Google Search is the incumbent, but Qwant offers a European alternative rooted in EU data laws and stronger digital sovereignty.
Incumbent Solution
Google Search is the world's most used web search engine, operated by Alphabet Inc. in Mountain View, California. It holds approximately 90% of global search market share and builds detailed behavioral profiles of users for advertising.
Google Search ownership profileEU Challenger
Qwant is a French privacy-focused search engine that does not track users or build behavioral profiles. Headquartered in Paris and supported by the French government, it is co-building a sovereign European web index with Germany's Ecosia.
Visit QwantQwant ownership profile| Metric | Google Search | Qwant |
|---|---|---|
| Headquarters | Mountain View, US | Paris, FR |
| Ownership | subsidiary · NASDAQ | subsidiary |
| Tax Domicile | US | FR |
| Ultimate Parent | Alphabet Inc. | Groupe OVHcloud |
| Data Hosting | mixed | EU |
| CLOUD Act Exposure | Yes ⚠️ | No ✓ |
| AI Trains on User Data | yes | no |
| GDPR | Fined €272M Multiple antitrust fines from the European Commission totaling over 8 billion EUR related to Google Shopping, Android, and AdSense. | compliant |
| DSA Designation | VLOP | standard |
| Carbon Neutral | certified | unknown |
| B Corp | No | No |
| Supply Chain | partial | opaque |
| Repair / Recycling | No | No |
Last verified . Sources: Google Search on Wikidata, Google Search website, Qwant website, How we audit.
Rigorous data for ethical digital consumption.