DuckDuckGo Statistics: Analyzing the Search Engine Underdog

Written by: Muninder Adavelli

Updated: July, 18, 2024

Posted in:

DuckDuckGo is a unique search engine and web browser that promises its users ultimate privacy while browsing the Internet. It was launched in February 2008 and has made significant technological and policy improvements to ensure its users’ online privacy. 

DuckDuckGo does not collect cookies, IP addresses, or user-agent data. Despite its uniqueness and innovation, DuckDuckGo stands at the 45th of Similarweb’s global website ranking, while it’s hailed as the 29th most visited website in the US.

The data above has shown how DuckDuckGo has progressed quite slowly and is grappling with the big leagues, like Google, in the industry. 

Learn more about DuckDuckGo’s overall performance in the market through the following statistics and discussion.

 

Key Findings

  1. In 2022, DuckDuckGo recorded a worldwide search volume of 36.38 billion.  
  2. 50.67% of DuckDuckGo’s traffic is from its American audience.
  3. DuckDuckGo has the second-highest customer satisfaction rating in the US, with a score of 79 index points, following Google with 80 points.
  4. As of May 2024, DuckDuckGo’s global search engine market share is only 0.51%.
  5. Since 2011, DuckDuckGo has donated nearly $6 million to privacy-related organizations.

DuckDuckGo Searches Per Day: DuckDuckGo Receives an Average of Nearly 100 Million Search Queries Per Day

In 2022, DuckDuckGo received an average of 3.1 billion search volumes, which brings the yearly average to a total of 36.38 billion search queries.

Year

Daily Average

Monthly Average

2010

45 thousand

1.395 million

2011

272.2 thousand

8.4 million

2012

1.4 million

42 million

2013

2.8 million

84 million

2014

5.4 million

162 million

2015

8.6 million

258 million

2016

11.2 million

336 million

2017

16.2 million

486 million

2018

25.3 million

759 million

2019

41.3 million

1.238 billion

2020

64.8 million

1.944 billion

2021

96.7 million

2.9 billion

2022

99.7 million

3.1 billion

On January 17, 2022, DuckDuckGo saw one of its highest daily search volumes of 111.7 million. The search engine produced an average of 106 million daily searches that month. 

It kept its 100-million mark for three more months. However, DuckDuck Go failed to sustain its early momentum in 2022 due to a backlash over its privacy policy exceptions. In April 2022, its search volume dropped to 97.7 million, which marks the search engine’s downward spiral.

Ultimately, DuckDuckGo produced an average of 99.7 million daily searches in 2022, a considerable 3 million increase from the previous year’s record.

DuckDuckGo Browser, Integrations, and Apps: DuckDuckGo extends its availability through a mobile browsing app and Google Chrome extension

 

DuckDuckGo Mobile Application and Integrations Statistics

  • DuckDuckGo’s mobile application has been downloaded more than 50 million times on Android devices, while it produces 500,000 monthly downloads from iOS users.
  • 90.75% of DuckDuckGo’s traffic is from mobile phones, and the remaining 9.25% is from desktop devices.

DuckDuckGo is making a mark in the competitive search engine industry through the following innovative ventures:

  • The DuckDuckGo Private Browser mobile application; and
  • The DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials Chrome Browser extension.

Its mobile application has been downloaded over 50 million times in Google Play for Android devices. In the first quarter of 2021, DuckDuckGo’s browser was recognized as the most downloaded browser on Android devices. At the same time, the app sees around 500,000 monthly downloads in the App Store for iOS users.

On the other hand, DuckDuckGo’s Chrome Extension has over 5 million users. It’s currently rated 4.3 stars out of five in the Chrome Web Store.

The data above shows how DuckDuckGo has more mobile users than desktop users. Reflecting this fact is a recent record showing that 90.75% of DuckDuckGo’s traffic is generated on mobile phones. The remaining 9.25% is traffic from desktop devices.

DuckDuckGo traffic share between mobile phones and desktop devices

How Many People Use DuckDuckGo? 13% of DuckDuckGo Users Do Not Use Google Anymore

 

DuckDuckGo User Demographics Statistics

  • There are 46 million active DuckDuckGo users worldwide and 6.4 million of them no longer use Google.
  • DuckDuckGo’s US audiences generate the most traffic for the platform, making up 50.64% of its total worldwide traffic.
  • Over 61% of DuckDuckGo users are male, while 38.2% of them are female.
  • 26.14% of DuckDuckGo users are between 25 to 34 years old.

DuckDuckGo has over 46 million active audiences worldwide. The good news for DuckDuckGo is that around 6.4 million users no longer use DuckDuckGo’s biggest competitor, Google.

DuckDuckGo Statistics By Country: The Platform’s Core Audience is From the US, Generating Over 50% of its Traffic

When you zoom in on DuckDuckGo’s per-country usage, data shows that the US makes up 56.64% of DuckDuckGo’s traffic. It’s followed distantly by the United Kingdom at 5.35% and Germany at 5.31%.

Country

Traffic Share

United States

50.64%

United Kingdom

5.35%

Germany

5.31%

Canada

4.25%

France

2.83%

Australia

2.00%

Others

31.61%

Based on these statistics, DuckDuckGo has a huge following in North America and Europe. It also has a substantial amount of user traffic in Australia.

DuckDuckGo Demographics: Statistics Show a Slight Skew on its Gender Lines, With Over 60% of its Traffic Coming From Male Users

Unlike Google and Bing, which have almost a 50/50 distribution between male and female users, DuckDuckGo has a slender skew in its gender distribution.

Over 61% of DuckDuckGo’s traffic is generated by male users, while the remaining 38.2% originates from female users.

DuckDuckGo users gender distribution

Although DuckDuckGo Attracts a Small Number of Users Compared To its Competitors, The Majority of its Audience is Affluent

Since the US is DuckDuckGo’s largest traffic generator, it’s only right to look further at its user profiles. Statistics have shown that, although the US has a median income of $44,000, over 60% of DuckDuckGo users have an average income of at least $100,000.

DuckDuckGo Appeals Most to Users Between the Ages of 25 to 34 Years Old

The biggest age group of DuckDuckGo is 25 to 34 years old, represented by 26.14% of its overall users. 

One out of four DuckDuckGo users is 25 to 34 years old, while one out of five of them is 35 to 44 years old. These prominent age groups among DuckDuckGo users display how it appeals to an older audience.

DuckDuckGo users age distribution

As a result, DuckDuckGo’s top browsing interest by category is ‘Adult.’ Meanwhile, the top browsing topic in DuckDuckGo is ‘News.’

These data on DuckDuckGo’s user demographics can help marketers determine user behavior and habits on the private browser.

DuckDuckGo User Satisfaction: In the US, DuckDuckGo Scored 79 Index Points in Customer Satisfaction

As DuckDuckGo is devoted to ensuring privacy for its users, it regularly conducts surveys and studies related to privacy. DuckDuckGo further upholds its commitment to user privacy by constantly enhancing its browser interface.

In one DuckDuckGo survey, 35% of the respondents said they’d prefer an alternative search engine that does not collect any of their personal data. Since DuckDuckGo fulfills the preferences of many Internet users who prioritize privacy, it received 79 index points in customer satisfaction in the US

US customer satisfaction with DuckDuckGo vs. other search engines

Unlike its competitor search engines, DuckDuckGo ensures users it does not collect and sell personal information. On the other hand, that practice is prevalent among search engines that sell customer information to invasive advertisers.

This customer satisfaction score is impressive for DuckDuckGo since it follows Google closely, which has an index point of 80.

 

Note

What makes DuckDuckGo different from others is also one of its biggest weaknesses. Since it does not collect customer information and store any search history or activity, DuckDuckGo doesn’t personalize search results. The lack of personalization generates less effective, efficient, and specific search results.

DuckDuckGo Market Share: As of May 2024, DuckDuckGo’s Market Share is 0.51%

 

DuckDuckGo User Demographics Statistics

  1. DuckDuckGo is the sixth largest search engine based on its market share of 0.51%.
  2. Since the US generates the most traffic for DuckDuckGo, it also has a huge local market share of the platform at 1.9%
  3. DuckDuckGo earns $60 million annually in revenue.
  4. In over 5 rounds of funding, DuckDuckGo has received $172 million from 21 unique investors.
  5. DuckDuckGo has donated nearly $6 million to privacy-driven organizations to uphold its platform’s mission.

DuckDuckGo is at the bottom of the search engine market. It is the sixth biggest search engine with a 0.51% market share.

The aspiring search engine is overshadowed by larger ones like Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, which claim the big three spots in the industry. Meanwhile, Russian and Chinese search engines, Yandex and Baidu, take up the fourth and fifth spots, respectively.

Search engine market share of DuckDuckGo vs. other search engines

In the US, where DuckDuckGo gets most of its traffic, the platform’s market share is 1.9% in January 2024.

 

Helpful Article

DuckDuckGo is outshined by five other search engines and is constantly grappling with other competitors for the sixth spot. Discover through statistics how competitive the search engine market can be, especially for a weaker party like DuckDuckGo.

Although earlier statistics show that more DuckDuckGo users access it through mobile phones than desktop devices, the market share between both devices shows the opposite.

DuckDuckGo’s worldwide desktop market share is 0.64%, while its mobile market share is 0.45%. DuckDuckGo also has a market share among tablet devices, which stands at 0.52%.

DuckDuckGo global market share per device

How Does DuckDuckGo Make Money? The Platform Earns An Average Annual Revenue of $60 Million

It’s a common misinterpretation that search engines need to track their users to make money. They sell this information to advertisers who create target ads for a more personal user experience.

However, if DuckDuckGo does not collect user information, how does it earn revenue at all?

According to DuckDuckGo, they still rely on private ads to generate revenue. 

On other search engines, the ads are targeted based on the browsing habits and search history of its users. Meanwhile, DuckDuckGo does not employ any algorithms. Instead, it provides ads based on the search results page that the user is currently viewing.

The downside to this method is it’s not an optimal revenue strategy. While Google earns $305.6 billion annually, DuckDuckGo only makes $60 million per year.

Twenty-one Investors Have Funded DuckDuckGo to a Total of $172 Million

DuckDuckGo has received $172 million over 5 rounds of funding. DuckDuckGo’s recent funding in August 2021 was led by Tiger Global Management and Union Square Ventures. The total amount of money raised remains unreleased to the public.

Announced Date

Transaction Name

Money Raised

Number of Investors

August 17, 2021

Series D

4

June 9, 2021

Series C

$59 million

1

December 1, 2021

Secondary Market

$100 million

9

August 21, 2018

Venture Round

$10 million

1

October 13, 2011

Venture Round

$3 million

9

DuckDuckGo Donations: Since 2011, DuckDuckGo Has Donated $5.85 Million To Organizations Related to Internet Privacy

DuckDuckGo’s mission is to show the Internet that protecting the privacy of its users is possible and simple. To support their aim, DuckDuckGo donates to organizations that are related to Internet privacy. 

In 2023, the platform’s donation of $1.1 million went to 25 different organizations. DuckDuckGo donated the same amount in the previous year to 24 various organizations.

Twenty-five thousand dollars of that donation went to the Tor Project, a non-profit organization that developed an anonymizing browser to provide ultimate Internet privacy.

Year

Total Donations

Number of Receiving Organizations

2023

$1.1 million

25

2022

$1.1 million

24

2021

$1 million

20

2020

$750,000

15

2019

$600,000

11

2018

$500,000

21

2017

$400,000

16

2016

$225,000

9

2015

$125,00

5

2014

$40,000

6

2013

$20,000

7

2012

$10,000

7

2011

$1,909

6

Apart from these donations, DuckDuckGo also works closely with policy makers and advocates to spearhead the effort to make privacy accessible for all. With these endeavors, DuckDuckGo helps strengthen privacy standards and legislation.

In Conclusion: DuckDuckGo is More Than an Underdog, It’s a Search Engine Pioneering in Privacy

DuckDuckGo, despite facing challenges against industry giants like Google, has steadily grown its user base and influence. 

With its commitment to privacy, innovative features, like the DuckDuckGo Private Browser app and Chrome Extension, and strategic partnerships, DuckDuckGo continues to carve its name in the competitive search engine market.

The platform’s dedication to user privacy is not only evident in its product offerings but also in its financial support to organizations promoting Internet privacy.

As DuckDuckGo moves forward, it remains a useful tool for those seeking privacy-centric alternatives on the Internet.

Tutorial By: Muninder Adavelli

Harsha Kiran is a seasoned Link Building Strategist with over 10 years of experience in SEO. Passionate about organic growth, Harsha has helped numerous clients achieve long-term SEO success. When not strategizing, Harsha enjoys hiking and photography.