{"slug": "brave-search", "name": "Brave Search", "category": "search", "category_name": "Search", "description": "Privacy-focused web search engine from Brave, built on its own independent index.", "recommenders": 29, "commenters": 46, "warners": 4, "score": 24.927, "rising": 4.78, "first": "2025-11-05", "latest": "2026-10-27", "why": "Recommended as a free Google replacement with its own index, AI answers many find useful, and DDG-style bangs.", "why_is_quote": false, "has_verdict": true, "sentiment": {"recommend": 31, "neutral": 10, "compare": 6, "warn": 4}, "spark": [5, 1, 0, 2, 1, 1, 5, 2, 3, 8, 3, 0], "listed": true, "loved": ["Google alternative", "AI answers"], "caveat": "AI answers", "short_quote": "I can highly recommend Brave Search to anyone who is looking for an alternative.", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": "brave.com", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://search.brave.com", "pricing": "freemium", "aliases": ["Brave Search"], "verdict": [{"text": "Recommended as a free Google replacement with its own index", "cites": [{"id": 798594112, "item_id": 49912132, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912132", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google.", "excerpt": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google. They have an independent index and good UI. Very rarely do I switch to another engine. Brave does well at surfacing forum threads and the AI summary has been surprisingly good for a while. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/search-engines/", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Let's Ditch Google (Verb)"}, {"id": 786502737, "item_id": 49156421, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156421", "by": "SyneRyder", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index.", "excerpt": "If you don't mind paying and someone else having control over your search experience, Kagi is an option. Urkey (sp?) is another new alternative. If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index. Bonus points to Marginalia for finding the obscure things Brave doesn't surface. But if you want to go down the rabbit hole, it's easy to build your own metasearch engine and search several engines at o", "context": "", "use_case": "free web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 784171840, "item_id": 49010740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010740", "by": "MattTheRealOne", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using Brave Search since its launch and it has been great in my experience.", "excerpt": "Same. I have been using Brave Search since its launch and it has been great in my experience. I also love that it has its own index. I have tried the free Kagi trial and it seems to work well, but I can't justify the cost for little to no benefit and it still depends on bigger search engines for indexing.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 789189232, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "default web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 786503169, "item_id": 49156448, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156448", "by": "chinggis", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave Search is great if you want something free.", "excerpt": "Not only is kagi private, but it is also genuinely a much better experience than Google or DDG. However, Brave Search is great if you want something free.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}]}, {"text": ", AI answers many find useful", "cites": [{"id": 755295184, "item_id": 47205949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47205949", "by": "gdmka", "date": "2026-03-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals.", "excerpt": "Lots of valid points in the article. What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals. For quick fact-checks, it's pretty decent when I only need to extract 1-2 sentences. Best thing of Brave search was to adopt the bang[0] syntax. It really helps to quickly redirect to YouTube, DDG, IMDB and Google when needed. Regarding Gmail, I've read so many Google account suspension horror stor", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with AI answers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 772272368, "item_id": 48267023, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48267023", "by": "Kuyawa", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Brave search and usually the AI response is more than good", "excerpt": "I don't know what a search engine is anymore, I use Brave search and usually the AI response is more than good, I can dive deeper in AI if needed. Before, search engines provided links, links provided the info we were looking for. Now AI provides that info without the middle man, links are just a footnote in case you need them.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 773778784, "item_id": 48361174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361174", "by": "james2doyle", "date": "2026-06-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution", "excerpt": "Maybe I\u2019m a wierdo but I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution: https://search.brave.com/ask After switching between Perplexity, Phind, and a couple others, it seems like the best balance for my use. You can always just use the regular Brave search. It does seem to include an AI summary by default, but you can turn that off: https://search.brave.com/settings#:~:text=Make%20AI%2Dpowered%20answe", "context": "", "use_case": "AI-grounded web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms"}]}, {"text": ", and DDG-style bangs.", "cites": [{"id": 772263520, "item_id": 48266470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266470", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "excerpt": "Brave Search has its own index which is fine, 10 blue links and no forced AI, and more importantly support for DDG-like \"bangs\" (like !gi sending you to Google Images), without DDG's performance issues. I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 755295184, "item_id": 47205949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47205949", "by": "gdmka", "date": "2026-03-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals.", "excerpt": "Lots of valid points in the article. What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals. For quick fact-checks, it's pretty decent when I only need to extract 1-2 sentences. Best thing of Brave search was to adopt the bang[0] syntax. It really helps to quickly redirect to YouTube, DDG, IMDB and Google when needed. Regarding Gmail, I've read so many Google account suspension horror stor", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with AI answers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 764328512, "item_id": 47770532, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770532", "by": "gunapologist99", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "brave search's excellent and free AI", "excerpt": "I'm actually surprised when I hear someone technical say they still use Google Search (the search product specifically - they still reign supreme with Maps, etc). I used to love it, but that was quite a long time ago. I personally use Brave Search and perplexity for those very rare instances when brave search doesn't instantly find what I am looking for. Literally the only thing I (rarely) miss from google is super-d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new spam policy for \"back button hijacking\""}]}, {"text": " Complaints include AI answers some find wrong or unwanted", "cites": [{"id": 798062976, "item_id": 49878936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878936", "by": "eahm", "date": "2026-09-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Moved to https://search.brave.com years ago because that's what works/worked the best for me", "excerpt": "Moved to https://search.brave.com years ago because that's what works/worked the best for me but I'm about to move again I think to https://noai.duckduckgo.com because of that annoying Leo AI that's always wrong. I'd love to move away from Google entirely but it's a long process, years of business on Google Workspace etc. I hate to be tied to companies like this, when I started I never thought Google would end up lik", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 786526688, "item_id": 49157918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49157918", "by": "gaws", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Entered search term. AI response included in the result. Ah, yes. Just like 2008.", "excerpt": "> Feels like Google Search from 2008. Entered search term. AI response included in the result. Ah, yes. Just like 2008.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}]}, {"text": ", and weaker support than Google for advanced search operators.", "cites": [{"id": 764328512, "item_id": 47770532, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770532", "by": "gunapologist99", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "brave search's excellent and free AI", "excerpt": "I'm actually surprised when I hear someone technical say they still use Google Search (the search product specifically - they still reign supreme with Maps, etc). I used to love it, but that was quite a long time ago. I personally use Brave Search and perplexity for those very rare instances when brave search doesn't instantly find what I am looking for. Literally the only thing I (rarely) miss from google is super-d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new spam policy for \"back button hijacking\""}, {"id": 771170385, "item_id": 48198149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198149", "by": "matltc", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Brave default search is awful.", "excerpt": "Lots of people talking about Google being strictly worse than a number of search engines (bing, duck, etc) not been my experience. Brave default search is awful. Duck was terrible last I used it. Google still great for me, but I have a decent amount of \"privacy controls\" implemented (DNS, vpn, browser extensions) and i basically dork most searches--average search looks more like a find invocation than English. In thi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}]}], "praise": [{"label": "Google alternative", "summary": "Several users switched from Google and rarely go back.", "quotes": [{"id": 798594112, "item_id": 49912132, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912132", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google.", "excerpt": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google. They have an independent index and good UI. Very rarely do I switch to another engine. Brave does well at surfacing forum threads and the AI summary has been surprisingly good for a while. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/search-engines/", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Let's Ditch Google (Verb)"}, {"id": 788073936, "item_id": 49254621, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254621", "by": "onli", "date": "2026-08-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search works really well", "excerpt": "Brave search works really well, I haven't switched to Google search for months.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse"}, {"id": 789189232, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "default web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}]}, {"label": "AI answers", "summary": "Users say its AI summaries are often good enough to answer the question directly.", "quotes": [{"id": 755295184, "item_id": 47205949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47205949", "by": "gdmka", "date": "2026-03-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals.", "excerpt": "Lots of valid points in the article. What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals. For quick fact-checks, it's pretty decent when I only need to extract 1-2 sentences. Best thing of Brave search was to adopt the bang[0] syntax. It really helps to quickly redirect to YouTube, DDG, IMDB and Google when needed. Regarding Gmail, I've read so many Google account suspension horror stor", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with AI answers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 773778784, "item_id": 48361174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361174", "by": "james2doyle", "date": "2026-06-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution", "excerpt": "Maybe I\u2019m a wierdo but I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution: https://search.brave.com/ask After switching between Perplexity, Phind, and a couple others, it seems like the best balance for my use. You can always just use the regular Brave search. It does seem to include an AI summary by default, but you can turn that off: https://search.brave.com/settings#:~:text=Make%20AI%2Dpowered%20answe", "context": "", "use_case": "AI-grounded web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms"}, {"id": 772272368, "item_id": 48267023, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48267023", "by": "Kuyawa", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Brave search and usually the AI response is more than good", "excerpt": "I don't know what a search engine is anymore, I use Brave search and usually the AI response is more than good, I can dive deeper in AI if needed. Before, search engines provided links, links provided the info we were looking for. Now AI provides that info without the middle man, links are just a footnote in case you need them.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}]}, {"label": "Free", "summary": "Called the best option for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "quotes": [{"id": 786502737, "item_id": 49156421, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156421", "by": "SyneRyder", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index.", "excerpt": "If you don't mind paying and someone else having control over your search experience, Kagi is an option. Urkey (sp?) is another new alternative. If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index. Bonus points to Marginalia for finding the obscure things Brave doesn't surface. But if you want to go down the rabbit hole, it's easy to build your own metasearch engine and search several engines at o", "context": "", "use_case": "free web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 772263520, "item_id": 48266470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266470", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "excerpt": "Brave Search has its own index which is fine, 10 blue links and no forced AI, and more importantly support for DDG-like \"bangs\" (like !gi sending you to Google Images), without DDG's performance issues. I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 754975872, "item_id": 47185992, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185992", "by": "alabhyajindal", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I can highly recommend Brave Search to anyone who is looking for an alternative.", "excerpt": "I can highly recommend Brave Search to anyone who is looking for an alternative. I found it to be much better than DuckDuckGo. Feels like Kagi almost, but free.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}]}, {"label": "Own index", "summary": "Commenters value that it runs its own independent index.", "quotes": [{"id": 798594112, "item_id": 49912132, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912132", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google.", "excerpt": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google. They have an independent index and good UI. Very rarely do I switch to another engine. Brave does well at surfacing forum threads and the AI summary has been surprisingly good for a while. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/search-engines/", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Let's Ditch Google (Verb)"}, {"id": 784171840, "item_id": 49010740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010740", "by": "MattTheRealOne", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using Brave Search since its launch and it has been great in my experience.", "excerpt": "Same. I have been using Brave Search since its launch and it has been great in my experience. I also love that it has its own index. I have tried the free Kagi trial and it seems to work well, but I can't justify the cost for little to no benefit and it still depends on bigger search engines for indexing.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 772263520, "item_id": 48266470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266470", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "excerpt": "Brave Search has its own index which is fine, 10 blue links and no forced AI, and more importantly support for DDG-like \"bangs\" (like !gi sending you to Google Images), without DDG's performance issues. I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}]}, {"label": "Bangs", "summary": "Supports DDG-style bangs like !g to redirect to other sites.", "quotes": [{"id": 772263520, "item_id": 48266470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266470", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "excerpt": "Brave Search has its own index which is fine, 10 blue links and no forced AI, and more importantly support for DDG-like \"bangs\" (like !gi sending you to Google Images), without DDG's performance issues. I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 755295184, "item_id": 47205949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47205949", "by": "gdmka", "date": "2026-03-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals.", "excerpt": "Lots of valid points in the article. What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals. For quick fact-checks, it's pretty decent when I only need to extract 1-2 sentences. Best thing of Brave search was to adopt the bang[0] syntax. It really helps to quickly redirect to YouTube, DDG, IMDB and Google when needed. Regarding Gmail, I've read so many Google account suspension horror stor", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with AI answers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 764328512, "item_id": 47770532, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770532", "by": "gunapologist99", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "brave search's excellent and free AI", "excerpt": "I'm actually surprised when I hear someone technical say they still use Google Search (the search product specifically - they still reign supreme with Maps, etc). I used to love it, but that was quite a long time ago. I personally use Brave Search and perplexity for those very rare instances when brave search doesn't instantly find what I am looking for. Literally the only thing I (rarely) miss from google is super-d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new spam policy for \"back button hijacking\""}]}, {"label": "Old-Google feel", "summary": "Compared to Google from 2008, just searching for what you ask.", "quotes": [{"id": 786500224, "item_id": 49156264, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156264", "by": "slig", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Feels like Google Search from 2008.", "excerpt": "https://search.brave.com/ Feels like Google Search from 2008.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786503216, "item_id": 49156451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156451", "by": "grepex", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So many people sleep on Brave search. I agree, it's like Google from 08.", "excerpt": "So many people sleep on Brave search. I agree, it's like Google from 08. It just searches for what you ask for. You can disable AI overviews. It's quick. Has a nice UI. It's free lol", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}]}], "caveats": [{"label": "AI answers", "summary": "Some find the AI answers wrong or unwelcome, though they can be turned off.", "quotes": [{"id": 798062976, "item_id": 49878936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878936", "by": "eahm", "date": "2026-09-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Moved to https://search.brave.com years ago because that's what works/worked the best for me", "excerpt": "Moved to https://search.brave.com years ago because that's what works/worked the best for me but I'm about to move again I think to https://noai.duckduckgo.com because of that annoying Leo AI that's always wrong. I'd love to move away from Google entirely but it's a long process, years of business on Google Workspace etc. I hate to be tied to companies like this, when I started I never thought Google would end up lik", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 786526688, "item_id": 49157918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49157918", "by": "gaws", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Entered search term. AI response included in the result. Ah, yes. Just like 2008.", "excerpt": "> Feels like Google Search from 2008. Entered search term. AI response included in the result. Ah, yes. Just like 2008.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 773778784, "item_id": 48361174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361174", "by": "james2doyle", "date": "2026-06-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution", "excerpt": "Maybe I\u2019m a wierdo but I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution: https://search.brave.com/ask After switching between Perplexity, Phind, and a couple others, it seems like the best balance for my use. You can always just use the regular Brave search. It does seem to include an AI summary by default, but you can turn that off: https://search.brave.com/settings#:~:text=Make%20AI%2Dpowered%20answe", "context": "", "use_case": "AI-grounded web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms"}]}, {"label": "Search operators", "summary": "Lacks Google's deep support for advanced search operators.", "quotes": [{"id": 764328512, "item_id": 47770532, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770532", "by": "gunapologist99", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "brave search's excellent and free AI", "excerpt": "I'm actually surprised when I hear someone technical say they still use Google Search (the search product specifically - they still reign supreme with Maps, etc). I used to love it, but that was quite a long time ago. I personally use Brave Search and perplexity for those very rare instances when brave search doesn't instantly find what I am looking for. Literally the only thing I (rarely) miss from google is super-d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new spam policy for \"back button hijacking\""}, {"id": 771170385, "item_id": 48198149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198149", "by": "matltc", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Brave default search is awful.", "excerpt": "Lots of people talking about Google being strictly worse than a number of search engines (bing, duck, etc) not been my experience. Brave default search is awful. Duck was terrible last I used it. Google still great for me, but I have a decent amount of \"privacy controls\" implemented (DNS, vpn, browser extensions) and i basically dork most searches--average search looks more like a find invocation than English. In thi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}]}, {"label": "Obscure results", "summary": "One user says Marginalia finds obscure pages Brave doesn't surface.", "quotes": [{"id": 786502737, "item_id": 49156421, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156421", "by": "SyneRyder", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index.", "excerpt": "If you don't mind paying and someone else having control over your search experience, Kagi is an option. Urkey (sp?) is another new alternative. If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index. Bonus points to Marginalia for finding the obscure things Brave doesn't surface. But if you want to go down the rabbit hole, it's easy to build your own metasearch engine and search several engines at o", "context": "", "use_case": "free web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}]}, {"label": "Speed", "summary": "One user finds it slower than Google.", "quotes": [{"id": 794708688, "item_id": 49669293, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669293", "by": "parisiansam", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using Brave Search now for a while including its Brave AI and aside of sporadic times I never needed Google", "excerpt": "Been using Brave Search now for a while including its Brave AI and aside of sporadic times I never needed Google (albeit Brave Search is slower to Google, you get used to it)", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}]}, {"label": "Crawler identity", "summary": "A site owner notes that allowing Google's user agent only from Google IPs would block Brave's crawler.", "quotes": [{"id": 804165424, "item_id": 50260339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50260339", "by": "DaSHacka", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "though that's their own fault", "excerpt": "Depending on the service, you may not want it to be indexed anyway (IE login pages) or, if you do, most commercial crawlers have methods to allow site owners to verify that the traffic is a legitimate crawler and not an impersonator, see: https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/verify-google-requests/ (Though restricting the Google UA to only legitimate Google IPs seemingly would break Brave's c", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Roblox downloaded 145GB models from us (including adult content) without asking"}]}], "who": [{"by": "SyneRyder", "context": "built personal metasearch engine", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46713027", "date": "2026-01-21"}], "tags": ["for leaving Google", "free Kagi alternative", "for metasearch setups", "free API tier", "for privacy"], "use_cases": ["web search", "default web search", "metasearch results", "free web search", "web search with widgets", "fixing errors with ai answers"], "compared": [{"slug": "duckduckgo", "name": "DuckDuckGo", "co": 18, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "google-search", "name": "Google Search", "co": 10, "switched_from": 4, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "kagi", "name": "Kagi", "co": 15, "switched_from": 1, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "mojeek", "name": "Mojeek", "co": 6, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "ecosia", "name": "Ecosia", "co": 5, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "marginalia-search", "name": "Marginalia Search", "co": 4, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "searxng", "name": "SearXNG", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 733763632, "item_id": 45860227, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45860227", "by": "pythux", "date": "2025-11-08", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave Search is 100% independent", "excerpt": "Hey, thanks for the kind words. I just wanted to clarify that Brave Search is 100% independent and doesn\u2019t source results from any third -party (see here for more details: https://brave.com/blog/search-independence/) Disclaimer: I work at Brave", "context": "works at Brave", "use_case": "private web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Mullvad: Shutting down our search proxy Leta"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49155492", "title": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?", "mentions": 8}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45852974", "title": "Mullvad: Shutting down our search proxy Leta", "mentions": 6}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49006195", "title": "Back to Kagi", "mentions": 4}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47184288", "title": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46708678", "title": "Waiting for dawn in search: Search index, Google rulings and impact on Kagi", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266051", "title": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore", "mentions": 2}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {"recommend": 5}, "2025-12": {"neutral": 2, "recommend": 1}, "2026-01": {"neutral": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-02": {"neutral": 2, "warn": 1, "recommend": 2}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1, "neutral": 1}, "2026-04": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 5, "neutral": 2, "warn": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2, "compare": 1}, "2026-07": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 2}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 8, "warn": 1, "neutral": 1, "compare": 1}, "2026-09": {"recommend": 3}, "2026-10": {"compare": 1, "warn": 1}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 804165424, "item_id": 50260339, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50260339", "by": "DaSHacka", "date": "2026-10-27", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "though that's their own fault", "excerpt": "Depending on the service, you may not want it to be indexed anyway (IE login pages) or, if you do, most commercial crawlers have methods to allow site owners to verify that the traffic is a legitimate crawler and not an impersonator, see: https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/verify-google-requests/ (Though restricting the Google UA to only legitimate Google IPs seemingly would break Brave's c", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Roblox downloaded 145GB models from us (including adult content) without asking"}, {"id": 802230786, "item_id": 50139424, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50139424", "by": "wmchen", "date": "2026-10-18", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "Brave Search: 2,126 searches/month", "excerpt": "Thanks for sharing, wasn't aware of this provider. If anyone is wondering about rate limits for the subscription: >We calculate search rates based on the timestamps of the last searches of a user (just the timestamps, not the queries or anything else!). We keep those timestamps for 12 hours, then discard them. We currently limit searches to 5 per 5 seconds, 15 per minute, and 120 per hour. Source: https://uruky.com/f", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "DeepSeek search and fetch \u2013 $0.75 per 1000 successful requests"}, {"id": 798594112, "item_id": 49912132, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49912132", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-09-30", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google.", "excerpt": "Brave search is the best alternative to Google. They have an independent index and good UI. Very rarely do I switch to another engine. Brave does well at surfacing forum threads and the AI summary has been surprisingly good for a while. https://www.privacyguides.org/en/search-engines/", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Let's Ditch Google (Verb)"}, {"id": 798062976, "item_id": 49878936, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49878936", "by": "eahm", "date": "2026-09-28", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Moved to https://search.brave.com years ago because that's what works/worked the best for me", "excerpt": "Moved to https://search.brave.com years ago because that's what works/worked the best for me but I'm about to move again I think to https://noai.duckduckgo.com because of that annoying Leo AI that's always wrong. I'd love to move away from Google entirely but it's a long process, years of business on Google Workspace etc. I hate to be tied to companies like this, when I started I never thought Google would end up lik", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "When did Google get so weird?"}, {"id": 794708688, "item_id": 49669293, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49669293", "by": "parisiansam", "date": "2026-09-12", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Been using Brave Search now for a while including its Brave AI and aside of sporadic times I never needed Google", "excerpt": "Been using Brave Search now for a while including its Brave AI and aside of sporadic times I never needed Google (albeit Brave Search is slower to Google, you get used to it)", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "Google Search", "story": "google.com/goto: Google's anti-scraping update"}, {"id": 790982578, "item_id": 49436411, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49436411", "by": "matt4711", "date": "2026-08-25", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "some players in the market, such as Parallel and Brave, may be using the same underlying search index", "excerpt": "If you look at our benchmarks at https://keenableai.github.io/needle/ we are competitive in quality to exa (the market leader) but much cheaper and lower latency. This provides interesting tradeoffs where models can call search much more frequently which we believe is one thing that is not happening today. Our benchmarks (see https://keenableai.github.io/needle/card-lowshared/ ) also suggest that some players in the ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Keenable \u2013 A different web search API for AI agents"}, {"id": 790222848, "item_id": 49388928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49388928", "by": "DeepLogin", "date": "2026-08-21", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Brave Search+ DuckDuckGo+ Google Image search", "excerpt": "I use Brave Search+ DuckDuckGo+ Google Image search and that seems to sastify my search requirements while keeping my payment info private. I don't think I will ever think of subscribing to Kagi metasearch engine, especially since their paywalled search offerings seem to be inferior to other options.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results"}, {"id": 789189232, "item_id": 49324327, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49324327", "by": "unselect5917", "date": "2026-08-16", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere", "excerpt": "I don't know why people still use Google. They've sold out and literally been documented reducing search quality to serve more ads. I use https://search.brave.com by default everywhere and for things even they don't want to show you, there's https://yandex.com. I only use google as a last resort.", "context": "", "use_case": "default web search", "switched_from": "Google", "story": "Firefox for iOS now has a native adblocker"}, {"id": 788073936, "item_id": 49254621, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254621", "by": "onli", "date": "2026-08-11", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search works really well", "excerpt": "Brave search works really well, I haven't switched to Google search for months.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Google Search Is Dying. What Comes Next Is Worse"}, {"id": 786572208, "item_id": 49160763, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49160763", "by": "snapplebobapple", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave search is decent.", "excerpt": "Brave search is decent. Moat of the time the ai bubble at the top juat has the answer too", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786555585, "item_id": 49159724, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49159724", "by": "SyneRyder", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If a page shows up in both Brave & Mojeek, it's probably a good one.", "excerpt": "Mojeek is okay, but I think I'd struggle to use it as my primary search. I do include it in my personal metasearch results though, and find it worth paying for their API access (at my usage it's only about $20/year). If a page shows up in both Brave & Mojeek, it's probably a good one. I thought I'd tried Yacy, but apparently not - it's a distributed search. SearX is by asciimoo, the same person who has moved on to ma", "context": "", "use_case": "metasearch results", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786526688, "item_id": 49157918, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49157918", "by": "gaws", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Entered search term. AI response included in the result. Ah, yes. Just like 2008.", "excerpt": "> Feels like Google Search from 2008. Entered search term. AI response included in the result. Ah, yes. Just like 2008.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786505392, "item_id": 49156587, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156587", "by": "erelong", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://search.brave.com", "excerpt": "https://search.brave.com other things that came up in a search not mentioned in post yet (that I have heard of before): mojeek or yacy - are these any good? list of searx instances (I've used some of these a while ago but not recently so idk of their quality currently): https://searx.space/", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786503216, "item_id": 49156451, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156451", "by": "grepex", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "So many people sleep on Brave search. I agree, it's like Google from 08.", "excerpt": "So many people sleep on Brave search. I agree, it's like Google from 08. It just searches for what you ask for. You can disable AI overviews. It's quick. Has a nice UI. It's free lol", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786503169, "item_id": 49156448, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156448", "by": "chinggis", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Brave Search is great if you want something free.", "excerpt": "Not only is kagi private, but it is also genuinely a much better experience than Google or DDG. However, Brave Search is great if you want something free.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786502737, "item_id": 49156421, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156421", "by": "SyneRyder", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index.", "excerpt": "If you don't mind paying and someone else having control over your search experience, Kagi is an option. Urkey (sp?) is another new alternative. If you just want a free search engine, Brave is probably the best index. Bonus points to Marginalia for finding the obscure things Brave doesn't surface. But if you want to go down the rabbit hole, it's easy to build your own metasearch engine and search several engines at o", "context": "", "use_case": "free web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 786500224, "item_id": 49156264, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49156264", "by": "slig", "date": "2026-08-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Feels like Google Search from 2008.", "excerpt": "https://search.brave.com/ Feels like Google Search from 2008.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What are the viable alternatives to DuckDuckGo?"}, {"id": 784324560, "item_id": 49020285, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49020285", "by": "SyneRyder", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "It's the same insight Brave Search had - they used to be a metasearch engine", "excerpt": "Yep, discovering that you only need a subset of sites is the key. In my case, I still had my entire Firefox browsing history in its SQLite cache, so I tried to index every page I'd ever visited, and had a list of the domains I actually visit. It's the same insight Brave Search had - they used to be a metasearch engine, but they built their own index until they could serve 99% of queries directly, even though their in", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 784324369, "item_id": 49020273, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49020273", "by": "Hackbraten", "date": "2026-07-23", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "", "excerpt": "I think that ship has sailed [0]. If Microsoft hasn\u2019t managed to build a meaningful search index after 17 years of sinking billions in it, there\u2019s a good chance that no one ever will. [0]: https://blog.kagi.com/waiting-dawn-search (cf. section _The problem: A search monopoly_)", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 784171840, "item_id": 49010740, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49010740", "by": "MattTheRealOne", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I have been using Brave Search since its launch and it has been great in my experience.", "excerpt": "Same. I have been using Brave Search since its launch and it has been great in my experience. I also love that it has its own index. I have tried the free Kagi trial and it seems to work well, but I can't justify the cost for little to no benefit and it still depends on bigger search engines for indexing.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 784107025, "item_id": 49006689, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49006689", "by": "johen8", "date": "2026-07-22", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Brave search has maybe worse results and I miss the bangs to change result location, but at least during the world cup, for example, I used its widgets frequently", "excerpt": "What made me leave Kagi was the abysmal offer of widgets, plus the repeated assertion that they were working on them and at least until recently, no progress has been made. Brave search has maybe worse results and I miss the bangs to change result location, but at least during the world cup, for example, I used its widgets frequently, plus the financial, weather widgets... I wish they would actually go through with t", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with widgets", "switched_from": "Kagi", "story": "Back to Kagi"}, {"id": 781758848, "item_id": 48859928, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48859928", "by": "Kuyawa", "date": "2026-07-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I ask Brave for any error and it gives an AI answer with code on how to fix it.", "excerpt": "I ask Brave for any error and it gives an AI answer with code on how to fix it. AI is my new SO", "context": "", "use_case": "fixing errors with AI answers", "switched_from": "Stack Overflow", "story": "Ask HN: How long has it been since you last opened Stack Overflow?"}, {"id": 780481905, "item_id": 48780119, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48780119", "by": "arikrahman", "date": "2026-07-03", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "stick with Brave search for the most part", "excerpt": "I have used SearXNG hosts like https://searx.be/ but stick with Brave search for the most part. Are there other good hosts people tend to use?", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "SearXNG: A free internet metasearch engine"}, {"id": 774741473, "item_id": 48421342, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48421342", "by": "KetoManx64", "date": "2026-06-05", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "their browser is great out of the box and so is their search engine", "excerpt": "I happily paid for it. I've been using Brave as a secondary browser for years now, their browser is great out of the box and so is their search engine and they don't try to shove shoving their politics down my throat like Mozilla keeps doing with their \"they/them gender neuteal new mascot\". I'm happy to donate to a project when I know the money is going to support the browser, unlike Mozilla where it goes who knows w", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "New Brave Origin offers users a minimalist version of the Brave browser"}, {"id": 774345009, "item_id": 48396563, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48396563", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-06-04", "version": null, "stance": "compare", "quote": "I will pay for search once Kagi or Brave accepts Monero and offers a reasonable price.", "excerpt": "I will pay for search once Kagi or Brave accepts Monero and offers a reasonable price. Can I pay for Uruky with Monero? If you're worried about regulations consider reaching out to proxysto.re", "context": "", "use_case": "paid web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Show HN: Uruky (EU-based Kagi alternative) now has Image Search and URL Rewrites"}, {"id": 773778784, "item_id": 48361174, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48361174", "by": "james2doyle", "date": "2026-06-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution", "excerpt": "Maybe I\u2019m a wierdo but I actually like the Brave version of their Search + AI solution: https://search.brave.com/ask After switching between Perplexity, Phind, and a couple others, it seems like the best balance for my use. You can always just use the regular Brave search. It does seem to include an AI summary by default, but you can turn that off: https://search.brave.com/settings#:~:text=Make%20AI%2Dpowered%20answe", "context": "", "use_case": "AI-grounded web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo makes its 'no-AI' search engine easier to access as its traffic booms"}, {"id": 772964530, "item_id": 48310283, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48310283", "by": "pmdr", "date": "2026-05-28", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I use Brave Search as well.", "excerpt": "Alternative search engines are popular with the tech/HN bubble. Other than Bing, they have no palpable market share. Google does not care about said bubble because it mostly overlaps people who would use an adblocker anyway and who are capable of finding their way around other for-profit restrictions (i.e. downloading videos with yt-dlp instead of paying for YT Premium). DDG has <1% market share, so +28%, while encou", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "DuckDuckGo search saw 28% more visits after Google said people love AI mode"}, {"id": 772272368, "item_id": 48267023, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48267023", "by": "Kuyawa", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Brave search and usually the AI response is more than good", "excerpt": "I don't know what a search engine is anymore, I use Brave search and usually the AI response is more than good, I can dive deeper in AI if needed. Before, search engines provided links, links provided the info we were looking for. Now AI provides that info without the middle man, links are just a footnote in case you need them.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 772263520, "item_id": 48266470, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48266470", "by": "timpera", "date": "2026-05-25", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "excerpt": "Brave Search has its own index which is fine, 10 blue links and no forced AI, and more importantly support for DDG-like \"bangs\" (like !gi sending you to Google Images), without DDG's performance issues. I highly recommend it for people who don't want to pay for Kagi.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Search engines alternatives now that Google isn't Google anymore"}, {"id": 771432881, "item_id": 48214555, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48214555", "by": "Cider9986", "date": "2026-05-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use Brave search and I find it to be the best.", "excerpt": "I find DuckDuckGo's search results to be terrible. I use Brave search and I find it to be the best. I've also tried Startpage and I like it better than DDG, but less than Brave. DDG often has scam sites for example when you search for FMHY, https://fmhy.net comes up on all other search engines, but fmhy [.] click comes up on DDG. Same with \"anna's archive\" returning the fake site annas-archive [.]io.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Apparently Google hates us now"}, {"id": 771270497, "item_id": 48204406, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48204406", "by": "DANmode", "date": "2026-05-20", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Check out Kagi, or Brave Search.", "excerpt": "Check out Kagi, or Brave Search. Some of us would rather have old Usenet, /., reddit & Digg! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}, {"id": 771170385, "item_id": 48198149, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48198149", "by": "matltc", "date": "2026-05-19", "version": null, "stance": "warn", "quote": "Brave default search is awful.", "excerpt": "Lots of people talking about Google being strictly worse than a number of search engines (bing, duck, etc) not been my experience. Brave default search is awful. Duck was terrible last I used it. Google still great for me, but I have a decent amount of \"privacy controls\" implemented (DNS, vpn, browser extensions) and i basically dork most searches--average search looks more like a find invocation than English. In thi", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new era for AI Search"}, {"id": 768096849, "item_id": 48006053, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48006053", "by": "FrojoS", "date": "2026-05-04", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "https://search.brave.com/ask says", "excerpt": "Very cool! Thanks for the detailed tech blog explainer. Some, hopefully constructive, feedback: - You mention \"other games\" several times. It would be so much more interesting to read, if you named them. Your readers may know that game but have no knowledge about those under the hood details. Like the user wordpad, I immediately thought about Planetary Annihilation when I saw rollback and multiplayer. - Your landing ", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A Physics Engine with Incremental Rollback for Multiplayer Games"}, {"id": 767775296, "item_id": 47985956, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47985956", "by": "raptor99", "date": "2026-05-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "https://search.brave.com", "excerpt": "https://search.brave.com", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask.com has closed"}, {"id": 764328512, "item_id": 47770532, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47770532", "by": "gunapologist99", "date": "2026-04-14", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "brave search's excellent and free AI", "excerpt": "I'm actually surprised when I hear someone technical say they still use Google Search (the search product specifically - they still reign supreme with Maps, etc). I used to love it, but that was quite a long time ago. I personally use Brave Search and perplexity for those very rare instances when brave search doesn't instantly find what I am looking for. Literally the only thing I (rarely) miss from google is super-d", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "A new spam policy for \"back button hijacking\""}, {"id": 755727779, "item_id": 47232986, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47232986", "by": "Imustaskforhelp", "date": "2026-03-03", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "except Mojeek and brave and probably yandex.ru", "excerpt": "Another comment here but here are all the search engines I looked at: 1. DDG 2. Kagi 3. Brave 4. Ecosia 5. Startpage 6. Marginalia 7. Mojeek 8. Yandex.ru from 1-5 all referenced .net before .dev and DDG referenced .net before github , marinalia didn't give me either .net, .dev or gh link but rather docker.com or some other tech articles Mojeek and Yandex.ru DID give me .dev links before .net at the time of writing. I", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "I'm losing the SEO battle for my own open source project"}, {"id": 755295184, "item_id": 47205949, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47205949", "by": "gdmka", "date": "2026-03-01", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals.", "excerpt": "Lots of valid points in the article. What I like about Brave Search is the quality of its AI answers compared to rivals. For quick fact-checks, it's pretty decent when I only need to extract 1-2 sentences. Best thing of Brave search was to adopt the bang[0] syntax. It really helps to quickly redirect to YouTube, DDG, IMDB and Google when needed. Regarding Gmail, I've read so many Google account suspension horror stor", "context": "", "use_case": "web search with AI answers", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 754975872, "item_id": 47185992, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185992", "by": "alabhyajindal", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I can highly recommend Brave Search to anyone who is looking for an alternative.", "excerpt": "I can highly recommend Brave Search to anyone who is looking for an alternative. I found it to be much better than DuckDuckGo. Feels like Kagi almost, but free.", "context": "", "use_case": "web search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 754970544, "item_id": 47185659, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47185659", "by": "asim", "date": "2026-02-27", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "knowing brave has a generous free search tier for their api makes me think it's possible to replace Google search", "excerpt": "This is very interesting and timely. I've been working on something to replace a lot of addictive or exploitive services we use today but there's some caveats. Will people pay? They pay for Kagi but will they generally pay for other things like news, maps, video, chat, weather, etc. The second question is what's stopping people from really quitting? I get the feeling it's sort of habits that we get stuck with. Even I", "context": "", "use_case": "replacing Google search", "switched_from": "", "story": "Leaving Google has actively improved my life"}, {"id": 754675347, "item_id": 47167209, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47167209", "by": "macNchz", "date": "2026-02-26", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "", "excerpt": "Interesting idea on the local search index! It occurs to me that running something that passively saves down content that I browse and things that AI turns up while it does its own searches, plus a little agent to curate/expand/enrich/update the index could be super handy. I imagine once it had docs on the stuff I use most frequently that even a small model would feel quite smart.", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "How Will OpenAI Compete?"}]}