Improving the ecological resilience of the Yellow River Basin is an important aspect of ecological protection and high-quality development. A spatial econometric model was used to analyze the impact of digital economy on ecological resilience in 66 cities in the Yellow River Basin from 2011 to 2020. The results indicate that the overall level of ecological resilience in the Yellow River Basin is relatively low, with slow development and further widening regional disparities. The role of digital economy in ecological resilience has obvious nonlinear characteristics, with a more significant impact on the entire watershed and upstream, while the impact on the midstream is less significant. The impact of the digital economy on ecological resilience has a significant spatial spillover effect, with direct and indirect benefits across the entire watershed. The direct effect is dominant in the middle and lower reaches, while the spatial spillover effect in the upstream is not significant. The main reasons for the non-linear effect of digital economy on ecological resilience are the differences in economic development, government intervention, and foreign investment.