Search engine comparison worksheet and CSV builder
Compare search engines using your own questions and observed results. Record the same query, region, language and settings for each engine, then note what helped answer the question. This worksheet does not run searches, rank providers or infer privacy from a result list.
Download the blank comparison CSV, or enter observations below. Inputs remain in this page and are not saved automatically or sent to an Ithy research service. Download before leaving. Avoid recording private queries or account details on a shared device.
Observations in this page
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| Query | Engine | Date | Useful? | Result URL |
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A repeatable comparison
- Choose several real tasks before looking at results: a known official page, an exact phrase, a technical problem and a local-language question, for example.
- Use the same query and comparable region, language, SafeSearch and account settings. Record differences you cannot control.
- Inspect a fixed number of results for each query. Open the sources through the normal search interface and evaluate what they actually support.
- Keep unhelpful results and failures in the record too. Repeat at another time before treating a small sample as a stable pattern.
What the observations can establish
A few useful results can help you choose a tool for a task. They do not measure the whole web index, provider popularity, legal compliance, tracking behavior or universal search quality. A displayed date can differ from a source’s actual publication date. “Not assessed” is different from “No.” CSV export prefixes potentially executable spreadsheet formulas with an apostrophe.
For documented provider differences, read the search-engine selection guide, independent indexes and metasearch explanation and privacy, filtering and evidence checklist. The January 2025 market-share table illustrates why a referral-share dataset is a different measurement.