diff --git a/searx/settings.yml b/searx/settings.yml
index 60d04bb0e..a364efd6f 100644
--- a/searx/settings.yml
+++ b/searx/settings.yml
@@ -32,7 +32,7 @@ search:
   # Existing autocomplete backends: "dbpedia", "duckduckgo", "google", "yandex", "mwmbl",
   # "seznam", "startpage", "stract", "swisscows", "qwant", "wikipedia" - leave blank to turn it off
   # by default.
-  autocomplete: ""
+  autocomplete: "duckduckgo"
   # minimun characters to type before autocompleter starts
   autocomplete_min: 4
   # backend for the favicon near URL in search results.