Is there a Canadian search engine?
Yes, in the sense of small projects that say they are built in Canada, including Xonaly, Canoogle, and Million Short on this page. None has Google’s index size or traffic.
Canadian search engines
Last verified:
Short answer
A handful of small search projects say they are built in Canada with their own indexes or filtering. None matches Google’s reach. DuckDuckGo and Mojeek are useful privacy comparisons, and both are foreign companies.
What you are comparing
Google Search is the incumbent most people mean. Google.ca is Google’s Canadian domain, not a separate Canadian search company.
The Canadian rows below quote each engine’s own site. Owner entities and headquarters cities were often not stated on those pages.
Google’s locations page lists the Googleplex in Mountain View among its offices. That list is not a legal headquarters filing.
Comparison
Verdicts use the digital services rubric, not the grocery score. A Canada region on a foreign cloud is not a Canadian operator. Notes about PIPEDA or the US CLOUD Act are not legal advice.
| Name | Ownership / parent | HQ | Data residency | Infrastructure | Pricing | Best for | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Xonaly | Xonaly says it is a truly Canadian search engine founded by Jonathan Bouchard, a Canadian developer. A legal owner entity was not named on the pages we opened. | Canada is named on the site. A city was not stated on the pages we opened. | Xonaly says it crawls and indexes its own pages with its own robots, not Bing or Google. It does not describe query storage location on the pages we opened. | In-house crawler and index, according to Xonaly’s Canadian search engine and how-it-works pages. No ads and no tracking are stated on those pages. | Free to search on the public site on 2026-11-02. | Trying an independent search that says it is Canadian-built, with no ads on the company’s own claims. | Says it is built in CanadaConfidence: Low |
| Canoogle | Canoogle says it is a Canadian search engine and a Canadian-built project. Contact details on the about page list aftech.ca; a corporate owner was not spelled out on the pages we opened. | Built and tested in Canada, on the about page. A city was not named separately. | Canoogle describes its SYRUP index as stored and checksummed in Canada as it grows. Query logging was not described on the pages we opened. | Own growing SYRUP index plus labelled specialist sources, on Canoogle’s about and Canadian search engine pages. | Free to search on the public site on 2026-11-02. | Canadian-first discovery with visible source links on Canoogle’s own description. | Says it is built in CanadaConfidence: Low |
| Million Short | Million Short’s about page does not name a parent company. It describes the product and team location only. | Designed in Canada and built by a Toronto-based team, on the about page. | Privacy-minded search is stated on the about page. Default query storage country was not on that page. | Independent search tools with filters to surface sites beyond top SEO results, per the about page. | Free tier on the public search site on 2026-11-02; paid features may apply. | Filtering dominant domains to see deeper web results. | Says it is built in CanadaConfidence: Medium |
| DuckDuckGo | Duck Duck Go, Inc., an independent US company since 2008, on DuckDuckGo’s about and privacy pages. Not Canadian. | Mailing address: 20 Paoli Pike, Paoli, Pennsylvania 19301, USA, on DuckDuckGo’s contact page. | DuckDuckGo’s privacy policy says it does not save search history tied to you. Servers may be regional; Canada is not named as a default storage country on the pages we used. | DuckDuckGo’s own search and browser products. Listed as a non-Canadian comparison. | Free search and browser; optional paid subscription described on DuckDuckGo’s site. | Privacy-focused search from a US company, not a Canadian operator. | Not a Canadian optionConfidence: High |
| Mojeek | Mojeek Limited, registered in England, on Mojeek’s about page. Not Canadian. | Registered address: 74 High Street, Croydon, CR9 2UU, UK, on the about page. | Mojeek says it is hosted at a UK data centre. Canada is not listed as a storage region on the about page. | Own crawler and index built from the ground up, on Mojeek’s about page. | Free search on the public site on 2026-11-02. | Independent search from a UK company when you want a non-US index. | Not a Canadian optionConfidence: High |
| Google Search | Google. Not a Canadian company. | Mountain View office on Google’s locations page. | Google.ca is Google’s Canadian domain. It is not a separate Canadian search operator. | Google’s global search index and ads business. | Free to search; ads fund the service. | The incumbent most people compare against. Not a Canadian option. | Not a Canadian optionConfidence: Medium |
Where there is no true Canadian option
No engine on this page has a Google-scale web index. Canoogle says it mixes its growing SYRUP index with labelled specialist sources rather than pretending to replace global search.
Using DuckDuckGo or a Canadian-built engine does not by itself mean your queries are stored in Canada. Read each company’s privacy page if that matters to you.
Questions
Is DuckDuckGo Canadian?
No. Duck Duck Go, Inc. is a US company. Its contact page lists 20 Paoli Pike, Paoli, Pennsylvania 19301, USA.
Is Google.ca a Canadian search engine?
No. Google.ca is Google’s Canadian domain. Google remains a US company operating a global index.
Do Canadian search engines track you?
It depends on the engine. Xonaly says no ads and no tracking on its Canadian search engine page. Canoogle and Million Short describe privacy-minded approaches on their about pages. We did not audit traffic logs. Read each company’s privacy policy before you rely on it.
Sources
Primary pages opened for this check. Company marketing claims are cited as the company’s own words.