{"slug": "yandex", "name": "Yandex", "category": "search", "category_name": "Search", "description": "Russian web search engine and internet services company.", "recommenders": 6, "commenters": 8, "warners": 0, "score": 6.191, "rising": 3.35, "first": "2025-12-13", "latest": "2026-10-12", "why": "HN commenters use Yandex for less-filtered results, including pirated and controversial content, and for strong results on tech and niche queries.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 7, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 1, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 1, 2, 1], "listed": true, "loved": ["Less censorship", "Pirated content"], "caveat": "Russian state ties", "short_quote": "Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm.", "icon": true, "domain": "yandex.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://yandex.com", "pricing": "free", "aliases": ["Yandex"], "verdict": [{"text": "HN commenters use Yandex for less-filtered results, including pirated and controversial content,", "cites": [{"id": 800973152, "item_id": 50060822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060822", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content", "excerpt": "I have so many (two) mixed feelings about this.... 1: Yandex is Good for Media freedom. I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content without heavily filtering it. 2: Yandex is/supports the Russian Military. I hate Yandex.", "context": "", "use_case": "searching for pirate content", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are rejoicing about the removal of Russian bots from social media"}, {"id": 798001568, "item_id": 49875098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49875098", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "providers like Yandex are required to access an uncensored internet", "excerpt": "> Do you apply this same litmus test to far-left things which Google might have also removed, or do you consider the lack of Google listing the Proud Boys to be some sort of special and unique infringement on freedom of speech? I consider all censorship wrong. The reason I use the Proud Boys is because it was a well publicised incident and has been a reliable indicator of censorship since then. If you have left wing ", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 789189233, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "fallback search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 740140656, "item_id": 46258791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258791", "by": "SV_BubbleTime", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my now go to for anything related to hacking, pirated anything, topics of censorship or controversial discussion", "excerpt": "\u201cWe don\u2019t censor results\u201d\u2026 well\u2026 Either that is completely bullshit, or it\u2019s technically-bullshit. 1. They don\u2019t have to censor because their sources censor for them. \u201cOh we\u2019re just an aggregator of censored results\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthis is an uncensored search engine\u201d like the claim would have you believe. 2. Proof of this is evident in by comparing Russian yandex.com, my now go to for anything related to hacking, pir", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Some surprising things about DuckDuckGo"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"text": " and for strong results on tech and niche queries.", "cites": [{"id": 783616704, "item_id": 48976044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976044", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm.", "excerpt": "Competitor isn't a word I could use to describe the web search scene in regard to google. However if one wanted a good search engine that one didn't have to keep banging on the keyboard for a half decent result I could say Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm. I though am pretty biased for I don't put up wit", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Are there any new competitors to Google search in 2026?"}, {"id": 770475873, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex.  On the money.  No erroneous results  - operator filter working as expected", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "in Australia", "use_case": "tricky web searches", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}, {"id": 740140656, "item_id": 46258791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258791", "by": "SV_BubbleTime", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my now go to for anything related to hacking, pirated anything, topics of censorship or controversial discussion", "excerpt": "\u201cWe don\u2019t censor results\u201d\u2026 well\u2026 Either that is completely bullshit, or it\u2019s technically-bullshit. 1. They don\u2019t have to censor because their sources censor for them. \u201cOh we\u2019re just an aggregator of censored results\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthis is an uncensored search engine\u201d like the claim would have you believe. 2. Proof of this is evident in by comparing Russian yandex.com, my now go to for anything related to hacking, pir", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Some surprising things about DuckDuckGo"}]}, {"text": " The most common caveat is its ties to the Russian state,", "cites": [{"id": 800973152, "item_id": 50060822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060822", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content", "excerpt": "I have so many (two) mixed feelings about this.... 1: Yandex is Good for Media freedom. I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content without heavily filtering it. 2: Yandex is/supports the Russian Military. I hate Yandex.", "context": "", "use_case": "searching for pirate content", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are rejoicing about the removal of Russian bots from social media"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"text": " and several keep it as a fallback for specific searches rather than a daily driver.", "cites": [{"id": 789189233, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "fallback search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 742906385, "item_id": 46431649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431649", "by": "piokoch", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "for some stuff I use Yandex (shrug)", "excerpt": "Well, the cycle is over. I remember the rise and the fall of AltaVista search engine. I remember the rise of Google that was able to circumvent all the \"old days\" SEO efforts by spamming keywords in the HTML headers. Then everyone was trying to guess how to game Google page rank algo. Finally people learned how to cheat Google, searches on many topics are returning endless pages of spam, marketing content that is sup", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google is dead. Where do we go now?"}, {"id": 770475873, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex.  On the money.  No erroneous results  - operator filter working as expected", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "in Australia", "use_case": "tricky web searches", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Less censorship", "summary": "Seen as filtering results less than Google and other engines.", "quotes": [{"id": 798001568, "item_id": 49875098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49875098", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "providers like Yandex are required to access an uncensored internet", "excerpt": "> Do you apply this same litmus test to far-left things which Google might have also removed, or do you consider the lack of Google listing the Proud Boys to be some sort of special and unique infringement on freedom of speech? I consider all censorship wrong. The reason I use the Proud Boys is because it was a well publicised incident and has been a reliable indicator of censorship since then. If you have left wing ", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 789189233, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "fallback search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 740140656, "item_id": 46258791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258791", "by": "SV_BubbleTime", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my now go to for anything related to hacking, pirated anything, topics of censorship or controversial discussion", "excerpt": "\u201cWe don\u2019t censor results\u201d\u2026 well\u2026 Either that is completely bullshit, or it\u2019s technically-bullshit. 1. They don\u2019t have to censor because their sources censor for them. \u201cOh we\u2019re just an aggregator of censored results\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthis is an uncensored search engine\u201d like the claim would have you believe. 2. Proof of this is evident in by comparing Russian yandex.com, my now go to for anything related to hacking, pir", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Some surprising things about DuckDuckGo"}]}, {"label": "Pirated content", "summary": "Surfaces piracy and copyright-infringing sites that other engines hide.", "quotes": [{"id": 800973152, "item_id": 50060822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060822", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content", "excerpt": "I have so many (two) mixed feelings about this.... 1: Yandex is Good for Media freedom. I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content without heavily filtering it. 2: Yandex is/supports the Russian Military. I hate Yandex.", "context": "", "use_case": "searching for pirate content", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are rejoicing about the removal of Russian bots from social media"}, {"id": 740140656, "item_id": 46258791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258791", "by": "SV_BubbleTime", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my now go to for anything related to hacking, pirated anything, topics of censorship or controversial discussion", "excerpt": "\u201cWe don\u2019t censor results\u201d\u2026 well\u2026 Either that is completely bullshit, or it\u2019s technically-bullshit. 1. They don\u2019t have to censor because their sources censor for them. \u201cOh we\u2019re just an aggregator of censored results\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthis is an uncensored search engine\u201d like the claim would have you believe. 2. Proof of this is evident in by comparing Russian yandex.com, my now go to for anything related to hacking, pir", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Some surprising things about DuckDuckGo"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"label": "Result quality", "summary": "Described as still behaving like a search engine, with on-target results.", "quotes": [{"id": 797996784, "item_id": 49874799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874799", "by": "jan_m_savage", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "excerpt": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info. I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 783616704, "item_id": 48976044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976044", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm.", "excerpt": "Competitor isn't a word I could use to describe the web search scene in regard to google. However if one wanted a good search engine that one didn't have to keep banging on the keyboard for a half decent result I could say Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm. I though am pretty biased for I don't put up wit", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Are there any new competitors to Google search in 2026?"}, {"id": 770475873, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex.  On the money.  No erroneous results  - operator filter working as expected", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "in Australia", "use_case": "tricky web searches", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}]}, {"label": "Tech and niche", "summary": "Performs well on tech, hacking and niche topics compared with Google or DuckDuckGo.", "quotes": [{"id": 783616704, "item_id": 48976044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976044", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm.", "excerpt": "Competitor isn't a word I could use to describe the web search scene in regard to google. However if one wanted a good search engine that one didn't have to keep banging on the keyboard for a half decent result I could say Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm. I though am pretty biased for I don't put up wit", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Are there any new competitors to Google search in 2026?"}, {"id": 740140656, "item_id": 46258791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258791", "by": "SV_BubbleTime", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my now go to for anything related to hacking, pirated anything, topics of censorship or controversial discussion", "excerpt": "\u201cWe don\u2019t censor results\u201d\u2026 well\u2026 Either that is completely bullshit, or it\u2019s technically-bullshit. 1. They don\u2019t have to censor because their sources censor for them. \u201cOh we\u2019re just an aggregator of censored results\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthis is an uncensored search engine\u201d like the claim would have you believe. 2. Proof of this is evident in by comparing Russian yandex.com, my now go to for anything related to hacking, pir", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Some surprising things about DuckDuckGo"}]}, {"label": "Search operators", "summary": "One user found operator filters worked as expected where DuckDuckGo failed.", "quotes": [{"id": 770475873, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex.  On the money.  No erroneous results  - operator filter working as expected", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "in Australia", "use_case": "tricky web searches", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "Russian state ties", "summary": "Some commenters object to its links to the Russian military and Kremlin influence.", "quotes": [{"id": 800973152, "item_id": 50060822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060822", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content", "excerpt": "I have so many (two) mixed feelings about this.... 1: Yandex is Good for Media freedom. I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content without heavily filtering it. 2: Yandex is/supports the Russian Military. I hate Yandex.", "context": "", "use_case": "searching for pirate content", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are rejoicing about the removal of Russian bots from social media"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"label": "Own censorship", "summary": "Commenters note it still censors or shapes some results, just differently from Google.", "quotes": [{"id": 798001568, "item_id": 49875098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49875098", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "providers like Yandex are required to access an uncensored internet", "excerpt": "> Do you apply this same litmus test to far-left things which Google might have also removed, or do you consider the lack of Google listing the Proud Boys to be some sort of special and unique infringement on freedom of speech? I consider all censorship wrong. The reason I use the Proud Boys is because it was a well publicised incident and has been a reliable indicator of censorship since then. If you have left wing ", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"label": "Fallback only", "summary": "Mostly used for specific queries rather than as a primary search engine.", "quotes": [{"id": 789189233, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "fallback search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 742906385, "item_id": 46431649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431649", "by": "piokoch", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "for some stuff I use Yandex (shrug)", "excerpt": "Well, the cycle is over. I remember the rise and the fall of AltaVista search engine. I remember the rise of Google that was able to circumvent all the \"old days\" SEO efforts by spamming keywords in the HTML headers. Then everyone was trying to guess how to game Google page rank algo. Finally people learned how to cheat Google, searches on many topics are returning endless pages of spam, marketing content that is sup", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google is dead. Where do we go now?"}]}], "who": [{"by": "anenefan", "context": "in Australia", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "date": "2026-05-15"}], "tags": ["for finding pirated content", "for tech and niche searches", "as a backup search engine", "Google alternative"], "use_cases": ["web search", "searching for pirate content", "uncensored search", "niche web search queries", "fallback search", "tricky web searches"], "compared": [{"slug": "duckduckgo", "name": "DuckDuckGo", "co": 3, "switched_from": 3, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "google-search", "name": "Google Search", "co": 5, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "brave", "name": "Brave", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "bing", "name": "Bing", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49870367", "title": "When did Google get so weird?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50057765", "title": "People are rejoicing about the removal of Russian bots from social media", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668386", "title": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49319633", "title": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48975273", "title": "Ask HN: Are there any new competitors to Google search in 2026?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151373", "title": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 1}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800973152, "item_id": 50060822, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060822", "by": "mmh0000", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content", "excerpt": "I have so many (two) mixed feelings about this.... 1: Yandex is Good for Media freedom. I love Yandex. It's like the only \"open\" search engine that actively lets you search for pirate content without heavily filtering it. 2: Yandex is/supports the Russian Military. I hate Yandex.", "context": "", "use_case": "searching for pirate content", "switched_from": "", "story": "People are rejoicing about the removal of Russian bots from social media"}, {"id": 798001568, "item_id": 49875098, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49875098", "by": "Gareth321", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "providers like Yandex are required to access an uncensored internet", "excerpt": "> Do you apply this same litmus test to far-left things which Google might have also removed, or do you consider the lack of Google listing the Proud Boys to be some sort of special and unique infringement on freedom of speech? I consider all censorship wrong. The reason I use the Proud Boys is because it was a well publicised incident and has been a reliable indicator of censorship since then. If you have left wing ", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored search", "switched_from": "", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 797996784, "item_id": 49874799, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49874799", "by": "jan_m_savage", "date": "2026-09-28", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "excerpt": "instead of letting you search for info, now google is FEEDING you (often the wrong) info. I use Yandex, because that one still behaves like a search engine.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 794806657, "item_id": 49675416, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49675416", "by": "wongarsu", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align", "excerpt": "Absolutely. Where google is shaping results \"to please corpo-political masters\", Yandex is obviously influenced by the Kreml I use Kagi as my daily driver. But there are some kinds of queries where my interests and Yandex's interests happen to align. Mostly anything corporate America wouldn't like, like evil copyright-infringing websites", "context": "", "use_case": "niche web search queries", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 789189233, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "fallback search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 783616704, "item_id": 48976044, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48976044", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-07-20", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm.", "excerpt": "Competitor isn't a word I could use to describe the web search scene in regard to google. However if one wanted a good search engine that one didn't have to keep banging on the keyboard for a half decent result I could say Yandex is one of the larger search engines that's performing really well on a lot of tech and niche areas compared to google or even duckduckgo atm. I though am pretty biased for I don't put up wit", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Are there any new competitors to Google search in 2026?"}, {"id": 770475873, "item_id": 48154742, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48154742", "by": "anenefan", "date": "2026-05-15", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Yandex.  On the money.  No erroneous results  - operator filter working as expected", "excerpt": "I'm in Australia and what I tested seemed to indicate for most results, there were indeed correct. Only sampled five from the page, could have been some results in error. Note, when I use google, the only links they offer to me are obfuscated so it's a matter of having to click on the link - unknown result which is yet another reason I don't use google any more. Duckduckgo - total fucking fail. I'd been noticing duck", "context": "in Australia", "use_case": "tricky web searches", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Ask HN: Has Google Deprecated Inurl:?"}, {"id": 742906385, "item_id": 46431649, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46431649", "by": "piokoch", "date": "2025-12-30", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "for some stuff I use Yandex (shrug)", "excerpt": "Well, the cycle is over. I remember the rise and the fall of AltaVista search engine. I remember the rise of Google that was able to circumvent all the \"old days\" SEO efforts by spamming keywords in the HTML headers. Then everyone was trying to guess how to game Google page rank algo. Finally people learned how to cheat Google, searches on many topics are returning endless pages of spam, marketing content that is sup", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google is dead. Where do we go now?"}, {"id": 740140656, "item_id": 46258791, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46258791", "by": "SV_BubbleTime", "date": "2025-12-13", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "my now go to for anything related to hacking, pirated anything, topics of censorship or controversial discussion", "excerpt": "\u201cWe don\u2019t censor results\u201d\u2026 well\u2026 Either that is completely bullshit, or it\u2019s technically-bullshit. 1. They don\u2019t have to censor because their sources censor for them. \u201cOh we\u2019re just an aggregator of censored results\u201d doesn\u2019t mean \u201cthis is an uncensored search engine\u201d like the claim would have you believe. 2. Proof of this is evident in by comparing Russian yandex.com, my now go to for anything related to hacking, pir", "context": "", "use_case": "uncensored web search", "switched_from": "DuckDuckGo", "story": "Some surprising things about DuckDuckGo"}]}