Ecosiavs
Qwant
On our sovereignty score, Qwant leads (88 vs 70). Both are European Search engines providers – which fits better depends on your priorities below.
Score comparison
| Ecosia | Qwant | |
|---|---|---|
| Sovereignty | 70 | 88 |
| Privacy | 80 | 90 |
| Open Source | 10 | 10 |
| Business fit | 72 | 72 |
| Migration ease | 45 | 45 |
| Pricing transparency | 82 | 84 |
| Enterprise readiness | 66 | 66 |
Features & facts
| Ecosia | Qwant | |
|---|---|---|
| Country | Germany | France |
| Open Source | No | No |
| Self-Hosting | No | No |
| Cloud/SaaS | Yes | Yes |
| EU data residency | Yes | Yes |
| DPA / AV-Vertrag | unknown | unknown |
| ISO 27001 | unknown | unknown |
| Data location | Germany (company); search results via Microsoft Bing (US backend) | EU (France); own European index |
| From | on request | on request |
| Founded | 2009 | 2013 |
Ecosia
Germany
German public-benefit search engine that plants trees with its profits – privacy-friendly, but uses Bing as its search backend.
Strengths
- German, public-benefit company (steward-owned)
- 100% of profits for climate action, transparent reports
- No personal profiles, GDPR
- Very easy switch from Google
Weaknesses
- No own index – results via Microsoft Bing (US backend)
- Not open source, no self-hosting
- Consider data flows to the search backend
Qwant
France
French privacy-friendly search engine with its own European index – no tracking or user profiles, EU-hosted.
Strengths
- Own European search index (independence from US backends)
- No tracking, no user profiles, EU-hosted
- GDPR/CNIL-compliant, not subject to the US CLOUD Act
- Publicly backed (incl. European Investment Bank)
Weaknesses
- Not open source, no self-hosting
- Result quality for niche searches sometimes weaker than Google
- Smaller ad/shopping ecosystem
Choose Ecosia if…
- Users who value climate action and a fair mission
- Privacy-conscious users who don't need an own index
- Organisations with a sustainability focus
Choose Qwant if…
- Privacy-conscious users and organisations
- Public sector and education with sovereignty requirements
- Anyone wanting a European Google alternative with its own index
Scores are editorial orientation, not legal advice. Details are based on public provider information and are not independently verified.