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Qwant Review

Depends

Should I use Qwant?

Fast, reliable answers and still in trust: Qwant does not store your search data, does not sell your personal data and is hosted in Europe. - qwant.com

· 1 month ago

Use Qwant if EU-hosted privacy and not feeding Google matter more than best-in-class results. Skip it if you need Google-grade search depth or object that its results partly come from Microsoft Bing.

Confidence

Medium. Based on 20+ public sources: Reddit and Trustpilot reviews, news coverage, regulator findings and official pages. Many snippets were truncated; quotes reflect available text.

Ratings

  • Value for money
  • Ease of use
  • Feature depth
  • Support qualityNo public support evidence found
  • Security posture

Pricing

Free

Qwant Search

ModelNot disclosed
Monthly feesNot disclosed
HardwareNot disclosed
Free tierYes

Best for

  • Privacy-first everyday searchers
  • EU users prioritizing data sovereignty
  • Degoogle and BuyFromEU switchers
  • Casual home and office search

Not for

  • Researchers and professionals needing Google-grade result depth
  • Anyone unwilling to accept Bing-powered underlying results
  • Businesses wanting a supported enterprise search product — it is consumer-only

Gotchas - check before you buy

medium

Results partly come from Bing; any partnership change could silently alter quality

medium

CNIL determined Qwant processes personal data — 'private' is not 'no data'

medium

Recurring community complaints about unreliable result quality

low

New owners are pivoting the company toward GenAI — strategy drift possible

Pros and cons

Pros

  • Does not store or sell your search data
  • Hosted in Europe with an EU digital-sovereignty pitch
  • Chosen as the European Parliament's default search engine
  • Free across web, Android, iOS and browser extensions
  • Popular with degoogle and BuyFromEU communities

Cons

  • Users report inconsistent, messy results versus Google
  • Results partly rely on Microsoft's Bing
  • CNIL ruled it processes personal data
  • Lost competition complaint against Microsoft over result manipulation
  • Only 44 Trustpilot reviews — thin track record

Sources & method

- 14 sources - Privacy-first, EU-hosted design with no CVEs found, but the CNIL found Qwant processes personal data and issued a compliance reminder.

official x2review x5security x1news x6
  • CNIL: personal data processed, France's data regulator determined the search engine processes personal data and reminded Qwant of its legal obligations.

Key stats

  • Value for money: 5/5

    Rating

  • Free

    Starting price

  • 14

    Sources

  • Analyzed

  • Value for money: 5/5. Free search, no paid tier needed
  • Ease of use: 4/5. Guess: familiar search box, apps and extensions
  • Feature depth: 3/5. Web, news, maps; results rely on Bing
  • Support quality. No public support evidence found
  • Security posture: 3/5. Privacy-first, but CNIL flagged data processing
  • 3.6/5 Google Play rating 19,946 Android reviews
  • Free Price No subscription surfaced in sources
  • $24.04M Funding raised Per CB Insights
  • 44 reviews Trustpilot base Very small sample

Pricing

Qwant Search

Free

  • Web, news, image and maps search
  • No search-data storage claimed
  • Android, iOS apps and browser extensions

Security

Privacy-first, EU-hosted design with no CVEs found, but the CNIL found Qwant processes personal data and issued a compliance reminder.

  • CNIL: personal data processedFrance's data regulator determined the search engine processes personal data and reminded Qwant of its legal obligations.⁶

What users say

Users praise the privacy and EU angle but repeatedly complain that result quality trails Google.

“Qwant is a great google search engine replacement.”
Reddit, r/degoogle
“Qwant is too often a total mess”
Reddit, r/france

Companies that use it

  • European Parliament³
Full analysis

Based on 20+ public sources: Reddit and Trustpilot reviews, news coverage, regulator findings and official pages. Many snippets were truncated; quotes reflect available text.

Free, private, EU-hosted search — solid privacy swap, but results trail Google and Bing powers the underlying index.

Methodology

Based on 20+ public sources: Reddit and Trustpilot reviews, news coverage, regulator findings and official pages. Many snippets were truncated; quotes reflect available text.

Read how a report is made.

Sources

  1. Qwant official siteqwant.com
    official
  2. Qwant – Wikipediaen.wikipedia.org
    official
  3. European Parliament ditches Google for French search enginepolitico.eu
    news
  4. In the EU Parliament: Google replaced by Qwantheise.de
    news
  5. Qwant and Microsoft partnershipnews.microsoft.com
    news
  6. CNIL considers Qwant processes personal data365trust.me
    security
  7. French authority rejects Qwant's complaint against Microsoftpymnts.com
    news
  8. Qwant is a great Google replacement – Redditreddit.com
    review
  9. Qwant is too often a total mess – Redditreddit.com
    review
  10. Qwant Trustpilot reviewstrustpilot.com
    review
  11. Qwant search engine review – TechRadartechradar.com
    review
  12. Qwant funding and financials – CB Insightscbinsights.com
    news
  13. Qwant app – Google Playplay.google.com
    review
  14. Resurrecting Qwant: new owners bet on GenAIfrenchtechjournal.com
    news

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