# Ecosia privacy rating

Search engine from the Berlin company Ecosia that shows results and ads from Microsoft Bing or Google and uses its profits for tree planting and climate projects.

## Summary

Ecosia scores 41 out of 100 (grade D) on the search engines criteria. It meets 2 of 11 criteria: TLS configuration and no profile-based ads. It partly meets open source, no ads or data sales, security headers, no search history logs and no account needed. It does not meet no trackers or telemetry, independent audit, transparency report and tells users about requests. It is based in Germany: Fourteen Eyes member; EU member (GDPR). Automated tests: SSL Labs grade A+ and Mozilla HTTP Observatory grade B.

- Website: https://www.ecosia.org
- Source code: https://github.com/ecosia
- Jurisdiction: Germany. Fourteen Eyes member. EU member (GDPR).
- Category: [Search engines](https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/)
- Grade: D (41/100)

## Criteria

| Criterion | Answer | Note | Evidence |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Open source | Partial | The iOS browser app is open source under MPL-2.0. The search engine itself is not. | https://github.com/ecosia/ios-browser/blob/main/LICENSE |
| No trackers or telemetry | No | Uses third-party services including Microsoft Clarity and Braze, and the apps send device statistics and install attribution data. | https://www.ecosia.org/privacy |
| No ads or data sales | Partial | Funded by search ads from Microsoft Bing or Google, which are non-personalized unless the user consents. | https://www.ecosia.org/privacy |
| Independent audit | No | No independent audit is published. |  |
| Transparency report | No | No transparency report or government request policy is published. |  |
| Tells users about requests | No | No published policy on notifying users about data requests. |  |
| TLS configuration | Yes | Grade A+ | https://www.ssllabs.com/ssltest/analyze.html?d=www.ecosia.org&hideResults=on |
| Security headers | Partial | Grade B (75/100+) | https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/observatory/analyze?host=www.ecosia.org |
| Modern web standards | Not tested yet | Not tested yet. |  |
| No search history logs | Partial | IP addresses are anonymized after at most seven days; search terms are shared with Bing or Google. | https://www.ecosia.org/privacy |
| No profile-based ads | Yes | Ads are non-personalized by default, and personalized ads are shown only with explicit consent. | https://www.ecosia.org/privacy |
| No account needed | Partial | Search works without an account; sync and AI chat history need an Ecosia account. | https://www.ecosia.org/privacy |

Source: https://privacyratings.com/search-engines/ecosia/
Edit: https://github.com/privacyratings/privacyratings.com/edit/main/ratings/search-engines/ecosia.md