Switcher 2026: DuckDuckGo and Helium are Browser Edge Cases Worth Considering ⭐

I've always been fascinated by technology alternatives, whether they're operating systems (OSes), apps, services, or whatever else. When it comes to apps, there is no app more important than a web browser. And when it comes to web browsers, well, I've tried them all. But it troubles me that the very worst browsers are by far the most used. People are uneducated or have just given up.

So what's a good web browser? It's a web browser that just works and performs quickly while protecting you from all the bad things that can happen online. What it isn't is a web browser whose maker claims to be protecting you when, in fact, they are tracking you online and violating your privacy themselves and at scale.

The best web browsers are made by Little Tech companies and organizations that still care about their relationships with their users. That is, instead of enshittifying their offerings to wring more value out of customers like Big Tech does, they're improving them according to what their users want. There are several worth noting. For example, I love what Mozilla is doing with Firefox now, and I've long wanted to use DuckDuckGo, but the two browsers I use and recommend most often--Brave and now Helium--are not in any way mainstream, especially in the latter case. And this is a problem. Not for me. But for everyone else.

In a general sense, you don't "lose" anything by switching from data-sucking behemoths like Chrome, Safari, and Edge. In fact, you often gain things you didn't realize you needed or wanted, not just the tracker blocking but performance improvements and more. But getting there can be difficult for mainstream users, and even minor user interface differences can be enough to scuttle a potential change.

Yet hope springs eternal. And I keep experimenting with web browsers, just as I do with other technology products and services. And I've had two experiences in recent weeks with two alternative web browsers that deserve some attention.
DuckDuckGo
I think about DuckDuckGo a lot.

This is one of those ideal Little Tech companies--alongside Proton, Mozilla, Notion, and a few others--in that it seems to do all the right things for all the right reasons and is decidedly customer-focused. Given this, I would be happy to use the DuckDuckGo web browser on desktop and mobile were it not for the fact that it still lacks a few key features, the most notable of which is extension support. I'm sure there are reasons for that, and that those reasons are tied to privacy and security, but that's almost beside the point. Browsers I trust like Brave, Firefox, and Helium all offer extension support, and it's unclear why DuckDuckGo can't or doesn't.

Tied to this, DuckDuckGo has a Duck Tales podcast that's available through its newsletter on Substack, so I get emails each time a new episode airs and I often listen to them as they come out. (You can read transcripts of each episode on Substack if that's not your thing.) The most recent...