DuckDuckGo Search Assist review
7.7/10★★★★★Short, anonymous AI answers in DuckDuckGo search, with follow-ups in Duck.ai
- Best for
- Privacy-first searchers who want occasional AI help, not AI everywhere
- Price
- Freemium · from $9.99/month
Free: Search, Search Assist and Duck.ai's standard models free - Platforms
- Web, iOS, Android, Chrome extension
- Made by
- DuckDuckGo, Paoli, Pennsylvania, USA · since 2008
- App store ratings
- iOS 4.8★ (2.4M) · Android 4.7★ (2.47M)
What it is
Search Assist adds a brief AI-written answer to DuckDuckGo results, linking the one or two sources it drew on. Answers are generated anonymously, you choose how often they appear, and follow-up questions open in Duck.ai, DuckDuckGo's private chat with models from OpenAI, Anthropic and others.
What the AI does
- Brief AI answers linked to 1–2 sources
- Choose how often answers appear, or turn them off
- Follow-up questions in Duck.ai
- Choice of chat models in Duck.ai
Pros and cons
- Answers generated anonymously; searches never tracked
- Free, with no account needed
- Easy to dial AI answers up, down or off
- Well-rated private browser apps
- Answers are short and cite only one or two sources
- Follow-ups happen in a separate chat
- No photo search or deep research mode
How it scores
The lightest-touch AI search here: private and optional, but answers are brief.
Feature checklist · 6 of 9
- Inline citations linked to each source (yes)
- Follow-up questions that keep the context (yes)
- Deeper multi-step research mode (no)
- Search with a photo or image (no)
- Choose which AI model answers (yes)
- Works without an account (yes)
- Ad-free results (free or on a paid plan) (no)
- Doesn't profile you or train AI on your searches (yes)
- iPhone and Android apps (yes)
Alternatives
See all DuckDuckGo Search Assist alternatives, ranked →
- Perplexity 8.8/10Getting a quick, sourced answer you can check claim by claim
- Google AI Mode 8.6/10Anyone who wants AI answers without leaving Google or paying
- ChatGPT search 8.4/10Searches that are one step in a longer task
- Brave Search 8.3/10Privacy-minded people who want free AI answers without a Google account
Perplexity vs DuckDuckGo Search Assist
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