I self-host searxng and initially, with the understanding that searxng is stripping out tracking/marketing info, I had most search engines enabled. Once I realized that the instance’s IP address (read: my IP address) was still visible, I pared that back drastically.
My subsequent setup was created by looking at the engines’ privacy policies, and only enabling smaller engines that explicitly do not collect IP Address.
Unfortunately some of these engines lead to slower queries/more irrelevant results… to the point that I recently realized I’ve been using public searxng instances more than my private instance.
Where I’m at now is enabling 1-2 big names engines that don’t collect IP address (DDG and maaaaybe Startpage since AFAIK, their accusations on tracking would be irrelevant thanks to searxng’s functionality) and a 2-3 smaller engines that are more accurate. Cautiously optimistic about the setup moving forward.
With that said…
Someone please correct me if I’m wrong re:
- IP Addresses being the main/only privacy concern for searxng
- StartPage’s accusations becoming irrelevant w/ searxng use