Is there a safer and better Google?

I'm a bit paranoid but I really dislike having every byte I type stored on their servers indefinitely and since Google is pretty much a monopoly now it's entirely possible that they are controlling some information (other than for ads revenue).

So is there a better Google?

It might not be a search engine.

Perhaps just a forum with links you won't find on Google search or anywhere else.

Scroogle used to exist as a google scraper that did not store any data pertinent to your searches, but back in May a service run by google that was essential to the scraper's functions was shut down and the scraper subsequently closed permanently.

I've yet to hear of an alternative. It might do you well to care less.