# Alternatives to Brave Search

Independent index with AI answers.

Brave Search ranks #1 of 7 in Search engines, with an Alt Score of 86. It is proprietary, freemium from $3.00/month and available on the web. 10 of 10 checklist rows are verified against a public source.

Source: https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/brave-search/
Category: Search engines

## Where Brave Search stands out

- **Customizable ranking** — 2 of 6 apps with a verified answer have this
- **Paid tier value** — 2 of 7 apps with a verified answer have this
- **Ad-free option** — 3 of 7 apps with a verified answer have this
- **Independent index** — 3 of 7 apps with a verified answer have this

## Overview

- **Who it's for**: Anyone who wants an alternative to Google or Bing, especially users who prioritize privacy and want search results not shaped by big tech data collection.
- **What you get**: A web search engine built on Brave's own independent index rather than relicensing results from another provider. It returns web, image, video, and news results without tracking or profiling users, and includes optional AI-generated summary answers (Ask Brave) with cited sources, plus Goggles, a feature for applying custom or community-made re-ranking rules to results.
- **How it works**: You search from search.brave.com or from the address bar if it's set as your default search engine, and get a results page combining standard listings with AI summaries and other content types. The service is ad-supported by default, with a paid ad-free tier available.

## Profile

- **License**: Proprietary (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Pricing model**: Freemium (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Starts at**: $3.00/month (verified 2026-07-10)
- **Platforms**: Web
- **Status**: active (verified 2026-07-10)

## Ranked alternatives

| # | App | Alt Score | Licence | Platforms |
|---|-----|-----------|---------|-----------|
| 1 | [Kagi](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/kagi.md) | 86 | Proprietary | Web |
| 2 | [DuckDuckGo](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/duckduckgo.md) | 73 | Proprietary | Web |
| 3 | [Ecosia](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/ecosia.md) | 60 | ? | Web |
| 4 | [Google](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/google.md) | 50 | Proprietary | Web |
| 5 | [Mojeek](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/mojeek.md) | 46 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |
| 6 | [Startpage](https://altcatalog.com/alternatives/startpage.md) | 24 | Proprietary | Web, iOS, Android |

Alt Score = Verified coverage (90%) + Visibility (10%). See https://altcatalog.com/how-alt-score-works/

## Feature comparison

Legend: Yes / No / Partial / ? (not verified).

| Search engines checklist | Brave Search | Kagi | DuckDuckGo | Ecosia | Google | Mojeek |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Subscription | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| Starts at | $3.00/month | $5/mo | Free | Free | Free | Free |
| License | Proprietary | Proprietary | Proprietary | ? | Proprietary | Proprietary |
| Platforms | Web | Web | Web | Web | Web | Web, iOS, Android |
| Independent index | Yes | Partial | Partial | No | Yes | Yes |
| No tracking | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | Yes |
| Bangs / shortcuts | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | ? |
| AI answers | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Ad-free option | Yes | Yes | Yes | No | No | No |
| Customizable ranking | Yes | Yes | Partial | Partial | Partial | Partial |
| Self-hostable | No | No | No | No | No | No |
| Maps & local results | Partial | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | ? |
| Image & video search | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | Partial |
| Paid tier value | Yes | Yes | No | No | No | No |

## Sources

Sources for Brave Search. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.

- **Status**: active — <https://search.brave.com/help/goggles> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Goggles enable any individual—or community of people—to alter the ranking of Brave Search by using a set of instructions (rules and filters).”
- **Starts at**: $3.00/month — <https://brave.com/premium/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Search premium $3.00 /month $29.99 /year Buy now”
- **License**: Proprietary — <https://brave.com/search/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Proprietary hosted search engine; no OSS license for the service.
  - Quote: “Brave Search doesn't profile you. It's impossible for us to share, sell, or lose your personal data, because we don't collect it in the first place.”
- **Pricing model**: Freemium — <https://brave.com/premium/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Search premium $3.00 /month $29.99 /year Buy now Brave Search is the world's fastest growing private search engine.”
- **Platforms**: Web — <https://brave.com/search/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Web search at search.brave.com.
  - Quote: “On mobile, desktop, and anywhere the web takes you, Brave Search delivers.”
- **Independent index**: Yes — <https://brave.com/search/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “An independent index delivering actually useful results, without big tech's SEO spam.”
- **No tracking**: Yes — <https://brave.com/search/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “First, and most important, Brave Search adheres to core principles of privacy. We don't profile you. Ever.”
- **Bangs / shortcuts**: Yes — <https://search.brave.com/help/bangs> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Brave Search supports thousands of popular bangs, including Reddit (!r), Wikipedia (!w), Twitter (!tw), Amazon (!a), and more.”
- **AI answers**: Yes — <https://brave.com/search/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Answer with AI" button) is an AI-powered feature in Brave Search that provides users concise summarized answers."
  - Quote: “Brave Search answer engine (available on the search results page via the ”
- **Ad-free option**: Yes — <https://brave.com/premium/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “See search results ad-free Get a cleaner view on all results pages”
- **Customizable ranking**: Yes — <https://search.brave.com/help/goggles> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Goggles enable any individual—or community of people—to alter the ranking of Brave Search by using a set of instructions (rules and filters).”
- **Self-hostable**: No — <https://search.brave.com/help/premium> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: Hosted service; no self-hosting.
  - Quote: “Brave Search Premium is exclusively available on the Brave Browser.”
- **Maps & local results**: Partial — <https://search.brave.com/help/anonymous-local-results> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Note: IP-based local results; no dedicated Maps product.
  - Quote: “Brave does not know your location. If you'd like localized search results you can choose to filter based on your computer's IP address.”
- **Image & video search**: Yes — <https://search.brave.com/help/operators> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Answers are enriched with highly relevant videos, images, news, discussions and more.”
- **Paid tier value**: Yes — <https://brave.com/premium/> (verified 2026-07-10)
  - Quote: “Search premium $3.00 /month $29.99 /year Buy now Brave Search is the world's fastest growing private search engine. It doesn't profile you, and it's not beholden to Big Tech.”

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Ranked by verified data, never by who paid. https://altcatalog.com/trust/