Frequently asked questions

arlong is a meta search engine. It sends your query to public web indexes, collects the raw results, then re-ranks them using a multi-factor scoring algorithm. No ads, no tracking, no sponsored slots. AI summaries are opt-in — a button on the results page — never forced on you. Everything is transparent and open about how scoring works.

Google has the best index — no denying that. But their results are influenced by SEO, advertising, and commercial interests. We take a different approach:

• No ads in search results, ever
• AI summaries available on demand — no auto-tracking of your queries unless you ask
• No tracking, no profiles, no data collection
• Content farms and AI-generated sites are heavily penalized
• Community content (Reddit, dev.to) gets boosted on discussion queries

Every search result has a Quick Answer button. Click it to get an AI-generated summary of that result using Llama 3.1 via Groq. When your query contains a question mark (?), a global AI summary auto-loads at the top of the results with a direct answer to your question. The AI works on-demand — nothing is sent to the AI until you click the button or submit a question-query.

No. We operate a strict no-logging policy. Search queries are never written to disk or associated with any identifier. We don't use cookies, analytics, fingerprinting, or any tracking technology. There is nothing to hand over if asked. See our full privacy policy here.

Bangs let you search other sites directly from arlong. Type !g python to search Google, !wiki Python to search Wikipedia, !ch hello to ask ChatGPT, !re python to search Reddit, and !you tutorial to search YouTube. There are 80+ bang shortcuts — try typing ! in the search box to see them all.

We primarily use DuckDuckGo's search results (via the DDG API and HTML endpoint). We also supplement with Bing (for images), YouTube (for videos), and fallback sources like Wikipedia and the Wayback Machine when needed. We re-rank what's already out there to surface the best results.

Yes. We manually review website submissions. Email ahilan290@gmail.com or DM u/PeaceThrough on Reddit with your domain and description. We review based on content quality, originality, and value. See our submission page for full details.

Yes. GET /api/search?q=your+query works tokenless at 2 requests per hour per IP. A Free account gets an API key with an 80-request/30-minute burst limit and 100 API/MCP requests per month. Founder and Pro include 2,000 per billing period. Manage usage at /api/dashboard.

Share it with someone who cares about privacy. Use it instead of Google for a day and see how it feels. Report low-quality results using the three-dot menu on any search result. If you'd like to chip in for server costs, you can donate on Ko-fi — every bit helps. No ads in search results, ever. Banner ads appear on the homepage only.

No. arlong is now fully private and proprietary — the source code is no longer publicly accessible and may not be copied, modified, or re-hosted. See the Terms of Service for details.