Replaces Microsoft Bing
European alternatives to Microsoft Bing
European search engines for everyday web search
Browse the category: Search engines · Web browsers
Microsoft Bing is Microsoft's web search engine. It powers search on its own site, is built into Windows and other Microsoft products, and supplies results to a number of smaller search services as well. People use it for ordinary web, image and news search, with the usual extras around maps, shopping and answers pulled from the wider index.
A search history is a detailed record of what someone is thinking about: illnesses, debts, job hunts, legal trouble. Who holds that log, and under which legal system, matters as much as the quality of the results. Using a European alternative to Microsoft Bing keeps those queries with a company under EU or EFTA law. Ecosia and Qwant are general purpose engines, Mojeek runs its own index, and metaGer combines results from several sources.
European options 6
Our pick
Ecosia
Search engine from Germany that funds conservation
Ecosia is a search engine from Germany built around sustainability. The company donates 80 percent of the surplus revenue it earns from advertising to conservation projects, and its servers are run CO2 neutral.
GermanyFree plan♻
Qwant
Privacy focused search engine from France
FranceEU hostedFree plan
Mojeek
Independent search engine from the United Kingdom
United KingdomFree plan
GOOD
Non-profit search engine from Germany
GermanyEU hosted♻
swisscows
Private search engine from Switzerland
SwitzerlandEFTA hostedFree plan
metaGer
German metasearch engine run by a non-profit
GermanyEU hosted♻Questions
Can I set a European search engine as my browser default?
Yes, every major browser lets you add or choose a different default search engine in its settings. Ecosia, Qwant and Mojeek all document how to do this.
Do European search engines have their own index?
Mojeek crawls and maintains its own index, while others combine their own results with data from partners. metaGer takes a different route and merges results from multiple sources.
Is there a European search engine with stricter filtering?
swisscows presents itself as a family friendly search service, and GOOD is another option worth a look. Check what each one actually filters before rolling it out to a school or a household.