Startpage

SEARCH & BROWSERS

LAST UPDATED 4 AUG 2026

OF 100

PARANOIA SCORE

WHAT THE POLICIES SAY

Startpage is a private search engine operated by Surfboard Holding B.V. of The Hague, Netherlands, that syndicates its web results from Google under a paid partnership. Its privacy policy states it does not record IP addresses (except to block automated abuse), does not log search queries, and serves no tracking cookies; revenue comes from non-personalized sponsored links retrieved from platforms such as Google AdSense. An Anonymous View proxy lets users open results without exposing their identity to destination sites. In December 2018, US ad-tech company System1 acquired a majority stake in Surfboard Holding via its Privacy One Group subsidiary; the deal went unannounced until September 2019, prompting PrivacyTools to delist Startpage before relisting it in May 2020. SEC filings show Surfboard Holding remains a System1 subsidiary.

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Startpage's privacy policy (undated, accessed 2026-08-01) states that the company does not record users' IP addresses — with the sole exception of registering and blocking IPs behind automated high-volume abuse — does not log search queries, and strips queries of identifying metadata before sending them to its search and content providers; for its mobile browser app, crash reports (via Sentry) and product analytics (via Amplitude) are described as excluding personally identifying information, with analytics data proxied through Startpage-managed servers.

startpage.com ↗

OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

Startpage's privacy policy (undated, accessed 2026-08-01) discloses that Startpage is owned and operated by Surfboard Holding BV of Den Haag, The Netherlands, states that any governmental data request would have to come from Dutch judicial authorities, and identifies the Dutch Data Protection Authority as the supervisory authority with which users can lodge complaints under EU privacy law.

startpage.com ↗

[2019-09-19] · OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

In a blog post dated 2019-09-19, Startpage announced that Privacy One Group Ltd, described as a separate operating unit of US advertising-technology company System1, had invested in Startpage.com, and stated that the relationship had started in January 2019 — roughly eight months before the public announcement — while Startpage would remain headquartered and operated in the Netherlands.

startpage.com ↗

[2019-11-12] · OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

On 2019-11-12, the PrivacyTools team (now Privacy Guides) announced it was delisting Startpage from its recommendations after the System1/Privacy One takeover came to light, writing that the company's responses to questions about the ownership percentage, structure, and data flows were evasive and that key questions went unanswered.

privacyguides.org ↗

[2026-03-11] · OWNERSHIP TRANSPARENCY

Exhibit 21.1 of System1, Inc.'s Form 10-K for fiscal year 2025, filed with the SEC on 2026-03-11, lists Surfboard Holding B.V. (Netherlands) — Startpage's parent company — and New Privacy One Group Limited (Delaware) among the subsidiaries of System1, Inc., confirming that the US ad-tech company still owns Startpage's parent as of that filing.

sec.gov ↗

SHARING

Startpage's privacy policy (undated, accessed 2026-08-01) states that its search result pages include clearly labeled sponsored links retrieved from platforms such as Google AdSense, that some non-identifying system information is shared to enable click-fraud prevention, and that once a user clicks any search result or sponsored link they leave Startpage's privacy protection — for example, clicking a YouTube video result sends the user to www.youtube.com under the Google Privacy Policy.

startpage.com ↗

[2019-09-19] · SHARING

Startpage's blog post of 2019-09-19 announcing the Privacy One Group investment states that Startpage partners with Google to supply its search results, describing the Google partnership as one of its key differentiators from other private search engines.

startpage.com ↗

[2026-07-23] · SHARING

The service's policy indicates this service informs you that its Privacy Policy does not apply to third-party services.

startpage.com ↗

TRACK RECORD

The EuroPriSe (European Privacy Seal) register of awarded seals, as archived on 2020-09-22, shows that the Ixquick and Startpage search services were last recertified on 30 June 2015 under Register No. EP-S-LNX9Z0 with validity until 30 June 2017, and lists no subsequent recertification of Startpage — meaning the certification has been expired since mid-2017.

web.archive.org ↗

[2019-11-15] · TRACK RECORD

A CyberInsider investigation published 2019-11-15 reported, citing Dutch corporate records, that System1 co-founder Michael Blend and Court Square Capital's John Paul Civantos joined the board of Startpage parent Surfboard Holding BV on 2018-12-31 — about nine months before Startpage publicly announced the System1 relationship — while also stating that the author found no evidence that System1, Privacy One Group, or Startpage had violated their own policies or any laws.

cyberinsider.com ↗

[2020-05-03] · TRACK RECORD

On 2020-05-03, the PrivacyTools team (now Privacy Guides) announced it was relisting Startpage in its recommendations — with a warning describing the System1 events — after Startpage published new support articles confirming System1's majority ownership through Privacy One Group and its CEO answered the community's outstanding questions.

privacyguides.org ↗

TRACKING TECH

Startpage's privacy policy (undated, accessed 2026-08-01) states that the service serves no cookies that track users or their behavior, using only a preferences cookie that expires after 90 days of inactivity and a security-check (CAPTCHA) cookie that expires within seven days, and that its advertising involves no tracking or profiling.

startpage.com ↗

TRACKING TECH

Startpage's Anonymous View feature page describes a proxy that opens search-result websites so the destination site sees only Startpage visiting, blocking website cookies, trackers, and fingerprinting — but the page notes limits: pages load more slowly through the proxy, protection ends if the user clicks 'Visit Original Website', and Anonymous View cannot protect data a user explicitly submits to a website in a form.

startpage.com ↗

DATA SOURCES

ToS;DR

CC BY-SA · TOSDR.ORG ↗

Privacy Guides (www.privacyguides.org)

CC BY-SA · PRIVACYGUIDES.ORG ↗

Claims are summarized from these sources and may be edited from the original. Text adapted from a CC BY-SA source is shared under CC BY-SA.

LAST REVIEWED 2026-08-04 · METHODOLOGY v1.7