• Libb@jlai.lu
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    6 days ago

    It still uses Bing (Microsoft) as its backend, as far as I can tell. I know they want to partner with Ecosia to build something less… USA-dependent but I doubt that will happen overnight.

    • plenipotentprotogod@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      6 days ago

      Huh, I was under the impression that they used their own index. I just did a quick search found a blog post they publisted back in 2023. Here are some relevant excerpts:

      At the time of publication, Qwant has in its servers 20 billion indexed web pages

      Qwant uses Bing to supplement search results on which we do not have sufficient relevance, and on images where storage capacities are very important. On the rest, the main SEO logics are often the same which explains why you often find the same search results, ranked slightly differently according to the weight given to one or the other.

      Of course, that’s the company pushing their own preferred narrative, so take it with a grain of salt. But assuming it’s not an outright lie, then they’re definitely more independent than a lot of other search engines.

    • Blaze@feddit.nlOP
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      4
      ·
      6 days ago

      Is there a better alternative? Seems like all the alternative search engine rely on Bing or Google anyway

      • Libb@jlai.lu
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        5 days ago
        • Full EU search (not just a front-end): no idea.
        • EU front-end to US search engines, I would suggest Startpage as well as Qwant, I mean.
        • Independant and ad-free tracking-free innovative search engine but made in USA and also not free: Kagi. It’s the one I’ve been using for almost two years, next to Qwant and to Startpage ;)
        • Blaze@feddit.nlOP
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          4
          ·
          5 days ago

          As stated in another comment

          Startpage is owned by System1, an American Internet advertising company.

      • cabbage@piefed.social
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        6 days ago

        Mojeek is probably the closest thing right now to a normal-looking search engine that is completely independent from Google and Bing. UK based.

    • cabbage@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      6 days ago

      They’ll start with the German and French web, so if you’re searching in English you’ll probably have to wait for a while indeed.