Brave Search review

Brave Search stands out because it runs on its own index instead of renting results from Bing or Google, which most privacy engines do. Brave states that it does not profile users and does not collect the personal data it would need to share or sell. The results page combines classic links with Ask Brave, an AI answer mode that adds summaries, supporting videos and sites, and follow-up questions. Goggles let you apply community-written ranking rules, and a Search API serves developers building their own search or AI products. Searching is free in any major browser at search.brave.com. Search Premium removes the ads for $3.00 a month or $29.99 a year, the cheapest paid tier on this list, but Brave's help center says it is exclusively available on the Brave browser. The help center also documents Google fallback mixing, so not every result is purely from Brave's index.

Who it is for

people who want an independent index rather than Bing or Google results

Price

Free with ads; Search Premium $3.00 a month or $29.99 a year for ad-free results.

Search premium $3.00 /month $29.99 /year
Quoted from the vendor pricing page on November 14, 2026.

Key features

• Results come from Brave's own, built-from-scratch index
• Brave says it does not profile users or collect the personal data it could share or sell
• Ask Brave combines AI chat answers with a normal results page and follow-up questions
• Goggles let you re-rank results with community-driven rules
• Search API for developers who want to power their own search or AI app

Strengths and weaknesses

• Strength: Works in any major browser at search.brave.com
• Strength: Premium costs $3.00 a month or $29.99 a year
• Strength: Independent index means results do not depend on Big Tech
• Weakness: Free results include paid ads
• Weakness: Search Premium is only available on the Brave browser
• Weakness: Brave may mix in Google fallback results, documented in its help center

Key facts

• Price: Free; Premium $3.00 a month
• Index: Own independent index
• AI answers: Ask Brave
• API: Brave Search API

Where it ranks

Brave Search is No. 2 in our Best Private Search Engines verdict.