Frequently Asked Questions

What is SPANA.IN?

SPANA.IN is a privacy-focused search engine provided by Mask.ad. It acts as a proxy between you and traditional search engines to enhance your online privacy.

What does the word “SPANA IN” mean?

"Spana" is the Swedish word for "scout" or "spy." In everyday language, it’s used like “check it out” — and that’s exactly what you do here.

What can I do with SPANA.IN?

SPANA.IN is a search engine that allows you to search the web through a private proxy. You get real results without sending your data directly to search providers.

Can I use SPANA.IN as my default search engine?

Yes! If your browser supports custom search engines:

• Navigate to spana.in.
• Right-click the URL bar and select “Add SPANA.IN” if available.
• If not, manually add it using:
• Name: Spana
• URL: https://spana.in

What is the point of SPANA.IN?

SPANA aims to provide a reliable and private way to search the web. While it's not a silver bullet against global tracking, it significantly enhances privacy for most users.

What is a cached search?

Search results are stored in memory (RAM) using Redis and can remain cached for up to 30 days. This means your result might be instantly retrieved if someone else searched for the same thing recently.

What happens to everything I search for?

All searches go through SPANA servers acting as a proxy. Searches are hashed with a secret key and stored in RAM-based cache for up to 30 days. When the server restarts, a new secret is generated, making previous queries inaccessible even to us.

What is running on the server side?

SPANA runs entirely in RAM on custom Debian servers using our own kernel. The search logic is built in Python, and search results are stored temporarily using Redis. We track basic metrics like system resource usage and cache stats — never user data.