Hello Hackers !
Welcome in the last CoderLegion Article of my dev.to post, here is the continuation on search engines, so without further to do let's keep going into the details !
4. Swisscows
Location: Egnach, Switzerland
Founded: Originally as web directory in 2002, evolved to search engine
Data Center: Swiss Alps
Unique Selling Point: Family-friendly + Swiss data protection
Swisscows is the extreme privacy option. They don't mess around.
The Switzerland Advantage
Switzerland has:
- Federal Data Protection Act — Stricter than GDPR in some ways
- "Bunker" Data Center — Swiss Alps location, highest security
- No US Jurisdiction — Patriot Act doesn't apply
- Strong banking privacy traditions — Culture of secrecy
Swisscows headquarters is in Egnach, serving this exact jurisdiction.
Technical Stack
Own Servers: Swisscows has its own infrastructure (unlike most competitors):
- Located in Switzerland only
- Not using cloud providers (avoids Patriot Act)
- Only Swiss staff can access servers
- Queries anonymized after 7 days
Search Index: Originally powered by Bing, but recently partnered with Brave to develop independent European index. This is strategic.
Privacy Features (Standard)
- No data collection on free version
- IP address removal
- No user profiling
- No cookies for tracking
- Semantic search (intelligent understanding)
Swisscows Pro (Premium)
For absolute paranoia (in the good way):
| Feature | What It Does |
|---|
| Zero Data Storage | Literally no data saved about you, ever |
| 100% Anonymous | Complete anonymity, even from Swisscows |
| Ad-Free | No advertising revenue model needed |
| Custom Results | You curate which sources appear |
| Swiss Servers Only | No data leaves Switzerland |
Family-Friendly Feature
Swisscows filters pornographic and violent content by default:
This is useful for:
Schools wanting safe search
Parents protecting kids
Organizations with content policies
Some see this as censorship, others appreciate it.
Pros
✅ Strictest privacy jurisdiction — Swiss law is gold standard
✅ Own servers — No cloud, no Patriot Act risk
✅ Bunker data center — Physically secure infrastructure
✅ No US parent company — Completely independent
✅ Partner with Brave — Contributing to European index independence
✅ Family-friendly filtering — Good for institutions
✅ Very transparent — Clear about what they do/don't collect
✅ Semantic search — Intelligent query understanding
Cons
❌ Tiny market share — ~0.001% usage
❌ Limited result quality — Smaller index means gaps
❌ Expensive premium — Around €89/month or €899/year
❌ Content filtering controversial — Some see it as censorship
❌ Newer to independence — Recently partnered with Brave for index
❌ Language limitations — Better for European languages
❌ Poor search features — Minimal instant answers or tools
5. Qwant
Location: Paris, France
Founded: February 2013
Founders: Jean-Manuel Rozan, Éric Léandri, Patrick Constant
Government Support: Backed by French state investment
Market Share: ~0.5% (mostly in Europe)
Qwant is France's answer to Google dominance — and it's complicated.
The French National Project
Qwant received backing from French government and Caisse des dépôts (French investment bank) because of geopolitical concerns about US tech dominance. This is interesting from a sovereignty perspective.
How It Works
Qwant uses Microsoft Bing as primary index with its own improvements:
- Fetches Google results for some queries
- Has own index but it's supplementary
- Uses Wikipedia for knowledge panels
- Integrates APIs from TripAdvisor, DeepL, YouTube, Twitter, Facebook
The results are similar to Bing because that's the underlying technology.
Privacy Model (Mostly)
Here's where it gets murky:
What Qwant Claims:
- No tracking cookies
- No personalized ads
- No user profiling
- Queries anonymized
What Actually Happens:
- Sends data to Microsoft Bing Ads for ad targeting
- IP address is masked (last octet removed) but not fully anonymized
- User-Agent and search keywords sent to Microsoft
- Data retained up to 18 months (not "never stored")
- This wasn't disclosed until mid-2021, causing privacy backlash
This is the fundamental weakness. They claim privacy but still feed Microsoft your behavioral data for ad targeting. It's better than Google, but not actually private.
Unique Features
Junior Mode: Filtered version for kids (similar to Swisscows)
Collections: Save and organize search results like Pinterest
Qwant News: Aggregated news with diverse sources (actually good feature)
Translation Integration: Built-in DeepL translator for results
Pros
✅ EU/France jurisdiction — GDPR protected
✅ Government investment — Funding stability
✅ No personalized ads — Ad model isn't behavior-targeted
✅ Decent search quality — Bing is solid index
✅ News aggregation — Good for current events
✅ Junior mode — Family-friendly filtering
✅ Fast interface — Minimalist design
Cons
❌ Misleading privacy claims — Says "private" but feeds Microsoft data
❌ Bing dependent — No independence from Microsoft
❌ Data retention — 18 months storage contradicts privacy narrative
❌ Limited features — Fewer tools than Google/DDG
❌ Tiny market share — Limited resources for improvement
❌ French government ties — Some see as political tool
❌ IP masking not anonymization — Last octet removed ≠ private
❌ Unreliable history — Financial struggles, multiple pivots
The Real Problem
Qwant markets itself as private but fundamentally isn't. The Bing Ads data sharing was buried in their privacy policy. For crypto people doing sensitive research, this is a no-go. You're still being profiled, just not visibly personalized.
6. Ecosia
Location: Berlin, Germany
Founded: December 2009
Founders: Christian Kroll, Achim Steiner (UN figure)
Business Model: Non-profit, B Corp certified
Market Share: ~0.04%
Ecosia is unique because it's not primarily about privacy — it's about environmental impact. But it's worth understanding because the trade-offs are interesting.
The Mission
Ecosia uses search revenue to plant trees. 50% of profit goes to reforestation projects:
- 45+ million trees planted (as of 2024)
- Partnerships with The Nature Conservancy, IUCN
- Multiple continents: Brazil, Indonesia, Ethiopia, Peru, India
- Verified impact tracking
This is legitimate environmental work, not greenwashing.
How It Works (Technically)
Ecosia uses Bing index (like DuckDuckGo and Qwant):
- Powered by Microsoft Bing results
- Own supplementary crawler (Ecosiabot)
- Generates revenue through Bing partner ads
- Takes ~€0.50 per search to tree planting
The economics: You search → Bing shows ads → Ecosia gets commission → ~50% goes to trees
Privacy Features
Here's the reality check:
What Ecosia Does Right:
- No persistent user tracking
- No search history storage
- HTTPS encryption
- No third-party profiling cookies
- GDPR compliant (EU based)
Where Privacy Falls Short:
- IP address logging — Stored for debugging, cleared after 7 days
- Bing data sharing — Microsoft sees your searches (anonymized but still shared)
- Analytics cookies — Matomo analytics (privacy-focused but still collects)
- Limited anonymization — Not like StartPage's full proxy approach
Ecosia is more private than Google but less private than DuckDuckGo/StartPage.
Environmental Breakdown
| Initiative | Details |
|---|
| Tree Planting | 45M+ trees in 70+ countries |
| Carbon Negative | Offsets more CO2 than servers emit |
| B Corp Certified | Independent third-party verified |
| Transparent Reporting | Monthly impact dashboard public |
| Partnership Model | Works with local organizations |
The tree count is audited. They show exact locations, coordinates, photos. This is serious environmental work.
Pros
✅ Environmental impact verified — Real trees, real numbers
✅ Decent privacy — Better than Google, not as strict as DDG
✅ B Corp certified — Independent auditing of social mission
✅ Reasonable search quality — Bing index is solid
✅ Transparent financials — Public impact reports
✅ EU jurisdiction — GDPR protection
✅ Growing adoption — ~15M monthly active users
✅ Mission-driven team — Passionate about environment
Cons
❌ Privacy not primary focus — IP logging, Bing data sharing
❌ Bing dependent — No search independence
❌ Effectiveness questioned — Tree planting ROI debated
❌ Limited instant answers — Fewer tools than Google/DDG
❌ Smaller index — Result quality gaps on niche queries
❌ Free version slower — Premium for faster results (weird model)
❌ Can't verify tree quality — Planting numbers public, survival rates less so
❌ Ad-supported — Still needs advertising revenue
The Trade-Off Philosophy
Ecosia explicitly says: "Choose environmental impact over maximum privacy"
This is honest. If your primary concern is privacy, use DuckDuckGo or StartPage. If you want to offset carbon while searching reasonably privately, Ecosia makes sense.
Comparison Matrix
| Engine | Privacy Tier | Independence | Speed | Search Quality | Jurisdiction | Best For |
|---|
| DuckDuckGo | Excellent | Medium (Bing+own) | Fast | Very Good | USA | General use, ecosystem |
| StartPage | Extreme | Low (Google proxy) | Medium | Excellent | Netherlands | Google quality + privacy |
| Brave | Excellent | High (own index) | Fast | Good/Improving | USA | Independence-focused |
| Swisscows | Extreme | High (own infra) | Fast | Fair | Switzerland | Absolute privacy, bunker |
| Qwant | Fair (misleading) | Low (Bing) | Fast | Good | France | EU users, news |
| Ecosia | Good | Low (Bing) | Medium | Good | Germany | Environmental impact |
Summary
Online Privacy is not like a road from Point A to B. It's a rather a multi-layer process, that if taken seriously and applied correctly, can benefit you and your environment by liberating you from big-tech, government surveillance.
I hope you enjoyed this article and you learnt something from it.
Be ready for Part 2 ! Where I will present couple of alternatives for Mail Providers and Messengers for you, so that you can switch from the big-tech ones to more private ones.