Ecosia vs Bing
Ecosia is a European alternative to Bing — same search & internet use case, built under EU data-protection law.
By the EU Alternatives team Last updated
Search the web and plant trees with every query. Uses 100% of profits for climate action, powers searches with renewable energy, and supports reforestation projects worldwide.
- Jurisdiction
- EU / EEA
- GDPR by default
- Yes
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- No
- Open source
- No
- Free tier
- Yes
Bing by Microsoft.
- Jurisdiction
- US
- GDPR by default
- Requires DPA + TIA
- US CLOUD Act exposure
- Yes
About Ecosia
Ecosia is Berlin's planet-positive search engine, founded in 2008 by Christian Kroll with a single mission: turn search ad revenue into real-world reforestation. To date, Ecosia has planted 220+ million trees across 35+ countries — financed entirely by user searches — and runs on 100% renewable energy via its own solar plants in Germany.
The business model is radical in tech: Ecosia is a non-profit-owned "steward-ownership" company, legally locked so that shares can never be sold and profits can never be paid to shareholders. 100% of surplus goes into climate action.
Key features:
- Search that plants trees — roughly one tree per 45 searches, funded by ad clicks
- 220M+ trees planted across Africa, South America, Indonesia, and beyond
- 100% renewable energy — Ecosia operates its own solar power plants
- Privacy-friendly — no permanent personal profiles, no selling of data
- Encrypted search — HTTPS by default, no third-party trackers
- Transparent finances — monthly financial and tree-planting reports published publicly
- Browser extension and mobile apps for iOS and Android
- Steward ownership — legally structured to prevent acquisition or profit extraction
- Powered by Bing/Google results — search quality comparable to mainstream engines
Headquartered in Berlin with a global impact — the cleanest, most transparent European alternative to Google Search for users who want their default search habit to do measurable climate good.
Why choose Ecosia over Bing?
The decisive argument is data jurisdiction. Bing is headquartered in US, which means personal data processed through it can be subject to non-EU legal regimes — the US CLOUD Act, FISA 702, or similar laws depending on the provider. After the 2020 Schrems II ruling, EU organisations must carry out a transfer impact assessment for every such data flow.
Ecosia removes that overhead. As a Germany-based provider, it operates natively under GDPR, and data stays inside the EU/EEA by default. For regulated sectors — health, public administration, finance — that's not a nice-to-have but a requirement. For everyone else, it's concentration-risk insurance: you avoid depending on a single non-EU jurisdiction that can change the rules without warning.