Use Ecosia in Chrome

Making Ecosia your default search engine on desktop can be done in just a few steps. Below you will find two different ways to use Ecosia on Chrome.

Start using Ecosia:

Download the Ecosia extension

Using the Ecosia extension will set your default search and homepage to Ecosia right away:

  1. Go to the Chrome Extension store and select add to Chrome

  1. In the pop-up, confirm your choice by clicking on Add extension

  1. A new tab should automatically open, showing you a welcome message

  1. Ecosia is now your default search engine!

Need further assistance? Check out these instructions by Google Chrome.

Make Ecosia your default search engine

The default search engine setting determines the search engine in the main address bar. To make Ecosia your default search engine in Chrome, follow these steps:

  1. Open Settings within Chrome - If you are using a mac you can also find Chrome’s settings by clicking on Preferences
  2. Go to search engine and select Ecosia as your default search engine

Please note that Chrome only shows you the top 5 most popular search engines in your market at the moment. As a result, Ecosia may not appear. In that case, please refer to our other installation methods. Alternatively, in the following section, you can manually set Ecosia as your default search engine. Be assured that we are always fighting to be in the top 5!


Need further assistance? Check out these instructions by Google Chrome.

Add Ecosia as your search engine

Adding Ecosia in this way does not give you the Ecosia New Tab Page. But we're working on a solution!  Find out more here.

  1. Visit ecosia.org, Ecosia will be added to your Inactive shortcuts in your settings
  2. Open Settings within Chrome - If you are on a Mac you can also find Chrome’s settings by clicking on Preferences
  3. Select Search Engine and open Manage search engine and site search 
  4. Navigate to Inactive shortcuts and activate Ecosia

  1. Navigate to Site Search
  2. Make Ecosia your default search engine by clicking the dots on the right and select Make default

In case you do not see Ecosia listed as a default option, you can manually add Ecosia as your search engine instead. Simply follow these steps:

  1. Open Settings within Chrome - If you are on a Mac you can also find Chrome’s settings by clicking on Preferences
  2. Select Search Engine and open Manage search engine and site search - If you have visited ecosia.org before you can find Ecosia in your  “Inactive shortcuts” list, you can activate it (jump to step 4) or add Ecosia manually

  1. If you add Ecosia manually enter the following details into the popup 

a. Search engine: Ecosia

b. Shortcut: ecosia.org

c. URL with %s in place of query: https://www.ecosia.org/search?q=%s&addon=manualopensearch

  1. Make Ecosia your default search engine by clicking the dots on the right and selecting Make default

Need further assistance? Check out these instructions by Google Chrome.

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