Ecosia
Shares rank 13 of 38 search engines by recommenders
Free search engine many find decent for everyday queries, and it donates to nonprofits. Critics say it depends on Google and Bing results and pushes unwanted AI search.
Free search engine many find decent for everyday queries, and it donates to nonprofits. Critics say it depends on Google and Bing results and pushes unwanted AI search.
46 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 24
- criticize it
- 22
- approval share
- 52%
Recommended in 11 of 13 months
- November 2025: recommended
- December 2025: recommended
- January 2026: recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: recommended
- May 2026: recommended
- June 2026: recommended
- July 2026: recommended
- August 2026: recommended
- September 2026: recommended
- October 2026: recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 24 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 1 recommender for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, not met.
- Recommended in 11 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Decent results for most searches
“I use and enjoy Ecosia, it works pretty well for most use cases.”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore” “It's not perfect but is decent for most general searches”
Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU” “It gives really decent results for the time being”
Comment from 3 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?” - Comment from 22 Jan 2026 in “Waiting for dawn in search: Search index, Google rulings and impact on Kagi”
Money goes to good causes
“if i know i'm helping the community in some way or doing something meaningful just by querying through ecosia”
Comment from 4 Aug 2026 in “Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?” “They collaborate with a lot of nonprofits around the world so its also a good jumping off point”
Comment from 25 Jul 2026 in “Zero roadkill as Amazon canopy bridges secure 15,000 crossings” Better than Google for some
“Whether DuckDuckGo, Kagi, Ecosia or anything else, they are all objectively and verifiably better search engines than Google”
Comment from 17 Dec 2025 in “Gemini 3 Flash: Frontier intelligence built for speed” “All of them are better than google in finding relevant results.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Google Removed 749M Anna's Archive URLs from Its Search Results” “At that point Ecosia became they better search engine.”
Comment from 5 Nov 2025 in “Google Removed 749M Anna's Archive URLs from Its Search Results”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Depends on Google or Bing
“they do share user IP addresses with their search partners (Google and Microsoft)”
Comment from 8 Nov 2025 in “Mullvad: Shutting down our search proxy Leta” “It goes well with their greenwashing "search engine" (API to bing and google).”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Ecosia: The greenest AI is here” “Ecosia has none, redirects to Google, its main competitor.”
Comment from 6 Jul 2026 in “Organic Maps” - Comment from 23 Mar 2026 in “Migrating to the EU”
- Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore”
Weaker results than Google
“it's a noble effort, but they're so late to the game that it's hard to see them making a significant dent”
Comment from 23 Jan 2026 in “Google is ending full-web search for niche search engines” “I have tried to use ecosia, start page, duckduckgo, etc. Was never happy with those results”
Comment from 27 May 2026 in “DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode” “I try Ecosia first, but their indexing is garbage”
Comment from 26 Nov 2025 in “Google steers Americans looking for health care into "junk insurance"” Greenwashing concerns about its green claims
“It's typical greenwashing though. Plant a few trees so you don't have to feel bad about the energy use.”
Comment from 12 Oct 2026 in “Google told to halt work on datacentres in Finland over environmental concerns” “It goes well with their greenwashing "search engine" (API to bing and google).”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Ecosia: The greenest AI is here” “Ecosia is a greenwashing front-end for Google ads”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore” Pushes unwanted AI search
“But I find how prominent / hard to avoid their AI search is, reeeeaaally annoying.”
Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Ecosia: The greenest AI is here” “there's a button for "AI Search" but no button for normal search”
Comment from 4 Dec 2025 in “Tell HN: It's now impossible to disable all AI features in Firefox 145 (latest)” “get rid of the new AI tab they've added”
Comment from 25 May 2026 in “Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore” - Comment from 3 Dec 2025 in “Ecosia: The greenest AI is here”
Other search engines people recommend
The four most recommended other search engines, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kagi | 732 | 234 | 76% | 13 | 2 yrs106 owners | Approved |
| Google Search | 315 | 1,039 | 23% | 12 | 20 yrs25 owners | — |
| DuckDuckGo | 286 | 204 | 58% | 12 | 3.5 yrs47 owners | — |
| Hister | 81 | 9 | 90% | 9 | 2 mo17 owners | Approved |
| EcosiaThis page | 24 | 22 | 52% | 11 | — | — |
What people said
40 of the 57 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“It's typical greenwashing though. Plant a few trees so you don't have to feel bad about the energy use.”
“So even worse? At least try them before recommending!”
“Use Kagi or Ecosia or DDG and stop whining.”
“if i know i'm helping the community in some way or doing something meaningful just by querying through ecosia”
“It gives really decent results for the time being”
“I might shift more towards Ecosia/Qwant.”
“It's the best alternative I've found and after about a week or two it became second nature”
“They collaborate with a lot of nonprofits around the world so its also a good jumping off point”
“Ecosia has none, redirects to Google, its main competitor.”
“I have tried to use ecosia, start page, duckduckgo, etc. Was never happy with those results”
“I use and enjoy Ecosia, it works pretty well for most use cases.”
“Ecosia is a greenwashing front-end for Google ads”
“get rid of the new AI tab they've added”
“the latter has been giving me the best results for just about anything”
“how much better DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Bing and Kagi is”
“there are plenty of (better) alternatives, where you're not the product”
“Before that I used Ecosia, which I also considered pretty good”
“This is why I use Ecosia and Duck most all of the time.”
“Ecosia is just Google/Bing depending on location.”
“It's not perfect but is decent for most general searches”
“lately ecosia has been stepping up their game it seems”
“effectively blocks Kagi and Ecosia”
“it's a noble effort, but they're so late to the game that it's hard to see them making a significant dent”
“In my experience if DDG or Ecosia can't find something, then neither can Google.”
“Ecosia/Qwant (actually private solutions) are working on it.”
“I recommend Ecosia and DuckDuckGo but Brave Search for the most private options.”
“Whether DuckDuckGo, Kagi, Ecosia or anything else, they are all objectively and verifiably better search engines than Google”
“even something as dumb as Ecosia would be a better fit”
“Rather use Qwant, Brave or even Ecosia.”
“there's a button for "AI Search" but no button for normal search”
“It goes well with their greenwashing "search engine" (API to bing and google).”
“But I find how prominent / hard to avoid their AI search is, reeeeaaally annoying.”
“The Ecosia AI does not seem to be grounded in search results.”
“Running an LLM by default when I open your site is the most energy-consuming thing a computer can do”
“I try Ecosia first, but their indexing is garbage”
“it's fine- worse, but free”
“they do share user IP addresses with their search partners (Google and Microsoft)”
“the quality of the results keeps me there”
“At that point Ecosia became they better search engine.”
“All of them are better than google in finding relevant results.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.