Search without a trace.

FAQs

• What is Brave Search?

  Brave Search is the world’s most complete, independent, private search engine. By integrating Brave Search into its browser, Brave offers the first all-in-one browser / search alternative to the big tech platforms. Brave Search is available as the default search engine in Brave or most other major browsers, or via search.brave.com.

• How do I use Brave Search, or set it as default?

  For some Brave users who downloaded the Brave browser on October 19, 2021 or later, Brave Search will be automatically set as the default search engine. Simply conduct a search in the address bar of any Brave browser tab. Learn more.

  All other users can set Brave Search as the default search engine in Brave or most other major browsers, and then search from the address bar of any browser tab. To check the default search engine in the Brave Browser, open the settings page at brave://settings/search.

  You can also use Brave Search by visiting search.brave.com from any browser.

• Do I have to use Brave Search if I use the Brave browser?

  No. You can still use other search engines in the Brave browser. To do so, either visit the web address of that search engine (like google.com), or set another engine as the default in the Brave browser.

• Can I use Brave Search in browsers other than Brave?

  Yes. We do not believe in walled gardens, so you can set Brave Search as the default search engine in most major browsers. Or visit search.brave.com.

  In the future, we also plan to offer API access to Brave Search so it can power other search engines.

• How can I change the default language for search results?

  Brave Search is available in US and UK English, as well as French, German, and Japanese. We’ll be adding support for more languages soon, so check back often to see when private, independent search is available in your language.

  Note that if you live in the US, UK, France, or Germany and you downloaded the Brave Browser on October 19, 2021 or later, Brave Search may already be the default search engine. You can change the default search engine for the Brave Browser, or change the default language for Brave Search at any time.

• What does it mean for Brave Search to be in “beta”?

  In many regions, Brave Search already has a level of quality that competes with other established search engines like Google and Bing. However, we owe it to our users to hold ourselves to the highest standards. We’ve kept the “beta” tag to denote that we’re not done improving, and that we’re constantly pushing to provide the highest level of quality in more regions, for more types of results, and to build the ultimate private searching experience.

  Rome, as they say, wasn’t built in a day—a truly independent alternative to Google and Bing won’t be either. But, with your help, it will happen.

  Note that initiatives like the Web Discovery Project and short-term tools like fallback mixing will help us achieve our goal that much sooner. But the most important thing you can do to defeat Big Tech is use Brave Search, set it as default for all your queries, and to tell us how we can improve. We listen to all feedback we receive, and incorporate suggestions directly into our product roadmap. Use the feedback icon on any results page to submit feedback and suggestions.

• Will I see ads in Brave Search? Do these ads work with Brave Rewards?

  Brave Search is ad supported and, unlike other search providers, our ads adhere to the principle of privacy-first. Ultimately, our vision is to expand the Brave Ads ecosystem to include search ads that reward users for viewing them. But this is still a work in progress; for now, Brave Search ads are not eligible for Brave Rewards. We hope to have more news on this in the coming months.

  Users who want to support the Brave Search mission, and get an ad-free experience, will soon be able to upgrade to Brave Search Premium.

• How is Brave Search different? What does “independent” mean?

  First, and most important, Brave Search adheres to core principles of privacy. We don’t track you, your searches, or your clicks. Ever. This is far different from the vast majority of search providers, who siphon up every piece of data about your search behavior, and tie it directly to you.

  Second, Brave Search operates from an independent search index. An index is the list of billions of web pages, and some basic info about those pages, that search engines draw from to deliver search results. Most search engines—even supposedly “neutral” or “private” ones—don’t do this. They’re just façades that rely exclusively on third-parties for their results. If Big Tech suddenly ceased to function, those other search operators would go offline. Brave Search, meanwhile, would stay fully operational.

  Independence means choice: for users—and for Brave—to be safer online, and not be beholden to the privacy invasions, censorship, biases, or economic interests of Big Tech.

  Note that Brave Search is based on an independent index. However, for some queries, Brave can anonymously check our search results against third-party results, and mix them on the results page. This mixing is a means-to-an-end toward 100% independence. For full transparency and to measure Brave’s progress toward that goal, Brave provides a “Results independence” metric. This anonymous calculation shows the % of search results that come from Brave versus these third parties. Note that no matter the independence metric, your privacy will always be 100%.