Products · Product
DuckDuckGo
Raised as a usability problem by 446 people on Hacker News over 19 years (2008–2026), in 257 threads.
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- 7Low contrast makes results hard to readUnreviewed
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- 19Can't filter all results by date rangeUnreviewed
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Every issue, all time, most people first
Results loosely match what the user wants, worsening over timeUnreviewed
20082026- Users kept having to type !g to get Google results, so they gave up on it2025-09-28
- User repeatedly couldn't find what they wanted and had to manually type google.com2024-04-04
- Search results feel terrible after years of exclusive use2023-11-24
Search results are slow to load compared with GoogleUnreviewed
20082026- Some search pages take double-digit seconds to load on Android2023-05-31
- Search page loads extremely slowly on desktop and Android Firefox2023-04-17
- Search results often miss what user wants, and responses feel slow in the omnibar2021-10-02
Local-language searches return results not specific to the countryUnreviewed
20082026- Search is much worse than Google for queries not in English2026-05-25
- Searches with vague queries return zero useful sites, especially for non-English or local content2026-02-27
- Irrelevant local results appear, with no easy way to switch to non-localized results2023-05-31
Very specific searches fail, forcing retyping with !gUnreviewed
20082026- Must add !g to searches and tweak terms several times to find answers2026-02-27
- Had to add !g to most searches to get useful results2024-10-31
- Very specific searches fail, forcing the user to retype queries with !g for Google2022-02-20
Infinite scrolling on results page is hard to useUnreviewed
20082026- Infinite scroll keeps showing the same first page of results2022-10-03
- Infinite scrolling on results page is annoying to use2019-11-02
- Endless scrolling through increasingly irrelevant results instead of paginated pages2018-10-21
Low contrast makes results hard to readUnreviewed
20082026- Low contrast, distracting fixed red bar, and auto-suggest make results harder to read and scan2014-06-03
- Low contrast and only three results shown by default, wasting widescreen space2014-05-20
- Gray detail text on results is hard to read, so users give up partway2014-05-20
Bang shortcuts are cumbersome and should be clickableUnreviewed
20082026- Bang search defaults to posts, forcing extra steps to search comments2024-05-24
- Searching via bang shortcut takes many taps on Android keyboard2021-06-25
- Restarting a search with a bang operator takes about seven taps on mobile2020-09-28
Top of results shows an ad and one Wikipedia hitUnreviewed
20082026- Mobile results show three ads out of four results, making it unusable2021-10-20
- First two mobile results are ads that fill the whole screen2020-11-17
- Relevant result buried at #84 among irrelevant hits, so user must scroll2019-12-03
Results are harder to scan due to font and spacingUnreviewed
20082026- Results page is harder to scan quickly due to font and spacing2016-12-30
- Result titles are the same colour as excerpts, so results are hard to scan2015-06-17
- Results page is harder to scan than Google's2014-05-20
Clicking results goes through a slow interstitial pageUnreviewed
20082026- Often has to click through many result pages to find wanted results2020-08-14
- Results page loads slowly and feels laggy to interact with2016-07-01
- Results load late, so unwanted links appear under the cursor and get clicked2014-05-20
Arrow keys highlight results instead of scrolling the pageUnreviewed
20082026- Keyboard down-arrow on page 2 jumps back to top of page 12022-08-12
- Scrolling by arrow buttons and a load more button instead of pagination are annoying2019-10-17
- Arrow keys highlight results instead of scrolling the page, scrolling erratically2017-08-10
Official Python docs rank too low, below sites like w3schoolsUnreviewed
20082026- Official Python docs rank too low, so unwanted sites like w3schools show up2021-12-29
- Official Python docs rarely appear near top of search results2020-11-17
- Keeps linking to outdated Python 2 docs the user doesn't want2019-01-17
URL doesn't reflect current search, breaking copy-pasteUnreviewed
20082026- Site: search doesn't work from the browser URL bar, forcing a workaround2019-01-17
- Search box clears on click and query turns into a URL, making it hard to edit2017-09-26
- Browser URL no longer reflects the current search, breaking copy-pasting2014-05-05
Site-restricted searches return worse resultsUnreviewed
20082026- Default search setting keeps sending searches elsewhere, forcing manual google.com entry2025-04-29
- General web search feels unusable, only useful when restricted to specific sites2022-02-20
- Site-restricted searches return worse results, forcing frequent fallback to Google via !g2021-12-29
Scrolling sometimes feels slow in the appUnreviewed
20082026- Scrolling is slow to respond and there is no solid way to refresh2019-01-31
- Scrolling sometimes feels slow when using the app2018-01-23
- Fixed elements take up much of a small screen while scrolling2012-01-13
Image search for ordinary terms returns pornUnreviewed
20082026- Image search only offers coarse date filters, so the user can't refine results further2022-08-06
- Image search UI is poor, so users must trade off privacy against a decent interface2021-02-20
- Image search for ordinary terms returns porn, forcing the user to switch engines2020-08-24
Can't filter all results by date rangeUnreviewed
20082026- Date range search filter is too limited, can't restrict results to one year2016-12-09
- Lacks a date filter, so the commenter can't limit results by date2014-01-11
- Can't filter whole results by date range like Google; only sort by date2011-10-13
Searches for obscure error messages rarely find useful resultsUnreviewed
20082026- Searches for obscure programming error messages rarely lead to useful results2018-06-30
- Relevant programming results land at the bottom of generic-sounding searches2015-04-06
- Needs more query fine-tuning than Google to find technical error solutions2013-06-19
Takes seconds to spot the Official Site linkUnreviewed
20082026- Only one Stack Overflow result shown, the rest from other sites, so answers are hard to find2021-01-15
- Official site result is too small and hard to notice2012-04-26
- Took seconds to spot the Official Site link among results2012-01-13
Can't set HTML version as Firefox Mobile search engine due to POSTUnreviewed
20082026- Keyboard doesn't open on Firefox Android, so the search can't be used2021-10-21
- Cannot configure the HTML search version as a Firefox Mobile search engine because it uses POST requests2021-03-04
- App tries to act as a web browser when user only wants search2015-12-18
Results flooded with AI-generated junk sitesUnreviewed
20082026- Search results flooded with AI-generated junk sites, making it hard to find good answers2026-11-02
- AI features are constantly pushed into search results, making the normal site unusable2026-02-24
- General searches return link farms, AI slop and irrelevant pages, so wanted information is hard to reach2025-04-09
Silently rewrites queries, hiding what was searchedUnreviewed
20082026- Silently rewrites queries, making it nearly impossible to find what was searched for2024-02-02
- Initially had trouble getting good results; needed to rewrite queries2019-11-24
- Search silently rewrites coding queries with layman auto-correct suggestions2019-10-15
Minutes of filtering needed to find usable resultsUnreviewed
20082026- Needs query tweaking and time filters to get current results; error searches return nothing useful2021-10-18
- Adds minutes of filtering to find usable search results2021-05-08
- Time-period filter in search doesn't stick, so it must be reset each search2014-02-20
Unreviewed issues were grouped by machine: Claude Haiku labelled each comment as a usability complaint, named what it's about and summed up the problem in a line, and a small model grouped similar problems. Nobody has checked them by hand. Expect mistakes.
The newest 50 complaints
- Search results flooded with AI-generated junk sites, making it hard to find good answers2026-11-02
- Silently drops search terms, so user must quote every word2026-10-13
- Searching for free book downloads doesn't surface known piracy sites by name2026-10-05
- Page shifts down after AI text finishes, causing accidental clicks on wrong link2026-08-14
- Blocked-site preferences don't persist across sessions, so users must reapply them2026-08-14
- Auto-correct changes searches to wrong terms, preventing searching exactly what the user wants2026-08-03
- Searches feel fuzzy and ignore exact literal strings the user types2026-07-22
- Search interface is poor and cluttered, unlike simpler older search2026-06-01
- Switching back to DuckDuckGo felt worse; results seemed less good2026-05-28
- Must install an app and enable a Safari extension to use it on iPhone2026-05-28
- Quoted searches ignore exact spelling, auto-correcting misspellings instead of showing exact matches2026-05-25
- Maps fail to load half the time, needing a page refresh2026-05-25
- Search is much worse than Google for queries not in English2026-05-25
- Search drops words unless each word is quoted2026-04-04
- Searches with vague queries return zero useful sites, especially for non-English or local content2026-02-27
- Must add !g to searches and tweak terms several times to find answers2026-02-27
- AI features are constantly pushed into search results, making the normal site unusable2026-02-24
- Captcha triggers after only a few clicks, interrupting searching2025-12-14
- Search silently rewrites queries into unrelated terms when results are sparse, overriding what was typed2025-12-14
- Bookmark keywords for the same URL override each other when using multiple keyboard layouts2025-12-14
- Irrelevant results shown when no real match exists, forcing manual sorting through garbage2025-12-14
- Bang syntax with ! prefix is harder to type than custom keywords2025-12-13
- Thumbnails open the image instead of the source page, so right-click tab opening yields image tabs2025-11-01
- Users kept having to type !g to get Google results, so they gave up on it2025-09-28
- Search bar reloads page on each letter, pollutes history, lags and drops keystrokes2025-06-24
- Searching for API docs returns blog posts instead of the actual reference documentation2025-05-11
- Default search setting keeps sending searches elsewhere, forcing manual google.com entry2025-04-29
- General searches return link farms, AI slop and irrelevant pages, so wanted information is hard to reach2025-04-09
- Hard to tell which search results are ads versus genuine results2024-12-17
- Touching to move blocks scrolls the page instead on Android2024-12-10
- Had to add !g to most searches to get useful results2024-10-31
- History isn't deleted on close unless every tab is closed manually first2024-08-30
- Bang search defaults to posts, forcing extra steps to search comments2024-05-24
- Home and End keys don't work for editing the query2024-04-17
- Adding a minus-keyword exclusion to searches has no effect on results2024-04-16
- Swiping to go back from a page glitches the browser2024-04-12
- Search settings like disabling ads or safe search keep getting reset2024-04-12
- User repeatedly couldn't find what they wanted and had to manually type google.com2024-04-04
- Needs multiple steps to answer a simple time zone question, unlike chatbot2024-02-21
- Silently rewrites queries, making it nearly impossible to find what was searched for2024-02-02
- Quotes and exclusion operators are treated as hints and mostly ignored, so users can't narrow results2024-01-01
- Without extensions, no ad blocking, making the browser essentially unusable on today's web2023-12-29
- Searching for W3C first returns W3Schools, a confusingly similar name2023-12-01
- Search results feel terrible after years of exclusive use2023-11-24
- Search engines fail to find exact unusual phrases the user knows exist2023-11-02
- Leading "!" takes extra finger travel or taps to type2023-10-22
- Using it is so frustrating the commenter wants to punch the internet2023-10-12
- Traditional web links are often spam, so users skip them2023-07-27
- Tandoor project is nearly impossible to find by searching its name2023-07-24
- Some search pages take double-digit seconds to load on Android2023-05-31