Time to Switch from Yahoo: Embracing Homepage Alternatives

man staring at his homepage on his laptop

Outline

Introduction to Homepage 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.

I mean, that's a LOT of advertising space you have to stare at on a day-to-day basis. And many of them are video or collapsable ads that actually load larger than the format seen here. No thanks.

I don't love or use Yahoo Mail

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.

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

Browsing Needs and 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 Preferences: Google / 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.

Summary

I give Yahoo a lot of credit, because it's vastly improved over the last few years. However, when it comes to preferences, I just loved the idea of looking elsewhere and having an experience a bit different.

For this reason, I chose to venture off into trying out a bunch of different homepages, and the ones I would rank superior are listed below.

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.

Visit Best Homepage Ever

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.

Visit Start Me 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.

Visit Kadaza

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

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