When comparing DuckDuckGo vs Vivaldi, the Slant community recommends Vivaldi for most people. In the question“What are the best macOS web browsers?” Vivaldi is ranked 6th while DuckDuckGo is ranked 14th. The most important reason people chose Vivaldi is:
Since Vivaldi is built on Chromium, the same base as Chrome (among other browsers) is built on, it was possible for Vivaldi developers to allow Chrome extensions to run in their browser.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Very protective of user privacy
DuckDuckGo does not collect or share any personal information. Their privacy page has a great rundown on why privacy is important. The most important repercussion of this is that DDG doesn't use the data collected to tailor results, avoiding exposure to the "Filter Bubble".
Pro Infinite scroll of search results
DuckDuckGo results page is an infinite scrolling page, so you don't need to be clicking through pages.
Pro Ads are non-obstructive and don't track you
The ads are clearly labelled as ads and are non-obstructive. The ads are based on the searched keywords and there's no tracking involved on their visibility. You just need to remember that the site the ad links to might track you.
Pro Can disable advertisements
The search engine allows freely disabling ads.
Pro Allows searching from specific sites using bangs
Bangs are commands that allow searching via a different website's local search engine, using keywords or abbreviations with an exclamation mark (!). For example searching "world war ii !wiki" will automatically redirect to Wikipedia.org and show results for the query "world war ii" there, instead of DuckDuckGo, using Wikipedia's search engine.
The more common sites have shortened alternatives for these commands. Such as !g for Google, !i for images and !yt Youtube.
The whole list of bangs can be found by typing "!bang" in DuckDuckGo.
Pro Has a wide spectrum of instant answers
For select queries DDG pops up a box that supplies the exact answer. For example, searching "stopwatch" will pop up a stopwatch, asking for "words like..." will show a list of related words, typing "password" will generate a password, etc.
Pro Many customization options for appearance
DDG allows customizing almost any aspect of the search engine's appearance including fonts, page width, alignment, header behavior, site icons, etc and has a selection of premade themes available as well.
Pro Lets you watch YouTube videos from the site
Duckduckgo lets you watch videos right from their site, so you can have more privacy than watching on youtube.com.
Pro Has a .onion site
Only accessible from Tor.
Pro Sometimes results are better than Google
Sometimes the search results are better. Most of the times, they're at least as good as.
Pro Has many fun features
For example, if you search "Color Picker" , you see a color picker.
Pro Can function without JavaScript
Of course, it's nicer when enabled, but it's not required. Some browsers are too limited (mobile, terminal) or turn it off for security reasons (tor, etc.), and DDG still works.
Pro Good for Linux users
DuckDuckGo has an API with some websites. With the help of this API, if you search for a fix of a problem in Linux, you can easily find an answer to the problem. For example, if you search for "How to update linux", you will get a message like this:
How to install updates via command line
Try this:
sudo apt-get update # Fetches the list of available updates
sudo apt-get upgrade # Strictly upgrades the current packages
sudo apt-get dist-upgrade # Installs updates (new ones)
--SirCharlo
Pro No filter bubble
DuckDuckGo does not filter your search’s with the data that they have. You get to see everything the Internet has to offer in a safe, private way.
Pro It's mainstream
This is the biggest private search engine there is
Pro Lets you go to other sites
You can go to the Wikipedia page for pigs by doing !w pig.
Pro Compatible with all Chrome extensions
Since Vivaldi is built on Chromium, the same base as Chrome (among other browsers) is built on, it was possible for Vivaldi developers to allow Chrome extensions to run in their browser.
Pro Tabs can be stacked
Tabs can be grouped under a single tab to easily keep track of all open webpages.
Pro Lots of features and customizability
Vivaldi has a lot of features and customizability. Far more then most (perhaps all) other browses, and many to list them all individuality as separate pros.
Pro Ability to search through settings, history, open tabs, bookmarks in one place
A feature called Quick Commands (accessed via Ctrl + Q) allows quickly getting to settings, history, open tabs, bookmarks with incremental search.
Pro Full of customizable keyboard shortcuts (can be completely keyboard-driven)
It's possible to change and add keyboard shortcuts for basically all commands. It also has single key shortcuts to execute actions with one click.
Pro PC Cross-platform
Vivaldi is available on Windows, GNU/Linux and macOS, so it covers the most used PC operating systems.
Pro Notes
A notes panel allows to save notes from webpages and can include screenshots for reference and have tags and organized in folders to help manage them. Thumbnails are too small and Notes do not have separate page in settings, but it should, there are a lot of things to improve.
Pro Web Panels
Web Panels allow for easy access to any site from the side panel. They are useful for reading two websites side by side or for chatting (i.e. Facebook) and surfing at the same time. Panels can be hidden when not in use.
Pro Custom search engines
You can add as many search engines as you like. For example you can set up one for YouTube, one for Wikipedia, or whatever you want: you need only the URL of the search and it can be used from the URL bar (by prefixing it's nickname, yt
for YouTube for example).
Pro Synchronisation
Everything can be synced with a Vivaldi account. Though there's still no mobile version, you can sync between computers and OSes.
Pro Tab behaviour can be customised
The order you toggle, open, close or clone tabs can be modified to match a workflow that best works for you. For example you can choose tabs to toggle in recent order so you can go back and forth between the last most useful tabs without needing to change their position on the tab bar.
Pro Tab bar position can be changed
You can change tab bar position to top, bottom left or right.
Pro Mouse gestures
Integrated mouse gestures. Fully configurable as of Vivaldi 1.2 (snapshot available now). Allows for navigating the web, switching tabs, closing windows, opening settings etc. with a flick of the mouse.
Pro Dark theme out of the box
There's even an option to automatically transition from light to dark based on the time of day.
Pro Manages bookmarks well
Vivaldi has an excellent bookmarks system. Bookmarks can be easily accessible via Speed Dial, side-bar, bookmarks bar, quick commands. No more messy bookmarks bar is needed and location bar suggestion is improved thus!
Pro Built-in page capture
Vivaldi can grab a picture of the whole webpage or part of it and saves it automatically inside a note or as a file in your disk, or in your elected directory. But I have problems with images of full windows shown on monitor (using X Window System in GNU/Linux). Here I use system XWindow screenshots.
Pro Analytical history
View graphically your most visited pages on a monthly, weekly, or daily basis.
Pro Non-closable fixed tabs
A setting lets you prevent closing fixed tabs so you don't close anything important by accident.
Pro Fast and safe
It is so faster and safer.
Pro Programmable user interface
For you programmers out there: Since Vivaldi uses JavaScript, React, Node.js, Browserify and multiple npm packages to build the browser, it can be customized with ease by anyone who knows HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
Pro Saving sessions
It saves oversights many options and functions implemented in Vivaldi. E.g. see CON "No option to open saved tab stack as... tab stack!"
Pro Reader mode
Vivaldi has a built-in reader mode so you can remove all the clutter in news pages and read only the content, you can also customise the reader mode, like font size, style and colours.
Pro Usable fullscreen mode with address bar when needed
In comparison, on Chrome you will not see the address bar, only on ChromeOS when your mouse is on the top of the screen.
Pro Built-in ad and tracker blocker
Vivaldi has a built-in blocker that allows you to select between blocking just trackers or both trackers and ads. With customizable blocking list sources, good performance, and support for all the standard blocker list features you find in ad blocker extensions (with more to come), you might not need an ad blocker extension at all.
This also comes in handy on Android, where Chromium/Vivaldi doesn't support extensions.
Pro Allows navigating to the next page without searching for the link
A feature called "fast forward" puts a dedicated button before the address bar. It takes you to the next page of a multi-page article, forum thread, or search results, without having to hunt for the link.
Pro WebRTC IP leaking can be disabled
A built-in setting called "Broadcast IP" will stop the IP leaking with WebRTC when disabled.
Pro GDPR compliant
Respects Privacy.
Pro Updates via dialog box
Unlike most modern browsers (but like most browsers of yesteryear), Vivaldi gives you a dialog box when an new version comes out; it doesn't just update silently in the background. The dialog box tells you about the changes that have been made, and lets you chose when you want to update.
Pro Portable version can be added on default apps
Most portable version cannot be added as default apps but Vivaldi offers that option and it comes with updater too.
Pro Single-key keyboard shortcuts (if you wish)
The optional feature for controling various functions (e.g. opening, closing and switching of tabs) by pressing just a single key rather than two turns out to be an extremely convenient extra.
Pro Easy UI zoom, i.e. adjusting the size of all user interface text
Relieve your eyes or save space on the screen – your choice!
Pro Shortcuts/nicknames for URLs
Just bookmark a page and you can henceforth open it by a shortname of your choosing.
Pro Allows for TOR hidden services (.Onion)
Only with a VPN that offers TOR connectivity.
Pro Customizable UI Theme and colors
Vivaldi can change the colors across the browser and has the option to change the color automatically depending on the page. Also, page loading animations are available in the address bar.
Pro Side panel and status bar
Unlike most modern browsers (but like most browsers of yesteryear), Vivaldi has a status bar. But the status bar is optional, you can turn it off (in the settings) if you don't want it. Vivaldi also has a side-panel, which again, can be turned off.
Cons
Con No date information in search results
In search results, there are no dates when the pages were published, which doesn't allow you to immediately know if the page is outdated.
Con Downranks misinformation results
Company announced that they are downranking misinformation results about the war by Russia media, after Russian's invasion of Ukraine.
Con Irrelevant search results
They store no information about you (theoretically a pro) but this results in absolutely awful search results, and having to modify your search terms 4-5 times to get what you are looking for.
Con Owner would compromise his service/customer privacy
In a question to Weinberg, “if you were served an NSL or were commanded to compromise your service/customer privacy in any way, would you and could you just pull the plug like Lavabit did or would you run into opposition from shareholders/investors that would prevent you from doing so?” Gabriel Weinberg said: “No one is preventing me from doing that.”
Con Still not better than Google
Results are quite often not as good. They just lack resources to do it, for now.
Con Based in US, so they cannot guarantee there is no backdoor
Con DuckDuckGo has no 3rd party certifications
Con Activism censorship
They started to block results based on activism.
Con Search using language other than English is not so great
Korean would never use it.
Con Referrers
A referrer is an HTTP header field that identifies the address of the webpage (i.e. the URI or IRI) that linked to the resource being requested. By checking the referrer, the new webpage can see where the request originated.” Basically it tells a website where you came from. DDG does give this out.
Con Bing = DuckDuckGo
Duckduckgo depends on Bing for the query.
Con Search results are often unrelated and limited
Common conversions do not work, i.e. searching for 15F to C does not give you the conversion but just a bunch of conversion websites. Very frustrating. It's a simple thing but makes a huge difference to the browsing/searching experience. Also location based only works for the country you're in. Searching for, say, McDonalds only gives country results for McDonalds and no local results such as where a local restaurant may be. Not very helpful.
Con DuckDuckGo has many 'Owners'
DuckDuckGo is owned by Gabriel Weinberg who is is the founder, current CEO and controlling shareholder. Investors/shareholders include Union Square Ventures and several others. DuckDuckGo generates its income from advertising (Bing Ads) and collects affiliate revenue (Amazon, eBay).
Con Needs a clearer vision of the future
What's duck's goal or quest?
Con Shows too few images
When searching for images only, it shows too few of them and only a handful are related to the search terms.
Con Hosted on Amazon servers (EC2)
Con Bangs do not protect user privacy and can be misleading
Using these bangs will instantly connect you to the service you requested. For example typing “!g white cat with green eyes” and hitting return, drops you off on the Google website to display your results (thus logging your IP, search term and browser info immediately). It does not get you Google results inside DuckDuckGo. It is reasonable for DDG users to assume and expect a private search engine warns if there is a risk to that privacy being lost, like it does with Youtube videos but in the case of Bangs this does not happen.
Con Saving settings in Duckduckgo's Cloud still needs improvement
Cloud save and the ability to pull up your settings on any device is a nice idea but the implementation needs work.
Con Doesn't do personalized searches
Since they don't track you the results are not tailored to your interests.
Con Form over function (overall search experience is poor)
It's nice to adjust the settings and all but after a couple of days you will want to go back to a more functional search engine.
Sure DDG looks shiny and !bangs are great but many wouldn't consider it as a viable alternative. Better results for search queries is more important than fancy looking CSS.
Con Some non-optional telemetry
According to its privacy policy, Vivaldi sends an approximate location (country or major city), randomized ID, version, cpu architecture, screen resolution (to know what screen sizes to test on) and time since last message every 24 hours (to know amount of active users).
Con Enabling "Hardware Accelerated Scrolling" can make scrolling jittery
Con No Fingerprint Protection
Vivaldi doesn't include fingerprint randomization like Brave does by default or configured Firefox/ Librewolf.
Con Sponsored bookmarks
Vivaldi has a number of preinstalled bookmarks, like Amazon. On some occasions, new bookmarks have been added when the browser updates. All of these bookmarks can be deleted, same as any other bookmark.
Con Can't protect pinned tabs from changing to another URL
Clicking on a page link, then another, easy to wind up far from the original pinned tab site. There is no chrome addon or native vivaldi function to stop this.
Con Can't disable all telemetry
Vivaldi needs some amount of knowledge about the amount of active users, for business deals.
Con Same security vulnerabilities as Chrome
Vivaldi uses the same browser engine as Chrome, meaning it has the same security-vulnerabilities as Chrome. Chrome is a big target for hackers (being the most popular browser in the world), and a vulnerability for Chrome will likely also exist in Vivaldi.
Con No automatic silent background updates, except on macOS
Unlike most modern browsers, Vivaldi doesn't have the option to update silently in the background. It gives you a dialog box when an update comes out. The box doesn't warn you that not updating the browser could expose you to security risks, which could be pretty bad for your average joe, who doesn't know computers that well.
Con Slower than Chrome
Con Still uses some Google services (can be disabled)
Con Window size and resizing on Mac is broken
Con No touch bar support
Con No option to open saved tab stack as a tab stack
You may save stack, but you can open it as separate tabs. Interesting that when you save session with stacks, you'll be able to open the stacks with inner settings of page tiling (size and zoom) as well. Contradiction worth of shame.
Con Partially proprietary
While Vivaldi is currently available gratis (without monetary charge), it is currently not fully libre (meaning that it does not allow users to view the source code used to create, to modify that code, or to redistribute modifications).
It is therefore not considered free or open-source software.
The C++ source code, for the Chromium backedn, however is open-source under a BSD license and can be downloaded and browsed from here.
The UI code is not open-source, but consists of easily readable HTML, CSS & JS. Modifications can be shared on their forum's dedicated section.
Con Freezes often
Con Feature creep
Con Some users seem to believe the developers do not care for your privacy
Con No built-in proxy
Unlike Opera Proxy (which leaks your IP address), Vivaldi doesn't have a proxy service out of the box. You'll need an extension or an external program, to use Vivaldi with a proxy server.