Ecosia vs DuckDuckGo: Which Search Engine is Better?
In this article, we will compare the nature-concerned Ecosia and the privacy-concerned DuckDuckGo, and then determine which one is more trustworthy.
According to Statista, currently, in the second quarter of 2022, Google’s revenue has increased by over 69 billion U.S. dollars. Their main source of revenue is their advertising scheme, which they display through sites.
We rarely hear that people are content with utilizing search engines other than Google. Until recently, after hearing several claims that Google is unconcerned about its customers’ valuable privacy, there has been a major shift in attention towards alternative search engines. People have begun to value their privacy over their comfort in utilizing existing tech.
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Ecosia vs DuckDuckGo – Which Is Better?
Nowadays, several search engine provide businesses more altruistic motives in exchange for users’ time and inquiries.
However, before jumping into their comparison between Ecosia vs Duckduckgo , it would be prudent to analyze them separately so that we may grasp what they are capable of.
Ecosia Search Engine: Overview -
Ecosia was recently founded by Christian Kroll, and its headquarters are located in Berlin. Ecosia has started to gain popularity among us. It has already crossed 10 million downloads and is rated 4.4/5 on average by its users.
Ecosia, just as the name suggests, is a search engine working towards one of the most significant issues currently, which is to gain some control over the release of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere by planting as many trees as possible. It is ranked 8th among the top 10 search engines, with a market share of 0.11% (worldwide).
Another fact is that it has partnered with Bing, one of the top leading search engines by Microsoft. That means that all of the search queries made in Ecosia are handled by Bing itself.
The Noble Goal of Ecosia:-
Did you know that activities that are performed digitally lead to 2% of carbon emissions? That might not sound like much, but climate change nowadays doesn’t show any tolerance toward even 2% of emissions.
The most important part of their work that makes them stand out the most is that they keep their monthly reports transparent for the users. This, in turn, allows users to give their trust to them willingly.
According to their most recent report published in July 2022 by Ecosia, a total of 4,636,117 trees were financed in July. Furthermore, over 156 million trees have been planted so far. That is quite a large number!
So where does this income come from? You might be wondering right now. Ecosia, in order to pursue its major goal, gives off the part of its income that they generate by running advertisements. The most incredible part is that they do not just randomly start planting trees. They conduct a thorough study on where they should focus their efforts based on deforestation and then assist in addressing these issues.
Security:-
Lastly, besides prioritizing sustainability, Ecosia is not behind when it comes to respecting the privacy of its users. Every search on Google is used to be sold to advertising companies in order to benefit themselves and advertising companies. However, Ecosia claims that it does not do that. Moreover, they also ensure that their encryption method works when you search for a particular query on it.
Saved personal data:-
We know the significance of optimization. Generally, Google relies on its own tools such as Google Analytics to perform optimization, but Ecosia doesn’t allow such external tracking tools so as to prevent others from accessing their users’ personal data.
However, Ecosia still uses just a bit of data to enhance its own services. Even that is easily stoppable by the users.
DuckDuckGo Search Engine: Overview -
DuckDuckgo is a search engine just like Google and Ecosia, founded by Gabriel Weinberg in February 2008, just a year earlier than Ecosia. That also makes it a recently developed search engine. Just as Ecosia’s main focus is on supporting nature, DuckDuckGo’s aim is to protect the user’s privacy at all costs.
DuckDuckGo is by far the 6th most preferred search engine in the world and has a market share of 0.63% (worldwide). The company currently has 180 employees working for it and handles 23.6 billion queries worldwide every year.
Despite being new, DuckDuckGo has crossed 6 million monthly downloads and secured an average rating of 4.7/5.
Security:-
You must be asking how they actually stop third parties from accessing the user’s data by any possible means. This is where the key secret of their success rests. They do not store your data, to begin with. By eliminating this vulnerability in the initial step, customers may easily deal with their queries without fear of their personal activities being sold out.
Saved personal data:-
Moreover, DuckDuckGo also promises to take care of search leakages. Generally, on some search engines, whenever a user enters any keyword and selects a site of their choice, these sites not only access the search term but also get to know who searched for it. DuckDuckGo prevents that by stopping the data through their algorithms from being sent out to the sites the user has visited.
Generating revenue:-
DuckDuckGo has a smart income-producing trick up its sleeve that allows it to keep confidentiality while simultaneously generating revenue.
Displays advertisement:-
DuckDuckGo displays advertisements based on current queries rather than prior ones, and if the user closes that browser, all data is gone. This means they will never see the same ads based on the same keyword again until they search for it again. You could even try it. Search for any term and wait for related adverts to appear. Reopen it after closing it. You’re certainly going to receive a different one this time.
However, by making some changes in settings, users can also turn off this privacy security system and allow sites to access their data.
Pros of Ecosia vs DuckDuckGo:
DuckDuck go pros:-
- Duckduck go keeps your privacy safe.
- It contains high-quality graphics and a good interface.
- It does not track your personal information
- You can watch YouTube videos through the DuckDuck Go site.
Ecosia Pros:-
- Ecosia track you like a helping and friendly environment.
- Ecosia publishes monthly reports of their business for their users.
- As, the DuckDuck Go search engine, Ecosia also take much care of their users privacy.
Cons of Ecosia vs DuckDuckGo:
DuckDuck go Cons:-
- You may never be able to know that the loading page is updated or not.
- Languages other than English may not be able to see in this search engine.
- Bing is used by Ecosia in many search results.
Ecosia Cons:-
- Image results are very difficult to find in this search engine.
- Ecosia uses Bing, not Google. That’s why it is trying but not getting so much charm as much as needed.
- The greatest place to begin to understand their functionality is through the user’s experience.
Ecosia vs DuckDuckGo- Which One You Should Use?
Now that we know how these two search engines function and what their purposes are, it’s time to determine which one of these is the best one to use.
In general, it is far easier to compare two products that have many similarities than two that have nearly none. This would be a tough competition between Ecosia and DuckDuckGo since both strive to address distinct but equally significant global challenges.
Ecosia vs Duckduckgo - Users’ Reviews:-
Ecosia Search Engine
- Based on the primary data collected by Google Play in the form of reviews, most users are currently facing issues due to the lack of customizing options. They say that they used to highly recommend this browser until recently. They seem to be frustrated by grouped tab updates, which apparently make the browser unstable. After some time, it loses track of the opened tabs, and elements on the webpage get blocked due to the group tab bar below.
- Some also say that they are finding it hard to transfer their bookmarked webpages to the Ecosia search engine, which makes it difficult for them to completely switch to this browser and remove the old one.
- The remaining people complain that besides their group tab update, their ad blocker option doesn’t even work for them!
Duckduckgo Search Engine
- Moving on to DuckDuckGo, the reviews collected by Google Play show that issues are minimal and insignificant.
- Many of them say that their experience with DuckDuckGo has been remarkable, until recently when their newly updated version started causing the browser to crash numerous times.
- Users complain that it makes it harder to download large or sometimes even smaller files, as it keeps turning off on its own. However, users seemed to sort it out by deleting the new one and re-downloading the old version.
- Moreover, some of them complain about the unexpected lagging in their browser, and they believe that the issue is from DuckDuckGo’s end, forcing them to permanently delete and explore other browsing options.
Users prefer their comfort over other causes, according to the evaluations, since even if the firms provide a moral reason to utilize their services, how can the users accomplish their day-to-day activities if the service does not meet their expectations? Even if they don’t appreciate it, they are forced to seek other options.
Perhaps this is why DuckDuckGo has 4.7 stars while Ecosia is still at 4.5. Users care about even the slightest differences. This concludes that, based on functionality, currently, DuckDuckGo is winning the race.
Ecosia vs Duckduckgo - Which One Provides Better Security?
If we compare both over privacy, we know that both do their best to provide the users with some sense of security and they both highly value it. However, we know that the main focus of DuckDuckGo is entirely the privacy of the users and even the functionality of the browser relies on it, making them win this race too.
Ecosia vs Duckduckgo - What About their Goals?
Finally, we are seeing earthquakes, droughts, and excess rainfall in 2022. Due to this, we know how dire the situation is getting due to climate change. The current climate is begging us to reduce carbon emissions and take all necessary steps to mitigate the damage we have caused so far, and Ecosia is specifically aiming to do that.
Privacy concerns are also another major problem so far. Thus, for now, climate change outranks our privacy concerns. That makes Ecosia definitely a better choice.
Final Thoughts
After comparing Ecosia and DuckDuckGo in terms of functionality, security, and aims, it seems like DuckDuckGo has outperformed Ecosia in more than one quality that users seek in search engines. However, this doesn’t make Ecosia the least recommended since we must not forget that noble causes need sacrifices and compromises. Ecosia’s goal is to preserve humanity, not simply the environment.
Consider yourself in the absence of the world; where would you go? Without it, even search engines, let alone our privacy, will lose meaning.
Thus, in the end, the decision and the responsibility ultimately fall on your shoulders. You get to decide based on what you value the most.
