What MetaGer actually does
MetaGer has been running since 1996 and is developed by SUMA-EV, a German nonprofit association ("Association for Free Access to Knowledge") working with the University of Hannover, which makes it one of the few search engines answerable to a membership organization rather than shareholders or ad buyers.
The core product
MetaGer is a genuine metasearch engine: rather than running one index, it sends each query out to multiple sources, including Bing, Mojeek, and Brave Search, and blends those results with its own smaller-scale web crawlers, then de-duplicates and merges what comes back. On top of that, users can build personal blacklists to permanently filter out sites they don't want to see again in their own results.
Its standout feature is a built-in anonymizing proxy, with Tor access, that lets you open a search result without that destination site ever seeing your real IP address, a feature most search engines simply don't offer at all. MetaGer's code was released as open source under the AGPL license, and the organization says it runs its infrastructure on renewable energy.
What's new or notable
The significant recent change is financial rather than technical. In September 2024, Yahoo — which had supplied both MetaGer's advertising revenue and its access to Bing-sourced search results — unilaterally terminated its contract with the nonprofit, according to SUMA-EV's own public statement on the shutdown. That announcement describes the free, ad-supported version of MetaGer as ending outright, not just its most private configuration; only the paid, token-financed search continues to operate.
Buying token credit, starting at roughly €5 for about two months of typical use, is now required to search MetaGer at all, and it's what activates ad-free, tracking-free, captcha-free search plus the anonymizing proxy and Tor features.
That's a more significant shift for a nonprofit whose whole identity was built around free access to knowledge than a simple price increase would be: the previously free tier is gone, not just discounted or narrowed.
Who should use MetaGer
Great fit if…
- You want search results blended from multiple sources rather than one index — MetaGer pulls from Bing, Mojeek, Brave Search, and its own crawlers, then merges the results.
- You specifically need to hide your IP from the sites you click through to — the built-in anonymizing proxy with Tor access is a genuinely uncommon feature.
- You'd rather support a nonprofit than a company chasing ad revenue — SUMA-EV is a membership association with a public-interest mission, not a business trying to maximize engagement or ad clicks.
- You value open-source transparency — the search engine's code is public under the AGPL license.
Skip it if…
- You want to search MetaGer for free — since Yahoo ended the contract that funded it in September 2024, MetaGer's free, ad-supported tier no longer exists; a token starting around €5 is now required to search at all, not just for the ad-free extras.
- You want results from a large independent index — MetaGer's own crawlers are small relative to the commercial indexes (Bing, Mojeek, Brave) it blends results from.
Pricing in detail
MetaGer's free, ad-supported tier was discontinued in September 2024 after Yahoo terminated the contract that had funded it. A paid token, bought once and drawn down as you search, is now required to use MetaGer at all; no separate account or subscription is needed beyond that.
| Plan | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| Token / key | From about €5 (roughly two months of typical use) | Required to search at all since September 2024; metasearch across Bing, Mojeek, and Brave Search plus MetaGer's own crawlers; ad-free, tracking-free, captcha-free search; personal blacklists; anonymizing proxy and Tor access |
Where it falls short
- No more free tier — in September 2024, Yahoo unilaterally ended the contract that had supplied both MetaGer's advertising revenue and its Bing-sourced results, and SUMA-EV's own announcement describes this as shutting down free, ad-supported search entirely rather than just narrowing it; a paid token from about €5 is now required to search at all.
- Dependent on external indexes — as a metasearch engine, MetaGer depends on Bing, Mojeek, and Brave Search for the bulk of its results; it isn't running a fully independent index outside its own smaller crawlers.
Privacy & data
MetaGer's privacy story is unusually concrete for a search engine. It's run by a nonprofit membership association rather than a company monetizing user data or attention, its search engine code is open source under the AGPL license so its handling of queries can in principle be inspected rather than taken on trust, and its built-in anonymizing proxy with Tor access lets you view a search result page without exposing your real IP address to that destination, something almost no competitor offers as a native feature rather than a separate tool.
The organization also states it runs on renewable energy, which isn't a data-privacy claim but reflects the same public-interest orientation.
The one caveat worth being clear-eyed about: there is no longer a free way to search MetaGer at all. Yahoo, which had funded MetaGer's ad-supported tier and supplied its access to Bing's results, terminated that contract in September 2024, and SUMA-EV's own announcement describes this as ending free search rather than just narrowing it — so the token system is now the only way in, not an optional upgrade sitting on top of a still-free basic tier.
How we checked this
This entry is based on MetaGer's own about page (metager.org/about) and SUMA-EV's public statement on the September 2024 contract termination with Yahoo, checked on 2026-09-05, together with the verified verdict, feature list, and known limitations compiled for this entry, including the makeup of its metasearch sources (Bing, Mojeek, and Brave Search). We did not conduct our own search-quality testing; the token pricing and feature gating described here reflect what MetaGer and SUMA-EV state about the system rather than a purchase and trial we carried out.