Brave Search
by Brave Software, Inc.
Brave Search is an independent web search engine from Brave Software. It uses its own search index and offers optional AI-generated answers, while emphasizing privacy and not profiling users for targeted advertising.
Why Abandoned
Brave Search remains publicly accessible at its official website, and Brave continues to publish product updates and operate its search API.
💵 Pricing & access
- Pricing model
- Not documented
- Starting at
- Not documented
- Official site
- Visit Brave Search →
🩺 Health Signals
- HTTP Status
- 200
- Response
- —
- SSL
- —
- Confidence
- 98%
- Domain expires
- —
- Last content change
- —
- Last tweet
- —
- API status
- —
📅 Timeline
Brave acquires Tailcat
Brave acquired the open search engine Tailcat from Cliqz to support development of an independent, privacy-focused search product.
Brave Search launches in public beta
Brave opened Brave Search to all users in public beta after an earlier testing program and began offering it as a search option in Brave Browser.
Brave Search exits beta
Brave marked the search engine's first anniversary by removing the beta label and introducing Goggles, a feature for applying transparent ranking rules to results.
Summarizer is introduced
Brave added an AI-powered Summarizer that generated concise answers and source-attributed summaries from web search results.
Answer with AI launches
Brave introduced Answer with AI, expanding its earlier summarization feature into generated responses for informational, local, current-event, and other queries.
🔄 Alternatives to Brave Search
ChatGPT
🟢ActiveOpenAI's conversational AI assistant that sparked the generative AI revolution.
Bard / Gemini
🟢ActiveGoogle's AI assistant, originally Bard, rebranded to Gemini with multimodal capabilities.
Perplexity AI
🟢ActiveAI-powered answer engine that provides cited, real-time answers to complex questions.
You.com
🟢ActiveAI search engine offering summarized answers with source citations and app integrations.
🪦 Other dead Search tools
Waldo
🟡Acquired / MergedWaldo was a research search platform for finding and extracting information from online sources. It provided source-backed answers and tools for organizing research, with a focus on professional knowledge work.
Scite
🟡Acquired / MergedScite is a research discovery and citation-analysis platform that uses machine learning to classify citation contexts as supporting, contrasting, or mentioning a claim. It also offers literature search and an AI research assistant.
Neeva
🔴Shutdown / DeadAd-free, AI-powered search engine founded by ex-Google exec that aimed to provide unbiased search results.
Casetext
🟡Acquired / MergedCasetext launched CoCounsel in March 2023, a GPT-4-powered legal assistant for case analysis, contract review, and deposition prep. The product gained traction with AmLaw 100 firms and Thomson Reuters announced a $650M cash acquisition in June 2023, closing in August. CoCounsel was rebranded as a Thomson Reuters product line and integrated with Westlaw. The standalone Casetext site is gone.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
What is Brave Search?
Brave Search is a web search engine developed by Brave Software. It emphasizes privacy, does not build personal profiles for targeted advertising, and relies primarily on its own independent web index.
Is Brave Search free to use?
Yes. The standard Brave Search website is free to use. Brave also offers separate paid products and services, including commercial access to the Brave Search API.
Does Brave Search track users?
Brave says its search engine does not track users or create personal profiles. Some optional features may require local or user-provided settings, so users should review the current privacy policy for exact data practices.
Does Brave Search use its own search index?
Yes. Brave Search operates an independent web index. Brave has also disclosed that certain result types or fallback mechanisms may use external sources, so complete independence can vary by query and feature.
Does Brave Search include AI answers?
Yes. Brave Search offers Answer with AI, which generates responses using information retrieved from web results and provides links or citations so users can inspect the underlying sources.