Brave Browser Says Goodbye to Google As Default Search Engine, Replaces With 'Privacy-Preserving' Brave Search

[scgf]

I've tried Duckduckgo and all the other alternatives. They all suck compared to Google in terms of search results.

Do I like Google? Not at all.
Do I want the best search results? Absolutely.

That's why I use Whoogle.

GitHub - benbusby/whoogle-search: A self-hosted, ad-free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine

A self-hosted, ad-free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine - benbusby/whoogle-search

github.com

I host it myself in Docker on my NAS and it fetches Google results without the tracking and other nefarious things Google does. There are public instances too:

GitHub - benbusby/whoogle-search: A self-hosted, ad-free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine

A self-hosted, ad-free, privacy-respecting metasearch engine - benbusby/whoogle-search

github.com

 

[Steve121178]

who tried brave?

It's bloated with useless "features" and you have to turn a lot of junk off out the box. They seem to be adding more and more junk that you need to disable so I find Brave annoying. If you need to use a Chrome based browser then Chrome offers a much better experience once you spend 45 seconds disabling the things that need disabling.

 

[jonnysods]

I’ve used the browser here and there but haven’t actually used their search yet. Bold move. Anybody like their search? I tried DuckDuckGo’s search for a while but I didn’t like how “inspired” by Microsoft Bing it was.

DDG also struggled with local search. Hoping it improves over time!

 

[Mockletoy]

No i use safari but I am suspicious of Google's search. Even if I change seach engine, its trackers are probably still infesting the system gathering data for Google. So I thought of Brave

I use AdGuard and the sheer number of trackers it intercepts even with browser-based tracking prevention on is pretty sad.

 

[CJM]

Why are they applying the new search engine to "five-eyes" countries only? Seems a little suspect, but might just be language related.

 

[q64ceo]

I use Firefox and Google search. On Linux there is no better browser after you apply a few patches here and there. As for Google's search, no one can come close to it in its search results.

 

[supercoolmanchu]

I've tried Duckduckgo and all the other alternatives. They all suck compared to Google in terms of search results.

Do I like Google? Not at all.
Do I want the best search results? Absolutely.

An interesting feature of DuckDuckGo is if you type a “g!” before your search term, DDG uses Google search thru their own server, as a layer of search privacy contraceptive.

You can also specify other search engines, like “y!” for the true renegades who still use Yahoo!

I wonder why Amazon hasn’t dabbled with a search engine? They seem to have all the infrastructure in place, and already deploy one for their own webshop. It would be the perfect vehicle for placing ads for their own retail operation.

If I was a shark like Amazon exec with an eye towards a fat promotion, I’d be waiting for any Google stumble to launch that proposal.

 

[SenorWhyMe]

They could have really preserved privacy and switched to DuckDuckGo’s search.

duckduckgo has been showing signs of censorship, go to brave threads on reddit you can read about it. It was their decision to make their own instead

 

[currocj]

who tried brave?

It’s my default browser. Good riddance to google

 

[jayducharme]

If Brave begins inserting ads, then I can't see how they're going to protect privacy at the same time. The ads that make money are the ones that are targeted, and the only way to create targeted ads is to know something about the person.

 

[TTTedP]

DDG with g! works fine

 

[jefhai]

I bet Brave will get a government gag order we will never hear about.

 

[femike]

At the end of the day, by using Brave you are still giving more power to Google.

 

[Mac Fly (film)]

Wasn't there some weird scammy privacy thing Brave did about 2 years back? I can't recall the story, but at the time it really put me off the company.

 

[saudor]

lolz. and in the other hand...

 

[Your Royal Highness]

I trust nothing that Peter Thiel is an investor in.

 

[Sneakz]

I've used Brave's search engine and it wasn't terrible. Almost always able to find what I was looking for on the first page, often in the top 3-4 results.

 

[dominiongamma]

It’s my default browser. Good riddance to google

After the scam they pulled few years ago I couldn’t trust Brave

 

[senttoschool]

If Brave begins inserting ads, then I can't see how they're going to protect privacy at the same time. The ads that make money are the ones that are targeted, and the only way to create targeted ads is to know something about the person.

That's why it's a total scam on the gullible "privacy matters" people.

 

[ArtOfWarfare]

Can you use Brave search in any other browser?

Yes. It's at search.brave.com

I tried it out - it supports the bangs I tried (!w and !py) so that's cool. It's interesting because they don't mention that support for bangs anywhere on their website... I wonder if Brave Search is actually just a reskinning of DuckDuckGo's search.

I also tried out Google and Bing just now - neither of them support bangs.

 

[svish]

Seems like a good move to replace Google

 

[toobravetosave]

Don't think I'll ever leave firefox. Not chromium and ublock origin best adblocker around

 

[0924487]

Is it better than Firefox with uBO or Safari with AdGuard?

A browser that comes with native ads just doesn't make much sense to me.

 

[McKodiak]

I wonder if Brave will become a default search engine option in Safari. I would try that over Google.

 

[Bandaman]

Most of these responses talking about experiences with Brave sound like you’ve never used Brave.