Ecosia vs Qwant
Ecosia and Qwant are the two best-known European alternatives to Google, and they promise different things. Ecosia, a Berlin social business, says it puts 100% of its profits into climate action, mostly tree planting. Qwant, a French company, says it does not store your search history or sell your data. Ecosia's own website blocked our automated checks, so its claims here come from its help center and blog.
Choose Ecosia if
you want your searches to fund climate projects: Ecosia says it gives 100% of its profits to climate action and 80% of ad profit to planting and protecting trees.
Read the Ecosia reviewChoose Qwant if
you want a search engine whose stated promise is not to store search history or sell data, with free AI summaries on account creation and extensions for four browsers.
Read the Qwant reviewEcosia and Qwant side by side
| Ecosia | Qwant | |
|---|---|---|
| Company | Ecosia GmbH | Qwant SAS |
| Headquarters | Berlin, Germany | Paris, France |
| Founded | 2009 | 2013 |
| Jurisdiction | EU (Germany) | EU (France) |
| Where the data sits | Germany (EU) | European Union |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| Free tier or trial | Free | Free |
| Certifications and checks | B Corp certified | Not stated in our data |
| Source code | Closed source | Closed source |
| Usually replaces | Google, Bing | Google, Bing |
| Position in our Search Engines guide | #2 of 7 | #4 of 7 |
Both are listed in our European Search Engines guide. The table is built from the same directory data as those entries; how we check it is described in the editorial process.
Where Ecosia and Qwant differ
Across the five points below, Ecosia has the edge on 1 point, Qwant on 1 point and 3 are a tie. A count like that is a summary, not a verdict: the point that matters to you may be the one the other product wins.
What the search funds
Ecosia's help center says it is a not-for-profit search engine run as a social business that dedicates 100% of its profits to climate action, mainly planting trees, and that 80% of ad profit goes to planting and protecting trees in more than 30 countries. Qwant's pages describe a privacy model, not a funding cause.
Edge: Ecosia
Privacy statement
Qwant says it does not store your search history or store or sell personal data. Ecosia's help center says its Microsoft ads are not tied to a user profile, but we could not open Ecosia's privacy policy, so no full comparison is possible.
Edge: Qwant
Advertising model
Ecosia says it earns from ad clicks, delivered through Microsoft Advertising (its help center also mentions Google AdSense). Qwant's pages we read do not describe its ad model, so this is a tie on what is verifiable.
No clear winner on this point.
AI features
Qwant offers AI answers and a Summary feature, free and unlimited once you create an account. Ecosia's blog says you can now turn off all its AI search features in seconds. One adds AI, the other lets you remove it, so it depends on what you want.
No clear winner on this point.
European search results
Ecosia's blog says EUSP search results went live in Germany in August 2026, as a step toward digital sovereignty. Qwant describes itself as French with a European perspective. We did not verify where either gets all of its results.
No clear winner on this point.
When neither Ecosia nor Qwant fits
If neither suits you, our search engine guide also lists Startpage and MetaGer, which approach privacy differently and are based in other European countries.
Ecosia vs Qwant: questions
Qwant states that it does not store your search history or sell your data. Ecosia says its ad clicks are not linked to a user profile. We could not read Ecosia's full privacy policy, so Qwant has the clearer statement on what we saw.
Ecosia's help center says it gives 100% of its profits to climate action, with 80% of ad profit used to plant and protect trees in more than 30 countries, and refers to financial reports on its blog. We did not audit those reports.
Qwant offers AI answers and summaries, free with an account. Ecosia says you can switch off all its AI search features.
Both appear as free search engines. Neither page we read mentions a paid tier.
Sources
Facts, prices and plan details on this page were checked on the vendors' own websites on . Prices and plans change; the vendor's current page is authoritative.
- Ecosia help center: how Ecosia makes money: Ecosia is a social business giving 100% of profits to climate action; ads via Google AdSense and Microsoft Advertising (checked 8 October 2026)
- Ecosia help center: how profits finance tree planting: 80% of ad profit to trees in 30+ countries, Microsoft ads not tied to a user profile (checked 8 October 2026)
- Ecosia blog: EUSP results live in Germany (12 August 2026), option to turn off AI search (30 July 2026) (checked 8 October 2026)
- Qwant about page: No search-history storage, no data resale, free AI summary with an account, browser extensions, apps (checked 8 October 2026)
- Qwant home page: Does not retain search data, no selling of personal data, no premium tier mentioned (checked 8 October 2026)