I've been using DDG for years (use !g about 1/3 of the time I think), and I just like having the alternative.
I wish we had more search engines, but I also realize the barrier to entry is really high. Using AWS does make a lot of sense in their market.
I thought their primary index was Yandex though, and they purchased supplemental data from Yahoo and Google?
I like (and trust) DDG, and use it all the time. But it is interesting to know who else has access to their infrastructure.
I was surprised by the AWS result, as I expected them to co-locate their own dedicated hardware.
Enter a hostname or IP address:
startpage.com
Performing DNS lookup of startpage.com
Complete, startpage.com = 37.0.87.7
Performing reverse DNS lookup of 37.0.87.7
Complete, 37.0.87.7 = rt87bb0-37-7.routit.net
Complete, startpage.com = 89.146.4.146
Performing reverse DNS lookup of 89.146.4.146
Complete, 89.146.4.146 = rt4bb146-89-146.routit.net
Complete, startpage.com = 145.131.132.81
Performing reverse DNS lookup of 145.131.132.81
Complete, 145.131.132.81 = rt132bb131-145-81.routit.net
Pinging startpage.com 4 times
Ping attempt #1 of 4
Success
26 ms
Ping attempt #2 of 4
Success
27 ms
Ping attempt #3 of 4
Success
26 ms
Ping attempt #4 of 4
Success
28 ms
Press any key to exit...
Registered to J.H. de Baat
Email info@routit.nlAlthough my default search engine is DDG, for my use (technical and otherwise, with date based searches) DDG is still more like a toy that doesn't provide me the relevant results more than half the time. So I stick to startpage most of the time and sometimes use Google directly (with tracking related precautions/protections taken).