Ecosia: Search to plant trees 17+

My best browser & search engine

I recently started using Ecosia as my go-to search engine, and I have to say, I’m really impressed. It’s not just another browser; it’s a tool that helps the planet while you surf the web. Every time I search for something, I know that my clicks are helping to plant trees around the world. That’s a pretty amazing feeling!

The user experience is straightforward and user-friendly. I find that the search results are on par with what I get from other major search engines. Plus, the interface is clean, which makes it easy to navigate. I didn’t have to adjust much to get used to it, which is always a plus.

What I love most is Ecosia’s commitment to transparency. They show you how many trees have been planted thanks to user searches, and you can track where the funds are going. It really feels good to be part of something bigger, especially when it comes to fighting climate change.

Performance-wise, Ecosia does the job just fine. Pages load quickly, and I haven’t experienced any major issues while browsing. Sure, it might not have every single feature that some other browsers offer, but the fact that my searches contribute to reforestation projects makes it all worth it.

Overall, I think Ecosia is a fantastic choice if you want to make a positive impact without changing your browsing habits too much. I’m excited to see how they grow and hope more people will join in supporting this green initiative. Let’s help Ecosia thrive—one search at a time!

Developer Response ,

Thank you for the incredibly detailed review and support 🌳

Used to be good

I love the goal of this browser, and I used to love the browser itself, but whatever changes have been made recently have made it nearly useless.
The browser /used/ to produce useful results, but now it absolutely does /not/. It now shuffles results for some reason, which can make a nightmare out of finding specific sites more than once, and it’s rather insistently trying to push AI-based searching -though, in fairness, it keeps that in a separate tab as of the date of review.
Most frustratingly, the search engine seems to only /sorta/ search according to my query, ignoring search operators and autocorrecting with no indication that it did so and without any option to un-autocorrect the search: If I search something like, say, ‘“seedless orange” stores near me’ with the intent of getting only results that include the phrase ‘seedless orange’, the results will /still/ include things like ‘seedless watermelon store’ and ‘orange paint store’. If I search something like ‘James Foxx’ (who doesn’t exist afaik) it’ll kick up like 3 results before filling basically every other result with links about actor /Jamie/ Foxx and I can’t find any way to undo this issue when it happens.
I haven’t had these issues with any other search engine and, for the meager number of trees my searches are planting, I honestly believe at this point I’d be better off just throwing $20 at a reforestation charity or something.

Good Message, but hypocritical in set-up

While I do appreciate the fact that each search goes toward to planting trees, with each 45 searches equaling to one seed. The Ecosia team is transparent with how they spend their money on the economic page. They’ve also teamed up with other international organizations to fight deforestation in other countries. If you plan to use Ecosia, I would say you should check out their videos as I do find them helpful, and informative about what they plan to do on projects relating to helping the environment. The main thing is that they’re now using AI. AI in general, is bad for the environment, and uses more electricity, which is commonly powered by fossil fuel. Contributing to CO2 emissions, making the climate and most noticeably causing the weather unbearable for every living on earth. Ecosia using AI, while being all about the environment is green-washing. Maybe if they were transparent about what energy they’re using to power the AI like solar energy, and what alternatives they have for cooling their AI machines with. Then, maybe, it’d be less of a problem. But for now I am disappointed, Ecosia is a great browser and I love the projects they’ve been doing. I just hope they use green energy for what they’re adding to their browser.