Ecosia

Ecosia is a web search engine operated by Ecosia GmbH. The company calls itself a not-for-profit search engine and a social business, and says it puts 100% of its profits into climate action, mainly tree planting. It earns money when people click ads on the results page, which come from Microsoft Advertising and Google AdSense. Organic results come from partners: Microsoft Bing, Google and EUSP (European Search Perspective), and which one answers a query depends on country, device and the cookie permissions you gave.

Around the search box the vendor has added AI Overviews, an AI Chat assistant, a desktop browser and mobile apps. It publishes monthly financial reports on its blog. The product solves a narrow problem: you want an ordinary search engine, and you want the ad income to go to a declared cause instead of to shareholders. The vendor's own pages describe it this way, and it is free for individual users.

• Multi-provider web search. Results and ads come from Bing, Google and EUSP, chosen by region, device and permissions. A three-dot or info icon beside a result tells you which provider answered that search. The vendor notes that Google results are limited to certain regions and browsers, and EUSP is currently only available in France.
• AI Overviews. A short generative summary appears above the result list with links to its sources. The help center says it is powered by Staan through EUSP using a Mistral small 3.2 model, is on by default in thirteen listed countries, and can be switched off in the search settings.
• AI Chat. A conversational mode that answers in full text instead of a page of links. It has Web Source, Guided Learning and Think Longer modes, file upload (up to 5 files of 5 MB each per chat), and image generation for signed-in users. Auto-routing can send complex queries there; you can turn that off.
• Search settings. Settings cover search region, website language, preferred search provider, SafeSearch, an AI-free option, theme and auto-suggestions. They are stored in a browser cookie, so they do not sync across devices, even when you are logged in to an Ecosia account.
• Ecosia browser and apps. A desktop browser exists for Windows 10 or later, macOS 13 or later and Linux (verified on Ubuntu 25.10). It imports history, bookmarks and passwords from another browser, though the help center says Safari data is not detected. Mobile apps have their own help article.
• Ecosia for Companies. Organisations can set Ecosia as the default search engine on employee devices, with guides for Windows group policy and Microsoft Intune. Companies with 1,000+ employees receive a monthly tree report estimating the trees resulting from their staff's searches, according to the vendor.
• Published tree-planting method. The help center describes service contracts, where a partner is paid per tree planted, and investment contracts, which aim to return money for new projects. It says Ecosia owns the claim to have planted financed trees, not the trees themselves, and that progress is monitored.

• A private user who wants a default search engine with a stated climate purpose. Set Ecosia as the default in a browser or install the app, pick a search region, and keep ads visible, since ad clicks are the main income according to the vendor. AI Overviews can be switched off if you prefer plain links.
• An IT team at a 300-person company rolling out a standard search engine. The Ecosia for Companies pages offer a Windows group policy guide, Microsoft Intune configuration and a download link for small businesses. A SafeSearch enforcement guide covers shared devices at schools or offices, and larger firms get the monthly tree report.
• A student or researcher who wants to see where answers come from. The provider indicator on each result and the AI Overviews source links make it possible to trace an answer back to a page. AI Chat's Web Source mode instructs the assistant to draw on live web pages for every query.

No account is needed to search: open the site, or make Ecosia your default in the browser settings, which the help center walks through per browser. An Ecosia account is optional and adds features such as AI Chat history, temporary chats and image generation.

For the desktop browser, a card on first launch starts an import of history, bookmarks and passwords from your previous browser, which the vendor says takes about 20 seconds; the same tool lives under You and Ecosia Browser in settings. Mobile install steps sit in a separate help article. Settings are saved in a cookie, so set them in a normal window first if you browse privately. There is no trial, because the product is free to individuals.

Ecosia calls itself a not-for-profit social business that puts all profits into climate action. Its results come from Microsoft Bing, Google and EUSP depending on country, device and consent, so it still relies on other companies' indexes.

EUSP results began in France and a later post says Germany. Ads run through Google AdSense and Microsoft Advertising, which pays for the planting model.

The search engines list places Ecosia 6 of 16: it follows Qwant and comes before DuckDuckGo. No numeric score is attached; established products follow the challengers in their ranked order.

The vendor states no country of establishment, so Ecosia is left out of the regional count for this list.

Charging model: Ad-funded; profits go to tree planting.

Ecosia is free for individual users on the vendor's pages. The business model is advertising: the help center says Ecosia earns money when users click ads and that the amount per click varies by search term, location and other factors. Ads are labelled "Ad" or "Sponsored", and many searches show none. Ecosia for Companies is described as costing the company nothing, with the impact scaling by employee count and queries. Advertising on Ecosia is a separate paid product for advertisers, and the pricing for it is not published on the pages we fetched. No paid consumer tier is listed. The vendor's own site returned a bot check, so only the help center was read.

Checked against ecosia.org for Best Search Engines in 2026, review date 7 November 2026.

Ecosia publishes monthly financial reports, which makes the funding claim checkable.

For IT teams the help centre carries Microsoft Intune and Windows group policy guides and a safe-search enforcement article, which shortens a rollout.

The help center says Ecosia collects only the data needed for search results and the optional account, and does not use search data to personalise ads elsewhere. GDPR requests are handled through a privacy contact.

AI Chat history is optional and encrypted in transit and at rest; temporary chats are deleted after one day, uploaded files within 7 days, and generated images on European servers after 7 days. Hosting region for search data and security certifications are not stated on the pages we could read.

Integrations the vendor names (12):

• Microsoft Bing
• Google
• EUSP (European Search Perspective)
• Microsoft Advertising
• Google AdSense
• Staan
• Mistral (small 3.2)
• Black Forest Labs (image generation)
• Windows group policy
• Microsoft Intune
• Windows, macOS and Linux browser
• Ecosia mobile apps

These are the nearest neighbours of Ecosia in the same list, picked on shared traits and price model.

• Startpage (#4 of 16): Dutch-run private search with anonymous page viewing and sponsored links. Watch out: sponsored links are retrieved from platforms such as Google AdSense. (Netherlands)
• DuckDuckGo (#7 of 16): Aimed at: Users who want a no-account private default with optional AI features.
• Baidu (#9 of 16): Not for: readers without Chinese who want a general-purpose default. Beijing-based engine with a Chinese-language site and an AI assistant.
• Yahoo Search (#10 of 16): Aimed at: Existing Yahoo account holders who want search beside their mail and finance pages. (United States)

Read from the vendor’s own pages on 5 November 2026.

• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/33-how-does-ecosia-make-money: business model, 100% of profits to climate action, ad partners
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/579-search-results-providers: Bing, Google and EUSP, provider indicator, regional limits
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/1006-ai-search: AI Overviews, AI Chat modes, file limits, chat history, image generation
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/397-ads-on-ecosia: ad labels, ad partners, ad blockers
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/349-ecosia-settings: settings stored in cookies, search region, AI-free option
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/572-setting-up-the-ecosia-desktop-browser: browser import, operating systems
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/160-ecosia-for-companies: Ecosia for Companies, monthly tree report
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/508-tree-planting-partnerships: service and investment contracts
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/1018-gdpr: data processing and GDPR rights
• ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/article/402-reports-transparency: monthly financial reports

Feature lists tell little, so positions rest on setup effort, the true price, portability and fit. On those tests Ecosia lands at place 6 of 16. Details: how we rank software.