Two well-known privacy-focused search engines, Qwant (France) and Ecosia (Germany), have joined forces to launch Staan, a brand-new search index they built together under a joint venture called European Search Perspective (EUSP). Their goal? To give Europe its own cheaper, privacy-first alternative to Google and Bing — without relying on U.S. or Chinese tech giants.
The partnership kicked off last year, and the results are starting to roll out. Qwant has already integrated Staan into some of its features, including AI-powered search summaries, while Ecosia plans to add AI features to its own platform soon. By the end of 2024, they aim for Staan to handle about 50% of French search queries and 33% of German searches — a huge step toward reducing Europe’s reliance on foreign search infrastructure.
But this isn’t just about competing with Google for your browser searches. EUSP wants to power search inside apps and chatbots, too. Think of AI tools like ChatGPT that need real-time web knowledge — Staan could become their behind-the-scenes search engine, at one-tenth of the cost of Google or Bing, according to Ecosia CEO Christian Kroll. That’s a big deal for startups and developers who can’t afford Big Tech prices.
And there’s a political edge here. The companies point out that Europe’s search, cloud, and AI layers are still heavily dependent on American platforms, leaving entire industries — from journalism to climate tech — vulnerable to political or commercial decisions made elsewhere. With the geopolitical climate heating up, they say the need for European-controlled digital infrastructure has never been more urgent.
The kicker? Privacy. By combining this independent index with Europe’s strong privacy laws, EUSP claims it can offer a safer, less invasive search experience than U.S. competitors — no unnecessary tracking, no hidden data grabs.
Looks like Europe is finally building a search engine that works for Europeans, not just on Europeans.
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