{"slug": "qwant", "name": "Qwant", "category": "search", "category_name": "Search", "description": "", "recommenders": 1, "commenters": 4, "warners": 1, "score": 0.493, "rising": 1.0, "first": "2026-02-09", "latest": "2026-09-12", "why": "", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1, "compare": 2, "warn": 3}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": false, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "", "icon": false, "domain": null, "github_repo": null, "official_url": "", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Qwant"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 789349808, "item_id": 49334363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49334363", "by": "JackSlateur", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Qwant because of that", "excerpt": "Switched to Qwant because of that .. (corporate laptop does not allow changing the search engine urls, only changing the engine itself) Honestly ? Not a stressy move, the major things that changes is that the IA bullshit is gone", "context": "corporate laptop restricts search engine URLs", "use_case": "web search without AI summaries", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 786212193, "item_id": 49138262, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138262", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried qwant, but they copy/pasted the horrible Google Search UI. That's bad. And the search results also suck.", "excerpt": "> As a journalist, I have used Google News for many years to catch up on topics in which I am interested. Interesting observation. I noticed this a few years ago already, when Google started to kill off Google search. I can give many examples but just a simple one: Google used to cache phpBB webforum conversations. I could even read entries that were available only to people who would log in, which was convenient, be", "context": "", "use_case": "search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 784236129, "item_id": 49014758, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49014758", "by": "palata", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The results are just not as good, it feels?", "excerpt": "I was a happy user of Kagi and I switched to Qwant a year ago because they are based in Europe (Ecosia seems to have US servers?). But I have to say: 1. It's slow. As compared to Google or Kagi, getting the results of a search feels sloooow. I could live with that though. 2. The results are just not as good, it feels? And I don't think it's an impression: I left Google like 7 years ago. I have been happy with DuckDuc", "context": "prefers European-based services", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Kagi", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 773753473, "item_id": 48359592, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359592", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Qwant also sucks, by the way - they just copy/pasted Google's search UI", "excerpt": "So, Google killing off google search, is probably the number #1 reason for DuckDuckGo growing - that and how AI ruins everything now. Unfortunately, whenever I used DuckDuckGo, the search results were also crap - and the User Interface was crap too. For some reason these web-searches suck, from A to Z, starting at the UI, but more importantly showing search \"results\" that are really qualitatively not good or inclusiv", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms"}]}], "who": [{"by": "JackSlateur", "context": "corporate laptop restricts search engine URLs", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49334363", "date": "2026-08-17"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["web search", "web search without ai summaries", "search"], "compared": [{"slug": "duckduckgo", "name": "DuckDuckGo", "co": 7, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "kagi", "name": "Kagi", "co": 4, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ecosia", "name": "Ecosia", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "google-search", "name": "Google Search", "co": 2, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "startpage", "name": "Startpage", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "brave", "name": "Brave", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49668386", "title": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49331220", "title": "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49155492", "title": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49137681", "title": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49006195", "title": "Back to Kagi", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359130", "title": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {"compare": 1}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {}, "2026-06": {"warn": 1}, "2026-07": {"warn": 1}, "2026-08": {"warn": 1, "neutral": 1, "recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"compare": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "quotes": [{"id": 794735793, "item_id": 49670987, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49670987", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-09-12", "stance": "compare", "quote": "Qwant results are now a bit better than before, but still not that great", "excerpt": "Google wants to build up a private web here. We already know this from AMP before. Also, the search results are total garbage now. Just give it a try and you see how useless the UI is, with AI results first, then tons of commercial go-to entries and only then a few links that are often also totally useless and irrelevant. Google optimised towards crap. We really need to get rid of Google. Qwant results are now a bit ", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 789349808, "item_id": 49334363, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49334363", "by": "JackSlateur", "date": "2026-08-17", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Switched to Qwant because of that", "excerpt": "Switched to Qwant because of that .. (corporate laptop does not allow changing the search engine urls, only changing the engine itself) Honestly ? Not a stressy move, the major things that changes is that the IA bullshit is gone", "context": "corporate laptop restricts search engine URLs", "use_case": "web search without AI summaries", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "How to disable or avoid intrusive AI"}, {"id": 786504097, "item_id": 49156506, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156506", "by": "ldng", "date": "2026-08-03", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I'll give Ecosia/Qwant a go", "excerpt": "Interesting. I'll give Ecosia/Qwant a go than as I'm not really interested in opting-out of a bubble.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786212193, "item_id": 49138262, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49138262", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-08-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "I tried qwant, but they copy/pasted the horrible Google Search UI. That's bad. And the search results also suck.", "excerpt": "> As a journalist, I have used Google News for many years to catch up on topics in which I am interested. Interesting observation. I noticed this a few years ago already, when Google started to kill off Google search. I can give many examples but just a simple one: Google used to cache phpBB webforum conversations. I could even read entries that were available only to people who would log in, which was convenient, be", "context": "", "use_case": "search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google News is just Forrest Gump's shrimp boat now"}, {"id": 784236129, "item_id": 49014758, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49014758", "by": "palata", "date": "2026-07-22", "stance": "warn", "quote": "The results are just not as good, it feels?", "excerpt": "I was a happy user of Kagi and I switched to Qwant a year ago because they are based in Europe (Ecosia seems to have US servers?). But I have to say: 1. It's slow. As compared to Google or Kagi, getting the results of a search feels sloooow. I could live with that though. 2. The results are just not as good, it feels? And I don't think it's an impression: I left Google like 7 years ago. I have been happy with DuckDuc", "context": "prefers European-based services", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Kagi", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 773753473, "item_id": 48359592, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48359592", "by": "shevy-java", "date": "2026-06-01", "stance": "warn", "quote": "Qwant also sucks, by the way - they just copy/pasted Google's search UI", "excerpt": "So, Google killing off google search, is probably the number #1 reason for DuckDuckGo growing - that and how AI ruins everything now. Unfortunately, whenever I used DuckDuckGo, the search results were also crap - and the User Interface was crap too. For some reason these web-searches suck, from A to Z, starting at the UI, but more importantly showing search \"results\" that are really qualitatively not good or inclusiv", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms"}, {"id": 751132610, "item_id": 46945788, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46945788", "by": "palata", "date": "2026-02-09", "stance": "compare", "quote": "some may want to pay for Qwant instead of Kagi, given that Qwant is in Europe.", "excerpt": "I have been using Kagi for years now, but before that I used DDG for years as well, and IMO it was not worse than Google. Kagi is great, I wish more alternatives had a paid version to remove ads. I wonder why this is not more common (Kagi proves that it works, doesn't it?). For instance it feels like some may want to pay for Qwant instead of Kagi, given that Qwant is in Europe.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Why is DuckDuckGo worse than Bing?"}]}