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.
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.
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.
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.
Where Brave Search stands out
Verified capabilities most alternatives don't have.
Why people leave Brave Search
Dashed reasons are sourced facts; the rest are opinions. Vendors can dispute.
Sign in to add a reason — new reasons go through moderation before appearing.
Ranked alternatives
Ordered by Alt Score. Click any score to see the breakdown.
Feature comparison
Rows come from the Search engines checklist (14 rows). Human-verified cells only. ? means the value has not been verified.
| Search engines checklist | Brave Search | Kagi | DuckDuckGo | Ecosia | Mojeek | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Ad-free option | ||||||
| Customizable ranking | ||||||
| Self-hostable | ||||||
| Maps & local results | ||||||
| Image & video search | ||||||
| Paid tier value |
Every fact and feature listed for Brave Search is verified against its own pages. Each alternative is sourced on its own page.
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Status active verified 2026-07-10
Goggles enable any individual—or community of people—to alter the ranking of Brave Search by using a set of instructions (rules and filters).
https://search.brave.com/help/goggles -
Starts at $3.00/month verified 2026-07-10
Search premium $3.00 /month $29.99 /year Buy now
https://brave.com/premium/ -
License Proprietary verified 2026-07-10
Proprietary hosted search engine; no OSS license for the service.
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.
https://brave.com/search/ -
Pricing model Freemium verified 2026-07-10
Search premium $3.00 /month $29.99 /year Buy now Brave Search is the world's fastest growing private search engine.
https://brave.com/premium/ -
Platforms Web verified 2026-07-10
Web search at search.brave.com.
On mobile, desktop, and anywhere the web takes you, Brave Search delivers.
https://brave.com/search/ -
Independent index Yes verified 2026-07-10
An independent index delivering actually useful results, without big tech's SEO spam.
https://brave.com/search/ -
No tracking Yes verified 2026-07-10
First, and most important, Brave Search adheres to core principles of privacy. We don't profile you. Ever.
https://brave.com/search/ -
Bangs / shortcuts Yes verified 2026-07-10
Brave Search supports thousands of popular bangs, including Reddit (!r), Wikipedia (!w), Twitter (!tw), Amazon (!a), and more.
https://search.brave.com/help/bangs -
AI answers Yes verified 2026-07-10
Answer with AI" button) is an AI-powered feature in Brave Search that provides users concise summarized answers."
Brave Search answer engine (available on the search results page via the
https://brave.com/search/ -
Ad-free option Yes verified 2026-07-10
See search results ad-free Get a cleaner view on all results pages
https://brave.com/premium/ -
Customizable ranking Yes verified 2026-07-10
Goggles enable any individual—or community of people—to alter the ranking of Brave Search by using a set of instructions (rules and filters).
https://search.brave.com/help/goggles -
Self-hostable No verified 2026-07-10
Hosted service; no self-hosting.
Brave Search Premium is exclusively available on the Brave Browser.
https://search.brave.com/help/premium -
Maps & local results Partial verified 2026-07-10
IP-based local results; no dedicated Maps product.
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.
https://search.brave.com/help/anonymous-local-results -
Image & video search Yes verified 2026-07-10
Answers are enriched with highly relevant videos, images, news, discussions and more.
https://search.brave.com/help/operators -
Paid tier value Yes verified 2026-07-10
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.
https://brave.com/premium/
FAQ
Yes. DuckDuckGo, Ecosia and Google have a free tier or are fully free. Free-tier limits in the comparison table are verified and dated.