Time to Switch from Yahoo: Embracing Homepage Alternatives

man staring at his homepage on his laptop

Outline


  • Introduction to Yahoo Alternatives
  • Why I Switched
  • Browsing Needs and Considerations
  • Comprehensive List of Yahoo Homepage Alternatives

Looking for an alternative to Yahoo as your homepage?

I just spent 3 months looking around, testing, and using some of the best and most popular alternatives to Yahoo as my homepage.

Below, I'll give you a few reasons why I decided to switch to begin with, and provide ones you and your browser will love.

Why I Switched


It's no secret that Yahoo, Google, and MSN have been popular choices for many people over the years.

However, I found myself getting increasingly frustrated with the amount of ads, and the lack of customization options. Just check out the ad coverage on the main page of Yahoo.

Have you loaded up Yahoo recently? Their recent switch now showcases an advertisement as ~ 30%+ of the page!

Take a look here at the USAA ad. Woof! It's just too much.

Screenshot of ads appearing in Yahoo above the fold

☝️ Top of Yahoo now is one enormous non-collapsible ad

Or, once you actually get into the bulk of the content - the section that caters to your news. Look at the frequency in which they display ads within the given content. Between the news and right column, it's about 33% of the content.

Screenshot of ads appearing in Yahoo news area and side column

☝️ Ads in my feed and content area

Yahoo Mail: Better than before, but..


Whatever your email preference, Yahoo has been slammed over the years with junk or spam. In all fairness, so have other email providers. But, Y!Mail has been especially bad in my experience.

I used both Yahoo and Ymail for backup purposes when I'd sign up for newsletters, etc., but I never found it to be a high quality email that would act as my primary.

They're current market share among major email services stands at ~ 12%, so the fact that it's tightly knit into Yahoo's homepage isn't a huge draw IMO.

So, why have it as the primary inbox linked on your homepage?

market share among popular email services in USA

☝️ Yahoo Mail's market share in the US

Browsing: Content Considerations


Don't you want a homepage that caters to the sites you want to visit? After using Yahoo for several years, I realized that (although well executed on their end), they have a great job of keeping you in their ecosystem. However, this can be a little bit annoying to some of us.

If I want to see the weather, or check sports or news, I'd like to have access to the sites I actually use and want to visit.

Aesthetics: could be.... uhh, less flashy


This may be controversial to some, but I don't particularly love the looks or layout of the site. In addition to being scattered with ads on top, right column, bottom, and in the news feed, the site is a bit cluttered for my taste.

There's not a whole lot of love put into the setup, and I would rather begin my browsing experience with a picture of a lake or trees, or something nice to look at. But, hey, that could just be me.

And, with the video ads that appear on the site, it's eye-catching ads are in-your-face distracting, as they flash and pop bright colors (and sometimes audio).

Search: Google vs. Yahoo


I've been using Google as my search engine for years, and have become quite accustomed to using it. Yahoo is okay, but I really wanted to have Google or Google+ as my search engine of choice.

But, when opening up my browser to Yahoo, it just doesn't have that option since they are competitors. Therefore, I just found it annoying to have to switch pages in order to search the Internet.

Site Speed:


Screenshot of Yahoo's homepage speed

☝️ Yahoo's homepage speed, view here.

In all fairness, considering all of the images on Yahoo's site, an 81% out of 100 isn't too bad. But, with a page load time of 1.63 seconds, and a page size of 3.2mb, it's not what I would consider a fast homepage to open up each time you open your browser.


Summary of Yahoo as a Homepage

I give Yahoo a lot of credit, because it's vastly improved over the last few years.

  • Ads: Too many ads for my taste. They have increased in both size and quantity.
  • Email: Inferior to many. But if you do use Yahoo mail and check it routinely, it may be worth having this on your homepage.
  • Speed: It ranks an 81% out of 100% on my test. That's okay. It's a B. But I prefer a faster loading homepage.
  • Backpages: I will still use Yahoo Finance, Yahoo Sports, and even Yahoo, but will just link to them instead of using them as a homepage

When it comes to my personal preferences on what a homepage should be, I decided to look elsewhere and only visit Yahoo as a page I visit routinely.

Below, I'll go through some popular alternatives to Yahoo. I spent 3 months looking, testing, and using them, and I'll show the one which I ultimately found to be the best homepage.

Here are the best homepage alternatives to Yahoo!

#1. Best Homepage Ever

Free

  • Well Organized

    The layout of Best Homepage Ever is well thought out.

    Any websites you want, whether custom or popular ones, can be added in just a couple of clicks. I opted to add my favorite sports team, bank, news, weather, and popular business sites to the homepage.

    I thought that was super slick and convenient for browsing.

    A clock and To-Do (post-it) notes appear by default, but can easily be hidden, along with an assortment of other tools. The bottom navigation also offers quick links to popular destinations online.

  • Background Heaven

    The site offers over 300 backgrounds to choose from, and gives you the option to have these images rotate automatically (daily), or not.

    Solid colors can also be selected, which also gives the page a nice look.

  • Blazing Fast + No Ads

    Perhaps what I liked the most about this homepage is the absence of ads. You can say goodbye to popups, video ads, surveys, text ads, and other distractions.

    Also, it's worth noting the speed of the site is exceptional, and earned the highest Lighthouse score (100%) in the tests I ran against all the other sites.

Thumbnail of Kadaza homepage

Screenshot of Best Homepage Ever

Summary


Best Homepage Ever is my favorite home page.

After spending a month experimenting with the other 7, this site demonstrates its ability to shine in several areas. Its enjoyable to use, elegantly designed, and fast.

I recommend creating an account, as it's free and allows additional personalization options. Give it a try for a couple of weeks to see if you like it too!

#2. Start Me

Free for basic user.
€20/year for PRO
  • Options Galore
    Start Me has a nice layout with different categorical "widgets" you can add. I was impressed with the sheer amount of options you can choose as you right-click or click the settings menus available within each widget.
  • Appearance

    The appearance leaves a bit to be desired. Search, news, and websites are easy to access and show up front-and-center.

    There is a gallery available of other users' home designs, so you are able to find other homepage appearances (like a crypto style page), which is sweet option.

  • Features: Good and Bad

    You can add various versions of your own homepage, which may be great for big families, allowing each person to load their own custom pages, then bookmark the pages as their own.

    There are a plethora of options that I saw that are well suited for an international audience, such as adding your own search engine. Like Best Homepage Ever, you are also able to drag and drop sites around the page.

Thumbnail of Startme homepage

Screenshot of Start Me

Summary

I used this Dutch site for approximately a week before switching, and there are definitely some nice attributes worth mentioning. The site loads a little slower than the others, but otherwise this is a nice runner up in my opinion.

For overall compatibility with dozens of countries, or if you are a teacher wanting a collaborative webpage with students, this is an in-depth and feature-rich option.

#3. Kadaza

Free
  • Lots & Lots & Lots of Sites

    Kadaza may as well be called "Find-a-Site". The main websites are shown in a grid, but are also available in dropdown menus, which allow you access nearly infinite websites.

    Although I appreciate the work being done here, the quick accessibility is a bit lost due to the number of clicks it takes to jump to a website.

  • Fine Appearance

    The appearance is what perhaps lagged the most in this experiment. After my week of using this homepage, the appearance got a bit stagnet for me.

    You are able to move your sites around, and the layout is definitely decent, but it isn't the great strength of the site.

  • Features

    What shined here is Kadaza was a great source to find websites. Their catalog, their blog of "tips" is impressive.

    Also, the mobile site is relatively easy to access sites, making use of the many dropdowns available.

Thumbnail of Kadaza homepage

Screenshot of Kadaza

Summary

Although ranked 3rd here, Kadaza takes the crown in sheer content. The site speed is notably fast, and the amount of sites listed within its menus is truly impressive.

However, when comparing to the other 2 listed here, I found myself spending more clicking through to websites, versus the 1-click access both Best Homepage Ever and StartMe offer.

Experiment and Usage Results

Best Homepage Ever StartMe Kadaza
Does this homepage avoid showing ads?
Did the homepage load faster than Yahoo?
Did the homepage have customization features?
Was the homepage well organized?
Final Score 4.8 4.4 4.2

Dive deeper: Read my piece as to what is the best homepage for Safari.

This article was written based on my own personal experiences and opinions. Use your own judgement when choosing an alternative to Yahoo.