Product
Ghostery Brings Edge Ad Blocking from Desktop to iPhone and Android
September 11, 2025
Product
Ghostery Private Search Moves to Closed Beta: What It Means for You
Key Points:
- Ghostery Search is moving to a closed beta starting June 1 to ensure long-term sustainability and quality.
- Development continues behind the scenes, with a focus on privacy-first search features inside the extension.
- Users can already benefit from Tracker Preview and search redirect protection, and can use privacy-focused alternatives like Brave Search in the meantime.
Why Ghostery Search is Moving to Closed Beta
Starting June 1 2026, Ghostery Search will transition to a closed beta. This change allows us to better manage the real costs of running a private search engine.
Unlike traditional search engines, private search does not rely on tracking-based advertising or user profiling. This means there are no hidden monetization layers funding the service. Instead, costs come from infrastructure, search APIs, and ongoing development required to deliver relevant results without compromising user privacy.
Running a search engine also involves handling large-scale queries, maintaining performance, and ensuring reliability. Moving to a closed beta helps us control these factors while continuing to improve the product.
What Happens During Closed Beta
Ghostery Search is not going away. Development continues, just in a more controlled environment.
The closed beta allows us to:
- Refine search quality and performance
- Manage infrastructure and API-related costs
- Test new privacy-focused features before a wider release
This phase ensures that future versions of Ghostery Search remain sustainable and aligned with our privacy-first principles.
What You Can Use Today
While Ghostery Search evolves, the Ghostery extension already includes features that improve your search experience without tracking.
Tracker Preview
Tracker Preview shows which trackers are present on search result pages before you interact with them. This adds transparency and helps you make informed choices about where you click.
Instead of blindly navigating results, you can see which sites attempt to track you.
Search Engine Redirect Protection
Many search engines route clicks through tracking redirects. These redirects collect data about what you click and where you go next.
Ghostery blocks these detours. You are taken directly to your destination without unnecessary tracking in between.
This improves both privacy and speed.
What Comes Next for Search in Ghostery
Search is being explored as part of the broader Ghostery experience, rather than only as a standalone product.
There are two key directions we are exploring.
Expanding Private Search Options
We aim to give users more control over which privacy-friendly search engines they use. This could include options like DuckDuckGo, Brave Search, and others that align with strong privacy standards.
This approach ensures flexibility while keeping tracking out of your search experience.
Next-Generation Redirect Protection
We are developing a new feature that builds on existing protections.
Instead of only blocking redirects locally, we are exploring ways to resolve tracking redirects more efficiently before they reach your browser. This allows users to skip tracking layers while still reaching their intended destination.
This is an area of active development and may evolve over time.
Closing Thoughts
Ghostery Search entering closed beta is a step toward making private search more sustainable.
In the meantime, you can continue to browse ad-free, with greater transparency and fewer tracking detours using the Ghostery extension. For everyday private search, tools like Brave Search can complement this setup without relying on tracking.
We will continue to share updates as development progresses.
