# Ecosia

> A privacy-conscious, tree-planting search engine that avoids selling personal data to advertisers while donating profits to reforestation.

Canonical: https://www.findalternate.com/ecosia
Last updated: 2026-09-11

A privacy-conscious, tree-planting search engine that avoids selling personal data to advertisers while donating profits to reforestation.

## Key facts

- **Website:** https://www.ecosia.org/
- **Category:** Search Engines
- **Pricing:** FREE
- **Platforms:** Web, Android, iPhone
- **Launched:** 2026-07-01
- **Maker:** adi
- **Likes:** 0
- **Points:** 0
- **Comments:** 0

## Key features

- Eco-Impact Search: Ad revenues directly fund tree-planting initiatives and biodiversity restoration projects globally.
- Privacy-Focused Searching: Does not create permanent user search profiles or sell data to third-party ad brokers.
- Renewable Energy Powered: Runs on 200% renewable solar energy produced by Ecosia's own solar plants.
- Financial Transparency Reports: Publishes monthly financial reports detailing revenues and tree-planting expenditures.

## Recommended for

Environmentally conscious internet users and privacy-minded individuals seeking an impactful, daily web search alternative.

## Pros and cons

Pros:
- Transparent non-profit model directly finances global reforestation efforts.
- Strict privacy policy with no tracking or cross-site ad profiling.
- Search queries are powered by 100% solar energy generated by Ecosia.

Cons:
- Search results and local business maps are powered by Bing, which can be less comprehensive than Google.
- Niche technical and coding queries may require fallback to other engines.

## Conclusion

Ecosia represents a brilliant model of ethical capitalism. They realized that the search engine market is a multi-billion dollar advertising duopoly (Google/Microsoft). Ecosia essentially hijacked a tiny fraction of that massive revenue stream (by utilizing Bing's infrastructure) and redirected it toward saving the planet. While it cannot match the algorithmic perfection of Google, it offers consumers a profound moral choice: accept slightly worse search results in exchange for planting millions of trees. For many, that trade-off is absolutely worth it.

## Tags

privacy, eco-friendly, search

## Alternates

- [SearXNG](https://www.findalternate.com/searxng): A free, open-source metasearch engine that aggregates results from multiple search providers while stripping tracking, self-hostable for full privacy control. — FREE, 0 likes
- [Brave Search](https://www.findalternate.com/brave-search): An independent search engine built by Brave with its own index, offering ad-free and tracker-free results plus an optional AI answer engine. — FREEMIUM, 0 likes
- [Qwant](https://www.findalternate.com/qwant): A European search engine emphasizing GDPR-compliant privacy, no user tracking, and no filter-bubble personalization of results. — FREE, 0 likes
- [DuckDuckGo](https://www.findalternate.com/duckduckgo): The best-known privacy-first search engine, blocking trackers and refusing to build user profiles, paired with a browser and app tracking protection. — FREE, 0 likes
- [Mojeek](https://www.findalternate.com/mojeek): An independent UK-based search engine with its own web crawler and index, built specifically around not tracking or profiling users. — FREE, 0 likes
- [Startpage](https://www.findalternate.com/startpage): A privacy-centered search engine delivering Google search results through an anonymizing proxy so queries are never linked back to the user. — FREE, 0 likes

## Related

- [Search Engines category](https://www.findalternate.com/category/search-engines)
- [Compare Ecosia and SearXNG](https://www.findalternate.com/compare/ecosia-vs-searxng)
- [FindAlternate homepage](https://www.findalternate.com/)