I've had terrible experiences with duckduckgo. I really want to switch, but I've never been able to justify the costs. Every now and then I give it a shot but the results from DuckDuckGo just aren't there. Sometimes they aren't even in the ballpark of what I'm looking for, while Google nails it - what I want specifically is in the top 3, and the whole rest of the first page is related.

I don't know if this is because Google and DuckDuckGo require different phrasing of terms to do well and I'm just highly adapted to Google, or if it's something I can't help.

Just use !g, it's not perfect but it's fast.

Doesn't that just redirect you to Google's search results (encrypted.google.com), and thus makes the point of using DuckDuckGo in the first place unnecessary?

Try startpage.com, it searches Google anonymously so Google can't build a profile about you and place you in a search bubble.

I'd suggest trying Qwant as well. Just remember, the way Google can give such good results is that they mine your life.