# Yandex Search Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/yandex/ 61 people recommended Yandex Search in Hacker News comments, 15 had mixed feelings and 43 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 12 of 12 months, in 40 threads. It does not meet the Hacker Approved badge rule. **Verdict:** People recommend it for results that feel like old Google, especially niche, historical, and filtered content. Critics note its state control in Russia. Summary written by Claude from 56 comments. It was written before the November 2026 recount, and 53 of those comments still count. ## Why people recommend it - Surfaces niche, censored, and pirated content (8 comments in the sample): "If you’re looking for anything remotely niche or legally gray, like sports streams or ebooks, you’re often better off using Yandex" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48267645)) "It's like the only "open" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content without heavily filtering it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060822)) "just type whatever you're looking for + "torrent" on yandex and you'll hit something relevant very quickly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45845052)) - Strong results and index quality (6 comments in the sample): "I cannot feel anything but respect to the multi-decade research legacy of the company and their incredible search engine." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45821101)) "It has very good technology behind, though not the trillion dollars of investments Google can afford." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48215268)) "Objectively, yandex is a great resource, and Kagi's results would be degraded without it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45941068)) - Less filtered than Western engines (5 comments in the sample): "Yandex shows you what you searched for, while Google shows you what it thinks you should have searched for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48213596)) "one of only three search indexes that aren't corrupted to all hell with business interests" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49005493)) "Yandex cares much less about this sort of censorship, at least from what I can tell." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50045886)) - Results feel like old Google (4 comments in the sample): "Yandex is excellent if you want something that behaves more like a old PageRank version of google for news and historical information" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48267693)) "agreed you get most of organic search results which is what search used to be based on relevancy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49678367)) "consistently returning more relevant results than Google for some time already" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46413746)) ## What people warn about - Government control and Kremlin ties (6 comments in the sample): "Yandex is the government approved search engine in Russia, which is impossible without the state exerting control over it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46106312)) "the yandex index/api used by kagi is wholly russian-owned and has essentially doubled down on russia/its allies" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49004060)) "The Kremlin-controlled search engine Yandex as a resource for Russia’s informational influence in Belarus" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49005229)) - Propaganda shows in results (3 comments in the sample): "While they do put either own propaganda, neither Western, nor Ukraininan nor independent media is not hidden from the results" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669492)) "there was a source code leak and you can see some examples there which make the president's image more alluring" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49670090)) "It has a well documented propaganda campaign with the goal of destabilising other countries through agitation." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49670222)) - Query privacy and tracking concerns (3 comments in the sample): "I’d expect everything that you type into Yandex that can be of use to the Russia will be used by Russia" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49670172)) "your search queries are sent to Yandex, which may be a problem if you are pasting sensitive data there" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45859725)) "at some point Facebook/Yandex apps opened localhost sockets for tracking pixel code to connect to" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49031816)) - Funds Russia's war in Ukraine (1 comment in the sample): "The people working at Yandex do not want find themselves dying of a nerve agent or polonium" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669194)) ## Other search engines people recommend - [Kagi](https://hackerapproved.com/p/kagi/): 589 recommend, 99 mixed, 198 criticize - [DuckDuckGo](https://hackerapproved.com/p/duckduckgo/): 213 recommend, 52 mixed, 183 criticize - [Google Search](https://hackerapproved.com/p/google-search/): 185 recommend, 98 mixed, 976 criticize - [Hister](https://hackerapproved.com/p/hister/): 69 recommend, 8 mixed, 8 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://yandex.com/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Yandex Search", https://hackerapproved.com/p/yandex/ (61 recommend, 15 mixed, 43 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.