DuckDuckGo Browser
Hacker ApprovedShares rank 27 of 53 web browsers by recommenders
Free browser that blocks ads and trackers, with built-in privacy features. Critics say it lets some tracking through and blocks less than Brave or Mullvad.
Free browser that blocks ads and trackers, with built-in privacy features. Critics say it lets some tracking through and blocks less than Brave or Mullvad.
16 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 13
- criticize it
- 3
- approval share
- 81%
Recommended in 8 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it carries the badge
- 13 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 4.3 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 8 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Blocks ads and trackers
“running a browser that blocks ads like duckduckgos is super simple”
Comment from 16 Mar 2026 in “The 49MB Web Page” “the DuckDuckGo browser blocks a ton of stuff on my 2019 Shield TV”
Comment from 1 Feb 2026 in “Nvidia's 10-year effort to make the Shield TV the most updated Android device” Built-in privacy features
“It does actually have some good features built in, but I don't recommend it over Brave or Mullvad Browser.”
Comment from 28 May 2026 in “DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode” “The DDG browser hits all my privacy requirements.”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Is Mozilla trying hard to kill itself?” “Offers nice privacy features”
Comment from 18 Nov 2025 in “WBlock: A New Ad-Blocker for Safari” Works well on Android
“I use DDG on Android and it works pretty well there.”
Comment from 15 Aug 2026 in “Firefox is now the last major browser that still supports uBlock Origin” “Happy user of the DDG mobile browser though.”
Comment from 27 Feb 2026 in “Leaving Google has actively improved my life”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Search bar and support problems
“I was getting a lot of 'this browswer is no longer supported messages'”
Comment from 1 Jun 2026 in “DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms” “Search bar does not work in Android duckduckgo browser.”
Comment from 20 May 2026 in “Map of music”
Other web browsers people recommend
The four most recommended other web browsers, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Firefox | 1,572 | 1,371 | 53% | 12 | 16 yrs125 owners | — |
| Google Chrome | 503 | 1,086 | 32% | 12 | 10 yrs11 owners | — |
| Brave | 397 | 248 | 62% | 12 | 4.9 yrs16 owners | — |
| Safari | 307 | 577 | 35% | 12 | 13 yrs27 owners | — |
| DuckDuckGo BrowserThis page | 13 | 3 | 81% | 8 | — | Approved |
What people said
17 of the 19 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“a nice Webkit browser on macOS”
“I use Duck, alt suggestions welcome”
“DuckDuckGo Browser can as well”
“I use DDG on Android and it works pretty well there.”
“I was getting a lot of 'this browswer is no longer supported messages'”
“It does actually have some good features built in, but I don't recommend it over Brave or Mullvad Browser.”
“Duckduckgo browser and Brave can be set to delete all data upon start, which is similar but not quite the same”
“Search bar does not work in Android duckduckgo browser.”
“DuckDuckGo browser helped mask some stuff, but definitely a fair amount still goes through.”
“running a browser that blocks ads like duckduckgos is super simple”
“Happy user of the DDG mobile browser though.”
“the DuckDuckGo browser blocks a ton of stuff on my 2019 Shield TV”
“it's a great feature to have”
“The DDG browser hits all my privacy requirements.”
“I understand that having the DDG browser on Linux is difficult.”
“I use the DDG browser about 80% of the time.”
“Offers nice privacy features”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.