DuckDuckGo is a search engine with one main USP: it doesn’t collect private user data.
Launched in September 2008, the service hit a milestone of 1 billion searches in 2013.
Since then, DuckDuckGo has continued to gain market traction.
Today, it registers an average of nearly 100 million search queries a day.
So how big is DuckDuckGo in the search engine market?
Here’s a summary of what you’ll find out on this page:
- Key DuckDuckGo Stats
- DuckDuckGo daily searches
- DuckDuckGo annual search queries
- Global DuckDuckGo market share
- Global DuckDuckGo desktop market share
- Global DuckDuckGo mobile market share
- DuckDuckGo US market share
- DuckDuckGo US desktop market share
- DuckDuckGo US mobile market share
- DuckDuckGo app downloads
- How many people use the DuckDuckGo Chrome extension?
- DuckDuckGo funding
- DuckDuckGo post-money valuation
- DuckDuckGo donations
- How many people work at DuckDuckGo?
Key DuckDuckGo Stats
- The number of all-time DuckDuckGo searches exceeds 71.9 billion.
- DuckDuckGo handles an average of 98.79 million search queries a day.
- Worldwide, DuckDuckGo claims a 0.66% share of the search engine market. In the US, it holds a 2.45% share.
- DuckDuckGo is the 2nd most popular search engine on mobile devices in the US.
- 124 employees work at DuckDuckGo.
DuckDuckGo daily searches
On average, DuckDuckGo processes 98.79 million search queries a day. Daily search activity has increased 1.86x over the previous year, up from an average of 52.95 million searches in February 2020.
The average number of daily queries on DuckDuckGo has grown 9.17x since January 2015.
We’ve charted average daily DuckDuckGo searches since January 2011:
| Date | Searches |
|---|---|
| January 2011 | 170 thousand |
| July 2011 | 246 thousand |
| January 2012 | 630 thousand |
| July 2012 | 1.38 million |
| January 2013 | 1.64 million |
| July 2013 | 3.4 million |
| January 2014 | 4.38 million |
| July 2014 | 4.95 million |
| January 2015 | 7.14 million |
| July 2015 | 8.65 million |
| January 2016 | 10.6 million |
| July 2016 | 10.77 million |
| January 2017 | 13.47 million |
| July 2017 | 15.65 million |
| January 2018 | 21.13 million |
| July 2018 | 23.53 million |
| January 2019 | 34.37 million |
| July 2019 | 41.93 million |
| January 2020 | 51.96 million |
| February 2020 | 52.95 million |
| July 2020 | 63.27 million |
| January 2021 | 95.27 million |
| February 2021 | 98.79 million |
Source: DuckDuckGo.
DuckDuckGo annual search queries
Last year, DuckDuckGo reported a total of 23.65 billion processed search queries. The annual volume of searches grew by 56.8% compared to 2019.
In fact, DuckDuckGo searches in 2020 surpassed the total of all searches made between 2010 and 2017 by 41.26%.
Here’s a table showing the annual number of searches on DuckDuckGo since 2010:
| Year | Queries |
|---|---|
| 2010 | 16.41 million |
| 2011 | 99.35 million |
| 2012 | 496.24 million |
| 2013 | 1.03 billion |
| 2014 | 1.97 billion |
| 2015 | 3.13 billion |
| 2016 | 4.09 billion |
| 2017 | 5.91 billion |
| 2018 | 9.2 billion |
| 2019 | 15.08 billion |
| 2020 | 23.65 billion |
Source: DuckDuckGo.
Across all platforms worldwide, DuckDuckGo claims a 0.63% search engine market share. That makes it the 10th most popular search engine globally.
The DuckDuckGo market share has been consistently increasing since 2013, at which point it held just 0.01% of the global market.
Here’s a table showing DuckDuckGo’s worldwide market share since 2012:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.01% |
| 2013 | 0.01% |
| 2014 | 0.04% |
| 2015 | 0.11% |
| 2016 | 0.12% |
| 2017 | 0.18% |
| 2018 | 0.29% |
| 2019 | 0.42% |
| 2020 | 0.49% |
| 2021 | 0.63% |
Source: Statcounter Global Stats.
DuckDuckGo has a 0.88% share of the worldwide desktop search market. This makes it the 4th most popular search engine among desktop users, behind Google, Bing and Yahoo.
The DuckDuckGo share of the desktop search market has grown 2.31x since 2018, up from 0.38%.
Here’s a table showing DuckDuckGo’s share of the global desktop search market since 2012:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.01% |
| 2013 | 0.01% |
| 2014 | 0.05% |
| 2015 | 0.13% |
| 2016 | 0.15% |
| 2017 | 0.3% |
| 2018 | 0.38% |
| 2019 | 0.5% |
| 2020 | 0.64% |
| 2021 | 0.88% |
Source: Statcounter Global Stats.
DuckDuckGo claims a 0.48% share of the worldwide mobile search engine market. It ranks 5th, behind Google, Baidu, Yahoo and Yandex.
The mobile market has proved harder for DuckDuckGo to crack than the desktop market. DuckDuckGo holds almost twice as much of the desktop market (0.88%). Nonetheless, mobile market share is consistently increasing.
Here’s a table showing the growth in DuckDuckGo’s mobile market share since 2014:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2014 | 0.03% |
| 2015 | 0.05% |
| 2016 | 0.06% |
| 2017 | 0.08% |
| 2018 | 0.19% |
| 2019 | 0.33% |
| 2020 | 0.38% |
| 2021 | 0.48% |
Source: Statcounter Global Stats.
In the US, DuckDuckGo claims a 2.45% share of the search engine market across all device types. DuckDuckGo is the 4th most used search engine in the country, after Google, Bing and Yahoo.
Yahoo, the closest competitor, is only marginally ahead: it holds a 2.99% share of the US search market.
DuckDuckGo’s market share (in %) has grown 4.71x since 2017.
Here’s a table showing DuckDuckGo’s share of the US search engine market since 2012:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.02% |
| 2013 | 0.05% |
| 2014 | 0.12% |
| 2015 | 0.32% |
| 2016 | 0.34% |
| 2017 | 0.52% |
| 2018 | 0.69% |
| 2019 | 1.15% |
| 2020 | 1.61% |
| 2021 | 2.45% |
Source: Statcounter Global Stats.
DuckDuckGo has a 2.41% search engine market share among desktop users in the US.
DuckDuckGo only hit the milestone of a 1% market share in 2019. It has since more than doubled its share (up 2.19x).
We’ve charted DuckDuckGo desktop US market share since 2012:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2012 | 0.02% |
| 2013 | 0.06% |
| 2014 | 0.14% |
| 2015 | 0.37% |
| 2016 | 0.39% |
| 2017 | 0.62% |
| 2018 | 0.67% |
| 2019 | 1.1% |
| 2020 | 1.63% |
| 2021 | 2.41% |
Source: Statcounter Global Stats.
DuckDuckGo has a 2.42% share of the US mobile search market. This makes it the second most popular mobile search engine in the US. Only Google is more popular, with a near-monopolizing 94.36% market share.
Globally, DuckDuckGo has a mobile market share of just 0.48%. But the search engine has made reasonable inroads into the US mobile market.
DuckDuckGo claimed 2nd place from Yahoo (1.91%) in 2021.
Here’s a table with the DuckDuckGo US mobile market share since 2013:
| Year | Market share |
|---|---|
| 2013 | 0.01% |
| 2014 | 0.08% |
| 2015 | 0.21% |
| 2016 | 0.22% |
| 2017 | 0.33% |
| 2018 | 0.59% |
| 2019 | 1.02% |
| 2020 | 1.52% |
| 2021 | 2.42% |
DuckDuckGo app downloads
DuckDuckGo offers mobile browsing apps for both iOS and Android.
The DuckDuckGo Privacy Browser for iPhone users was downloaded 400,000 times in February 2021 alone.
The Android app receives even more downloads. It was installed 800,000 times in the past month. All-time, the number of downloads exceeds 10 million.
The DuckDuckGo app has excellent reviews on both the App Store and Google Play, with a cross-platform average of 4.85/5.
Source: DuckDuckGo, Sensor Tower.
How many people use the DuckDuckGo Chrome extension?
DuckDuckGo has an extension available for the Google Chrome browser. The tool helps block hidden trackers and check website privacy grades.
The Chrome extension has more than 5 million users.
Source: Chrome web store.
DuckDuckGo funding
DuckDuckGo has raised $13 million across 2 funding rounds. Its latest round (Series B), announced in August 2018, raised $10 million.
DuckDuckGo has 8 investors, 7 of which invested during the initial Series A round in 2011.
Here’s a table with DuckDuckGo funding data:
| Date, Funding round | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2011, Series A | $3 million |
| August 2018, Series B | $10 million |
Source: Pitchbook, Crunchbase, CB Insights.
DuckDuckGo post-money valuation
As of the last funding round (August 2018), DuckDuckGo was valued at an estimated $74.8 million. The valuation has grown 3.77x since 2011.
Here’s a table showing DuckDuckGo post-money valuation since 2011:
| Date, Funding round | Post-money valuation |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $19.82 million |
| 2018 | $74.8 million |
Source: CB Insights.
DuckDuckGo donations
DuckDuckGo makes donations to organizations related to internet privacy.
The company donated a total of $750,000 to 15 organizations in 2020. Its largest donation ($200,000) was allocated to the Center for Information Technology Policy (CITP).
DuckDuckGo has donated $2,673,549 since 2011.
We’ve prepared a table showing DuckDuckGo donation information since 2011:
| Year | Amount (no. of companies) |
|---|---|
| 2011 | $1,909 (6) |
| 2012 | $11,640 (7) |
| 2013 | $20,000 (7) |
| 2014 | $40,000 (6) |
| 2015 | $125,000 (5) |
| 2016 | $225,000 (9) |
| 2017 | $400,000 (16) |
| 2018 | $500,000 (21) |
| 2019 | $600,000 (11) |
| 2020 | $750,000 (15) |
Source: DuckDuckGo.
How many people work at DuckDuckGo?
DuckDuckGo has 124 employees, working remotely from more than 15 countries. Headcount has increased by 48.19% over the last year, with 41 new employees joining the remote team.
The number of DuckDuckGo employees has increased 2.75x since 2018.
Here’s a table showing the number of DuckDuckGo employees since March 2018:
| Date | Employees |
|---|---|
| March 2018 | 45 |
| March 2019 | 59 |
| March 2020 | 83 |
| March 2021 | 124 |
Source: DuckDuckGo.
Conclusion
That’s it for my list of DuckDuckGo statistics in 2021. The search engine is enjoying reasonably strong growth, especially among pro-privacy users.
From an almost non-existent market share a few years ago, DuckDuckGo is now the 2nd most popular mobile search engine in the US. So it will be interesting to see what the future holds.
Despite the strong growth, DuckDuckGo still faces the significant barrier of Google’s worldwide search engine dominance.
Do you think DuckDuckGo can make further market inroads?
I’d also love to hear your feedback:
What do you think of this DuckDuckGo stats roundup? Do you think there’s more information to be added?
Just drop a comment below and I’ll be sure to read it.
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