What is Mojeek?

Launched in 2004 by Marc Smith, Mojeek is an independent search engine based in the United Kingdom. Unlike many search services that rely on third-party indexes from companies like Google or Bing, Mojeek builds and maintains its own index using its own crawler and ranking algorithms. Its fundamental philosophy revolves around privacy: Mojeek does not track users, does not profile them, and seeks to minimize data collection.

Hosting, Infrastructure, and Environment

Mojeek’s servers are physically located in Maidstone, Kent at the Custodian Data Centre, which is described as one of the greenest data centres in the UK. This ensures that both data residency and ecological concerns are addressed. The service operates entirely from within the UK, adding legal clarity under UK data protection law.

Privacy, GDPR Compliance, and Data Practices

Mojeek is fully GDPR-compliant. Under GDPR, users have rights such as being informed about the data collection, accessing their personal data, rectifying errors, or requesting erasure (“right to be forgotten”). Mojeek claims not to collect or store any personal information tied to individual profiles or require logins. The only log data retained is non-identifiable metadata such as time, date, country, referral, and browser type. These logs are used for system operation, error diagnosis and ranking, not for profiling or targeted advertising.

Free Use, Plans, Open Source Status

• Free Plan: Mojeek is free to use for all users for general web search. There is no paywall for its core search service.
• Paid/Pro Plans: There is no widely advertised paid subscription for general users. Mojeek publishes pricing for API access or commercial, developer-level services in specific contexts. However, Mojeek remains primarily free in its default, browser-based form.
• Open Source: Mojeek is not open source. Its search engine software, crawler, and index are proprietary.

How Mojeek Compares to Big US Tech Companies

Many of the largest search and tech platforms in the United States (such as Google, Microsoft’s Bing, Apple, Amazon, and Meta) operate business models that depend heavily on user data. They use tracking, profiling and targeted advertising to personalize content, to sell ads, and often share or respond to government data requests. These practices raise privacy concerns, especially for users covered by GDPR or other strong privacy laws.

Mojeek’s approach differs in several important ways:

• No tracking or profiling: Unlike Google, Bing or other US-based engines, Mojeek does not build user profiles for advertising. There are no third-party trackers embedded, no facial or biometric data collection built into its search.
• GDPR as guiding principle, not just compliance checkbox: While US firms are frequently fined for GDPR breaches (for example for improper cookie practices or for insufficient consent mechanisms), Mojeek claims that privacy is central to its design, rather than an afterthought.
• Data hosting in UK and using UK infrastructure: Mojeek keeps its infrastructure in the UK, thereby enabling strong data residency protections. Big US services often host across multiple countries, and national laws on data access may allow government demands even from abroad.

Strengths and Limitations

Key Strengths

1. Privacy by design — minimal data collection and no user profiling.
2. Full compliance with GDPR, including respecting user rights such as erasure and access.
3. UK-based hosting adds legal clarity and data control for European users.
4. Independent index and crawler ensure search results are not shaped by agreements or partnerships with large advertising or platform companies.
5. Completely free for everyday search use, with optional paid API or developer tools when needed.

Important Limitations

• Smaller scale than Google or Bing—Mojeek’s index is large (billions of pages), but its breadth, freshness, or depth of supplemental services may lag behind those of Big Tech.
• No zero-tracking business model for large-scale advertising because Mojeek does not run targeted ads—this may limit revenue, which in turn affects expansion.
• Not open source, so users cannot audit the entire codebase or independently verify every component release.
• Sustainability and renewable energy usage: while Custodian Data Centre markets itself as a greenest data centre, specific percentage of renewable energy in Mojeek’s electricity supply is not public.

Why Users May Consider Switching

If your concerns include data privacy, surveillance, tracking, profiling, or data export to countries with less strict protections, Mojeek offers a powerful alternative. It is particularly attractive for European users who are covered by GDPR or UK data protection regulations, and who want clarity and control over their data. For those who distrust the use of personal data by services based in the USA, Mojeek’s UK base and policy of no tracking make it stand out.

By using Mojeek instead of a US-based search engine, users can avoid many of the privacy pitfalls that have led to regulatory actions against companies like Google, which has in recent years faced significant fines and legal pressure over data privacy practices, intrusive tracking, and collection of personal data without sufficient user consent.

Conclusion

Mojeek is a strong European alternative to Big Tech search engines. With full GDPR compliance, UK-based hosting, and a privacy-first design, it offers users who value privacy, data control, and transparency an effective way to search the web without trading away personal rights. While its scale is more modest than that of the largest American firms, for many users the trade-offs are well worth it.

Explore Mojeek at https://www.mojeek.com/