Google Search Qwant is a French search engine founded in 2011 and headquartered in Paris, positioning itself as a privacy-respecting alternative to Google. Acquired in 2023 by Synfonium — an entity created by OVHcloud founder Octave Klaba — the company is now jointly owned by Synfonium (75%) and Caisse des Depots (25%). Operating under French jurisdiction and subject to GDPR, Qwant generates revenue through contextual advertising and does not require user registration for basic search functionality.
Despite strong marketing claims of “zero tracking” and “zero sale of personal data,” independent scrutiny reveals a more nuanced picture. France’s data protection authority CNIL found in February 2025 that data Qwant shares with Microsoft constitutes personal data — contradicting the company’s anonymization claims. Search queries, partial IP addresses, and browser information flow to Microsoft for both search results delivery and advertising. Qwant uses Piwik Pro Analytics Suite, which creates user profiles based on browsing behavior. The core search engine remains closed source, preventing independent verification of privacy claims.
In late 2024, Qwant partnered with Berlin-based Ecosia to form the European Search Perspective (EUSP), a joint venture building an independent European search index called Staan. This initiative represents a significant step toward reducing dependency on Microsoft Bing, which a 2019 French government audit found accounted for 64% of Qwant’s search results.
Key Features
- No Registration Required: Full search functionality without creating an account or providing personal information
- Contextual Advertising: Ads are based on the current search query, not on user profiles or browsing history
- European Jurisdiction: French company subject to GDPR and French data protection law
- Qwant Junior: Child-safe search version filtering inappropriate content
- European Search Index: Joint venture with Ecosia (EUSP/Staan) to build an independent European index
- No Advertising Cookie Banner: Claims no advertising cookies are set without explicit consent
Privacy Highlights
Qwant’s privacy policy is structured with named processing purposes and specific retention periods. IP addresses are retained for 6 months before deletion. Search keywords linked to pseudonymous identifiers are kept for 1 month, while keywords alone are stored for up to 12 months. Cookie identifiers have an 18-month lifespan, and aggregated data is retained for 25 months. Users can exercise GDPR rights (access, rectification, erasure, portability) by contacting the DPO at legal@qwant.com.
However, there is a documented gap between Qwant’s marketing and its verified practices. Since mid-2016, Qwant has sent user data to Microsoft Bing Ads, including the first three bytes of the user’s IP address (full IP for account holders), search keywords, browser information, geographic region, and a salted IP hash. In February 2025, CNIL issued a compliance reminder after determining this data constitutes personal data — not anonymous data as Qwant had claimed in its privacy policy. The policy had also omitted disclosure of advertising purposes and the legal basis for Microsoft data transfers.
Qwant employs Piwik Pro Analytics Suite for statistical analysis, which creates user profiles based on browsing history, bounce rates, and pages viewed. Independent researchers have also detected Real User Monitoring (RUM) telemetry sending data to an internal endpoint in opaque binary format that cannot be audited externally due to the closed-source nature of the platform.
Privacy Breakdown
Data Residency (Score: 60 — Confidence: High)
Pros:
- Headquartered in Paris, France, with servers in Rouen. Subject to French law and GDPR.
- Building European search index (EUSP/Staan) with Ecosia to reduce US dependency.
- Post-2023 ownership by Synfonium/Klaba aligns with European digital sovereignty goals, with likely migration to OVHcloud infrastructure.
Cons:
- CNIL (February 2025) confirmed personal data transfers to Microsoft in the USA — contradicting anonymization claims (source: Digital Policy Alert, CNIL compliance reminder).
- Microsoft receives: IP/24 (full for accounts), search keywords, browser info, geographic region, salted IP hash.
- During a 2024 Bing API outage, Qwant stopped returning results entirely, revealing deep infrastructure dependency on US services.
Open Source (Score: 25 — Confidence: High)
Pros:
- GitHub organizations
qwantandQwantResearchhost approximately 30 repositories including geocoding tools (Apache-2.0, AGPL-3.0), browser extensions, and the Android browser app.
Cons:
- The core search engine — indexer, crawler, ranking algorithms — is fully closed source.
- The API is closed and officially undocumented; only community-maintained unofficial documentation exists.
- RUM telemetry payloads are “garbled binary data” that cannot be independently inspected (source: awesome-privacy issue #45).
Privacy Policy (Score: 60 — Confidence: High)
Pros:
- Structured policy with explicit retention periods for each data category (6–25 months depending on type).
- User rights clearly documented with specific contact information for the DPO.
- No registration required for basic search.
Cons:
- CNIL compliance reminder (February 2025): policy failed to disclose advertising purposes and legal basis for Microsoft data transfers (source: Digital Policy Alert).
- Marketing claims “zero tracking” while Piwik Pro creates user profiles and data flows to Microsoft for advertising.
- Six-year gap between the original CNIL complaint filing and resolution.
Trackers (Score: 48 — Confidence: Medium-High)
Pros:
- No advertising cookie banner on homepage by design.
- Claims no personalized ads by default; users can opt in via cookie consent.
Cons:
- Piwik Pro Analytics Suite confirmed in privacy policy — creates user profiles based on browsing history, bounce rates, and pages viewed.
- RUM telemetry detected at
apm/intake/v2/rum/eventsendpoint sending opaque binary data (source: awesome-privacy issue #45). - Data sent to Microsoft Bing Ads since mid-2016: IP/24, User-Agent, search keywords (source: Qwant privacy policy, CNIL finding).
- 2017 Exodus Privacy report flagged 3 trackers in Android app: Google Crashlytics, DoubleClick, Schibsted — Qwant disputed findings (source: Qwant blog response to Exodus Privacy).
Terms of Service (Score: 68 — Confidence: High)
Pros:
- No registration required. Users retain ownership of their data.
- Privacy-friendly jurisdiction (French law).
Cons:
- Personal data shared with third parties nonessential to the service.
- Logs referrer URL (previous page visited before arriving at Qwant).
- Limited timeframe for legal action against the service.
- Broad liability disclaimers — Qwant “decline[s] all responsibility” for damages.
- No explicit account termination policy documented in ToS.
Controversies
Qwant has faced several significant controversies. In February 2025, CNIL issued a compliance reminder after finding that data shared with Microsoft was personal data, not anonymous as the privacy policy claimed. The policy had omitted key disclosures about advertising purposes and the legal basis for data transfers to Microsoft. [1]
Co-founder Eric Leandri was convicted by a Paris court for spying on fellow co-founder Jean-Manuel Rozan’s email using TeamViewer in late 2019. [2] He was forced to resign in 2020 amid reports of tens of millions in annual losses despite over EUR 50 million in public subsidies, along with allegations of toxic workplace culture. Leandri subsequently founded Altrnativ, an open-source espionage company that Politico reported conducted missions for authoritarian African governments — a stark departure from his former privacy-champion image. [3]
A 2019 French interministerial audit revealed that 64% of Qwant’s search results came from Microsoft Bing, undermining claims of an independent European search engine. [4] In 2025, Qwant filed an antitrust complaint against Microsoft for allegedly degrading Bing API search result quality, as Microsoft announced the retirement of Bing Search APIs by August 2026. [5]
