Interface
Google's main search page has a bare-bones, plain appearance with little more than a search box. Bing shows a beautiful daily image and a personalized news feed, though you can opt for a more streamlined look via its Settings. Both offer buttons for image or voice searches, as well as links to their AI features. Interestingly, Bing gives you the choice of image, videos, shopping, maps, and news search pages on its home page, whereas Google just has an option for images. To see all those categories in Google, you need to search for something first. Both sites offer dark and light modes.
Winner: Bing
Web Search Results
You aren't likely to notice many differences in search results between Bing and Google. Both will get you the info or web page you want in the vast majority of cases. Even alternative search engines, such as the privacy-first DuckDuckGo, do their jobs perfectly fine. (DuckDuckGo sources its results from Bing's index.)
One clear difference between Bing and Google is that the latter employs mobile-first indexing (it primarily crawls the mobile version of a website). Bing's crawler does take mobile-friendliness into account but is device-agnostic.
Psychological bias might play a role in how you perceive search engine results. One study showed that users said they preferred results labeled as being from Google, even though they were in fact from Bing. Another trial found that 33% of users paid to use Bing for two weeks kept using it after the payment stopped.
I couldn't find many complete studies about search result quality more recent than 2019. Besides, with the advancement of AI technologies, the character of results is constantly shifting. One recent German study concluded that Google results have declined in quality for product search, thanks to SEO-optimized spam. The study noted that all three tested search services ( Bing, DuckDuckGo, and Google) suffered from this decline.
Winner: Tie
Image Search
Bing's and Google's image search features are similar. Each suggests related images and lets you filter by color, date, license, size, and type (such as a drawing or a photo). Bing also lets you choose whether people and faces appear in results.
Both allow you to perform searches using an image that you upload or provide via a link. If you're on mobile, the search apps can provide info on photos you snap with your phone's camera and translate any text. Their interfaces look remarkably similar on mobile, though Bing adds a Solve option for any equations you photograph.
Winner: Tie
Video Search
Although Google dominates the internet video space with YouTube, Bing surprisingly does a better job at presenting video search results. It dedicates a large space to the primary result, surrounding it with social and vertical video posts. Bing also lets you play the video on the result page and offers more source options, such as DailyMotion and Vimeo, in its filter options. Google simply gives you a list of results with thumbnails.
Winner: Bing
News
Both search engines provide news results within standard search result pages and a news subsite. In Bing, you see tiles with images for each story and get categories for (in order) Top stories, Sports, US, Local, World, Science, Technology, Entertainment, Business, and Politics. If you click a Bing news result, it takes you directly to its news subsite. With Google, you need to navigate to the news subsite from the app menu at the top right or go directly to news.google.com.
Google News offers sections for (in order) Home, For you, Following, News Showcase (with sections for highlighted publications), along with topic-based ones (US, World, Local, Business, Technology, Entertainment, Sports, Science, and Health). With Google News, you get a choice of several publications for each story. I prefer this presentation to Bing's layout. Some of the Bing news tiles include a link saying, for example, +25 relevant news, but I like seeing the various sites’ headlines as you do in Google News.
In Bing’s favor, you see more stories upon first loading a page: I saw six different news topic headlines compared with two for Google without scrolling down. You mostly see the same stories in both, but variances are possible. For example, on one day, I was checking, the first story in Bing's news section was about the Coast Guard revealing the cause of the Titan submarine disaster, while Google News showed one about Texas redistricting its congressional districts.
Winner: Google
AI Summaries
Even smaller web search engines, such as Brave Search and DuckDuckGo, offer AI results. But Bing started the trend with Bing Chat (now Copilot). Google made a bigger splash (commensurate with its much bigger market share) with AI Overviews. Note that Bing and Google are still distinct from full-on AI search engines.
When I searched for "Mexican revolution," Bing gave me a Copilot Answer at the top, and Google gave me an AI Overview with a Wikipedia link below that. The AI blurbs contained the same information, but Bing provided in-text links to the sources, while Google showed links to the right of the summary. Google let me expand the AI text for more information, while Bing provided several sources below its shorter summary. Bing's presentation seems more likely to get you to click on source links, since Google provides a full set of information up front.
Winner: Bing
AI Search
You can access Microsoft Copilot from Bing's home page, but you need to sign in to Google before you see an option for Gemini. Regardless, I'm more concerned with the AI search features here rather than the AI chatbots.
With Bing, you can access Copilot Search from your result page by clicking the second button from the left below the search box (look for the Copilot Icon with the Search label). This takes you to a page that shows deeper AI processing of your search, along with a set of source links. In my hands-on testing of Copilot Search (it's pretty much the same now as it was during the preview), I found it quite impressive. It shows you the AI's "thought process" and maintains the session context for any follow-up questions you have; with standard search modes, you have to re-enter your whole query.
Google's AI Mode is accessible from the right side of the search box on its main page. Alternatively, you can access it from the search result page, where it's the top left choice. It's closer to a standard AI chatbot than Copilot Search.
Both search services' AI modes took a few seconds to generate answers for my test queries, far longer than a standard web search. Bing bases its results on Copilot AI, which takes advantage of OpenAI GPT models. Google leans on its in-house Gemini models. The results in my test queries were nearly identical, with a similar presentation.
With any AI mode, be sure to consult the sources of information rather than blindly trusting the AI. Both services include disclaimers clearly stating that AI can make mistakes.
Winner: Tie
Shopping
Bing displays a Shopping choice in the menu at the top of its home page. With Google, you have to switch to the Shopping tab on the result page after doing a search. When I typed in "best hi-fi headphones" in Bing (without choosing Shopping on the home page), a Shopping section nevertheless appeared at the top of the results page. Google, by contrast, showed sponsored links from the likes of Alibaba across the top. Both let you filter the items by brand, price, type, and more. I like Google's filter options for New, On Sale, and Used at the top.
Winner: Tie
Maps and Local Search
Bing's maps are perfectly usable, but Google Maps is still far superior at providing detailed, local, and up-to-date information and accurate directions. It even pulls in data from the also-Google-owned Waze. You get ratings for restaurants and shops, complete with information on how busy they are at the moment. Bing at least offers local guides for travelers. Both have street view modes, though Google's imagery is more up-to-date.
Winner: Google
Rewards Programs
Similar to how you can earn points by using a credit card, Bing offers rewards for your searches. You can redeem points for acquiring Amazon or Xbox gift cards, charitable donations, entries to win trips or gear, and subscriptions to Spotify and other services. So far, I've donated nearly $198 to the Nature Conservancy and National Audubon Society through the program. Bing gamifies the program with badges, extra points for streaks, and goals. You can also earn extra points by installing the Bing mobile app, as well as through quizzes, referrals, and suggested searches. Google doesn't have a rewards program for sharing revenue.
Winner: Bing
Travel Reservations and Info
Once again, both search sites offer travel fare and hotel reservation searches. Bing has a section for car rentals on its main travel menu and can show you a virtual tour of destinations. Both have dedicated subsites that help you explore travel ideas, and both can notify you if flight prices change.
Winner: Tie
Mobile Apps
Both search services offer powerful, well-designed mobile apps for Android and iOS. They let you search visually with your camera viewfinder or your voice. Just as with the web interface, the Bing mobile app interface is more picturesque, with a button for Copilot AI features (such as summarizing result pages), a daily image, stock quotes, and weather. Google's mobile app has helpful buttons below the search box. Two of them go to Google Lens, which lets you snap a picture and search based on it. The other two launch music recognition and translation features. Bing's mobile app doubles as a web browser, complete with support for bookmarks, history, and multiple tabs.
Winner: Google
Privacy
If privacy is your goal, neither Bing nor Google is a good choice since they track you for targeted advertising. If that concerns you (it should!), you're better off with a search provider that prioritizes privacy, such as Brave Search, DuckDuckGo, or StartPage.
Winner: Tie
Market Share
Market share isn't an actual feature, but it's an indication that people like a service and that it has kept up with the times. Google claims nearly 90% of the web search market globally on all platforms. Bing is in second place with a lowly 4%, according to StatCounter. Per the same source, Google has declined by half a percent in the past year, while Bing has grown by 0.14%. That sounds small, but each percent represents over 50 million users, so Bing isn't quite the small business it might appear from that first statistic.
The numbers look better for Bing if you narrow down to US desktop searchers, where it garners nearly 18%. StatCounter counts visits to only the pages it has code on and doesn't count visits to a search engine that don't result in a click out to a website, so take the numbers with a grain of salt.
Other signs also point to Bing making inroads on Google's search dominance. For example, the company reported a $1.6 billion increase in search revenue in 2025. I've also seen reports showing that Bing has higher click-through and conversion rates. Despite Bing's momentum, however, Google is still many miles ahead.
Winner: Google