Dapple

Which AI chatbots give back, and how to check

Checked

Several AI chat apps say they are better for the planet. They mean different things: some fund trees, some buy carbon offsets, some run on renewable power.

This page sets out what each one claims, what it gives and what evidence it publishes, with a link and the date we read it. We make Dapple, so we have tried hard to be fair.

What a green AI chat can and cannot mean

Every chat uses electricity, whoever runs it. Funding trees does not cancel that out, and a tree that has been paid for is not yet a tree in the ground.

Claims are easiest to trust when they name a partner, explain how the money flows and link to receipts you can open yourself.

Side by side

Dapple

What it claims
  • Dapple gives 15% of every paid subscription to fund tree planting through Tree-Nation.
What it gives
15% of every paid subscription goes into a giving pool, ordered from Tree-Nation once a month. Chatting and free use add nothing.
Public evidence
The impact page shows every order and its certificate, or that none has been placed yet.
Model and host
One open-weight model. The company that processes messages is named on our impact page. No hosting or energy figures are published, so we make no claim about them.
Price
Free daily allowance. Premium £5.99 a month, Plus £11.99 a month.
Sources

Ecosia AI Chat

What it claims
  • "generate more clean energy from solar and wind than our AI features consume"
  • "100% of our profits for the planet"
  • "invested €18M in renewable energy projects"
What it gives
Profits from search ads go to tree planting and renewable energy projects. No per-chat tree promise on the pages we read.
Public evidence
Names its models and the tools it uses to estimate energy (the AI Energy Score and EcoLogits). Says it "can't yet account for the emissions generated during the AI model's training". The help page gives no kWh or CO2 figure.
Model and host
Mistral Small 4 for chat, Mistral Small 3.2 for AI Overviews. Chat requests go to Mistral.
Price
Free. The help page lists no fee, only upload limits (5 files of up to 5 MB each).
Sources

GreenPT

What it claims
  • "100% renewable energy, hosted in the EU"
  • "Energy use shown per chat"
What it gives
No tree or donation claim. Its offer is renewable EU hosting and energy figures per chat.
Public evidence
Names its data centres (Scaleway in Paris, Verda in Helsinki), states a PUE of 1.25 and a WUE of 0.25, and holds ISO 50001 and ISO 27001. Says "we can't yet verify that the models we use were trained with renewable energy". The pages we read do not say how the renewable supply is sourced, for example by contract or certificate.
Model and host
Open models it hosts itself, such as Mistral Small 3.2, GPT-OSS 120B and Gemma 4, in Paris and Helsinki.
Price
Starter €4.50 a month (15 prompts a day), Pro €17.50, Teams €17.50. 14-day trial, no card.
Sources

Ecoia

What it claims
  • "carbon-negative rather than simply neutral"
  • "retires verified offsets for more than 200% of that footprint"
  • "commits 10% of revenue to conservation"
What it gives
Carbon offsets and 10% of revenue to conservation, including reforestation.
Public evidence
The pages we read name no offset registry, standard or project. Its footprint calculator describes its figures as "a transparent estimate, not a lab measurement".
Model and host
Claude, GPT and Gemini, versions not stated. Hosting not stated.
Price
From $20 a month. The API is priced per token.
Sources

Viro

What it claims
  • "runs on 100% clean energy"
  • "clean by geography, not by certificates"
  • "All profits fund verified climate projects."
What it gives
Profits to climate projects, which are not named.
Public evidence
Names the countries its data centres are in (Iceland, Norway, Finland, Ireland). Its April 2025 post says "we don't yet publish monthly reports". We found no named climate projects or receipts.
Model and host
Its own model, which is not named, plus ChatGPT's models. Data centres in Iceland, Norway, Finland and Ireland.
Price
Free, with in-app plans on the UK App Store from £0.99 to £12.99 a month.
Sources

EcoGPT

What it claims
  • "263,386 trees funded", with a goal of 500,000 trees by 2027
  • "1 tree planted" for every "200 prompts"
  • "primarily renewable energy (98% carbon free)" in Finland
What it gives
Tree planting through Trees for the Future.
Public evidence
Lists five dated certificates from Trees for the Future, from 31 May to 7 September 2026. Of its other metrics it says "we'll publish them soon".
Model and host
"small, efficient open-source models", not named. Main servers in Finland.
Price
Free (60 messages a day without an account, 500 with a free account, with ads). Pro $10 a month.
Sources

How to check a tree claim