Ecosia is a unique search engine that stands out for its commitment to environmental sustainability and reforestation efforts. With its headquarters in Berlin, Germany, Ecosia has become a popular choice for eco-conscious...
GOOD is a powerful search engine designed to provide an ethical and privacy-focused alternative to mainstream search services. By emphasizing user privacy and the importance of supporting positive social causes, GOOD aims...
MetaGer is a unique search engine that prioritizes user privacy and delivers decentralized search capabilities. Designed and developed in Germany, it offers an alternative to mainstream search engines while ensuring that users'...
Mojeek is a unique search engine based in Europe, designed to provide users with an independent and private web search experience. Unlike many popular search engines, Mojeek does not track or profile...
Qwant is a European search engine that prioritizes user privacy and data protection while delivering relevant and efficient search results. Established in 2013 and based in France, Qwant stands out by offering...
Seznam.cz is a Czech internet company based in Prague. Ivo Lukačovič founded it in 1996 as the first Czech web directory and remains its main shareholder. Besides its search engine it runs...
Startpage is a privacy-focused search engine that aims to provide users with a safe and secure way to browse the internet without being tracked or having their personal information sold to advertisers....
Swisscows is a privacy-focused search engine based in Switzerland, designed to provide users with secure and anonymous search experiences. With a strong commitment to user data protection, Swisscows ensures that no personal...
Did we miss one? Feel free to submit a suggestion!
Submit SuggestionThe European search engines on this page are Ecosia, MetaGer and GOOD (Germany), Qwant (France), Mojeek (United Kingdom), Swisscows (Switzerland) and Startpage (Netherlands) and Seznam (Czech Republic). A European company behind a search engine does not mean that it runs its own index. Of these eight, only Mojeek and Seznam build and run their own index, and Seznam's is focused on Czech-language content. Swisscows says it has an own index but also works with Brave, and the others combine their own technology with results from partners such as Bing, Google or Brave. Qwant and Ecosia are building a shared European index called EUSP.
| Search engine | Country | Own index? | Where the results come from |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ecosia | Germany | Partly | Results from Microsoft Bing, Google and EUSP, the index it builds with Qwant; EUSP is currently only available in France. Profits go to climate projects, mainly tree planting |
| Qwant | France | Partly | Own crawler (Qwantify) and the EUSP index it builds with Ecosia, supplemented by third-party results such as Microsoft Bing; no tracking |
| MetaGer | Germany | Mostly no | Metasearch engine that combines the indexes of several other engines, plus small own indexes; run by the non-profit SUMA-EV, open source |
| Mojeek | United Kingdom | Yes | Own crawler and index, reported at over nine billion pages in 2025; no tracking |
| Swisscows | Switzerland | Claimed, plus Brave | States that it uses its own index and cooperates with Brave Search (USA); the free version shows ads delivered by System1 (USA), the paid Pro version is ad-free |
| GOOD | Germany | No | Results come from the Brave index (Brave Software, USA); ad-free, run by Good Search UG in Berlin under a non-profit foundation |
| Startpage | Netherlands | No | Sends queries anonymously to Google and Bing and returns the results; majority-owned by the US advertising company System1 |
| Seznam | Czech Republic | Yes, mainly Czech | Own crawler (SeznamBot) and search technology since 2005, with results focused on Czech-language content; part of the Seznam.cz portal with maps, email and news |
The statements on indexes follow the providers' own pages as of October 2026 and may change.
A search index is the database of web pages that a search engine has crawled. Building and keeping a large one is expensive, so most privacy-focused search engines buy results from Google, Microsoft Bing or Brave. A European search engine therefore usually offers European data protection, hosting and ownership, but not automatically independent results. EUSP, the joint venture of Ecosia and Qwant, is the largest European attempt to change that. According to Ecosia's help center it serves results only in France so far.
Ownership is another test. Startpage is based in the Netherlands, but System1 of the United States holds the majority. It is listed with that note, as is the System1 advertising on the free version of Swisscows.
Ecosia, Qwant, MetaGer, Mojeek, Swisscows, GOOD, Startpage and, for Czech-language searches, Seznam are all used instead of Google. The pages for Google and Bing show them as alternatives. Whether results are still based on Google, Bing or Brave differs by engine, see the table.
Mojeek, based in the United Kingdom, runs its own crawler and index, and Seznam from the Czech Republic does too, with a focus on Czech-language content. Qwant and Ecosia are building the shared EUSP index, which Ecosia currently uses only for searches in France. Swisscows says it has its own index but also works with Brave.
Startpage is based in the Netherlands, but it is majority-owned by the US company System1 and delivers results from Google and Bing. The site lists it as European with a non-European parent.
Ecosia and GOOD are based in Berlin, and MetaGer is run by the German non-profit SUMA-EV. Ecosia and GOOD work with partner indexes (Bing, Google, Brave), MetaGer combines several engines plus small own indexes.