DuckDuckGo released Chrome and Firefox extensions that let users set noai.duckduckgo.com as their default search engine, capitalizing on a traffic surge that saw web visits to its no-AI page rise nearly 30% week-over-week and U.S. iOS app installs jump 69.9% in the same period. Overall U.S. app installs climbed 18.1% week-over-week. The push comes as users react to Google's May 2026 announcement that AI Overviews will replace traditional links at the top of search results.
On Thursday, May 28, 2026, traffic to the no-AI page tripled — a new high-water mark since Google's announcement. DuckDuckGo says visits are averaging roughly 84% above baseline, suggesting a sustained shift rather than a one-week spike. The numbers were still climbing at the time of the company's update.
The new extensions route users to a search experience with no AI-assisted answers, no chat prompts, and fewer AI images in results. People already using DuckDuckGo's own browser retain their AI settings even after clearing browser history. DuckDuckGo plans to update its original Privacy Essentials extensions for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera with the same AI search controls.
Key facts
- 01DuckDuckGo's no-AI search page traffic tripled on Thursday, May 28, 2026, a new high since Google's AI search revamp.
- 02U.S. iOS app installs peaked at 69.9% week-over-week growth; overall U.S. app installs rose 18.1%.
- 03Visits to the no-AI page are averaging 84% above baseline, indicating a sustained shift rather than a spike.
- 04New Chrome and Firefox extensions let users set noai.duckduckgo.com as their default search engine.
- 05Google's May 2026 overhaul is the biggest change to its search engine in more than 25 years.
Google's overhaul, unveiled at its developer conference in May, is the largest change to its search engine in more than 25 years. Instead of returning the traditional ten blue links at the top, Google now favors AI-generated overviews that can produce visualizations, charts, graphs, and mini apps. Follow-up queries push users into an AI Mode chat experience, with the classic link list relegated below the AI panels.
Not every user is sold on AI by default, and that gap is what DuckDuckGo is trying to capture. Kagi and a handful of other alternative engines have also picked up users looking for a link-first experience. DuckDuckGo's pitch is straightforward: keep the AI features for the people who want them, and give the rest a one-click route to a search page without them.
DuckDuckGo is careful to note that it isn't an anti-AI company. It still operates its own AI chatbot offering access to several popular models, and it sells a subscription plan that bundles the latest models with a VPN, identity theft restoration, and personal information removal. The strategy is to compete on user choice rather than to pick a side on AI itself.
The growth numbers matter because search engine market share is famously sticky. A 30% week-over-week jump in no-AI page visits, paired with 84% sustained lift over baseline, is the kind of pattern that suggests behavior change rather than curiosity. Whether the shift holds once users acclimate to AI Overviews is the open question.
Google has not publicly addressed the migration, and there's no indication AI Overviews is being walked back. The company's bet is that interactive AI answers expand the surface area of search rather than cannibalize it, and that traditional links remain accessible to users who scroll. DuckDuckGo's data is the first concrete read on how many users want the older model badly enough to switch.
DuckDuckGo's opportunity here is narrow but real. The company doesn't need to win search — it needs to be the obvious default for the slice of users who actively reject AI-mediated results, and to convert that preference into installs before Google's new layout becomes the only one people remember. Shipping default-search extensions a week after the traffic surge is the right speed. The harder test is whether the 84% baseline lift survives the summer.
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