral shaping
  • Access to alternative sources not boosted by advertising signals
  • More reliable fact-checking across multiple engines

4. Ava – A Developer Building an Internal Search Tool

Needs: Privacy-respecting search that works well inside an application
How she uses Mojeek:
Ava's team is building an internal knowledge portal and wants search functionality without sending employee queries to Google or Bing. She integrates Mojeek's API into the project to power the backend search.

Benefits: 

  • Full control over data without relying on large ad-driven engines
  • Stable API response patterns suitable for dashboards and portals
  • Independent index ensures unbiased indexing of technical material

5. HorizonCare – A Privacy-Focused NGO

Needs: Confidential, non-tracked search for sensitive topics
How the organization uses Mojeek:
This NGO works on human rights and frequently researches topics tied to vulnerable communities. To avoid exposing search behavior to data aggregators, they choose Mojeek for everyday research and internal documentation workflows.

Benefits: 

  • Zero profiling aligns with internal privacy requirements
  • Reduced risk of sensitive queries being linked to the organization
  • Safer search practices for staff and volunteers

Part 4. Bonus: Organizing and Analyzing Search Results With UPDF

After collecting search results from Mojeek, many users ask for ways to manage and analyze the information. This is where UPDF comes in with a simple solution for saving research findings, references, or clipped web pages as PDFs. Users can organize these documents, summarize key insights, and add annotations for personal or team use.

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In addition, UPDF's AI assistant structures the collected information, extracts insights quickly, and keeps research materials accessible throughout the workflow. It also allows users to review and revisit important points efficiently, making research more productive and organized.

  • Organize PDFs: After saving research results, references, or clipped web pages from Mojeek, UPDF lets users manage the PDF layout easily. Users can crop, rotate, split, extract, or merge pages, giving full control over how collected information is structured for reading or team collaboration.
use updf organize collected web pages
  • Annotate PDFs: Users can highlight important points, add comments, and use sticky notes to mark important insights.
highlight text add sticky noted pages

UPDF allows users to add markups and digital signatures to track observations and share notes with colleagues.

  • Batch Merge: Users can combine multiple PDFs of saved research results, articles, or references into a single, organized document. This simplifies managing large collections of collected material and ensures everything is structured for easy review and analysis.
upsd batch merge web pages one pdf
  • Summarize with UPDF AI: UPDF AI converts long research results and saved web pages into concise summaries (it requires you to save the web pages as PDF format first). This allows users to extract key insights to review collected information, create notes, or prepare overviews of relevant topics.
summarize long pages points updf ai
  • Translate PDFs: UPDF supports multiple languages, allowing users to work with non-English research results saved from Mojeek. This makes it simple to access and integrate international sources into research, comparisons, or analyses.
use updf translate collected web pages

Conclusion

To conclude, Mojeek provides users with unbiased search results while protecting privacy. In this article, we explored how Mojeek works, its ranking system, and the key advantages it offers. We also discussed how UPDF helps users organize and summarize collected web pages for a smoother research workflow. For anyone seeking privacy-focused search and document management, using both platforms together can make research more accurate, structured, and productive.

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