Kagi user here. This search engine is miles in front of all the other ones I've tried. Even has a toggle for searching for stuff within the fediverse!
this post was submitted on 18 Dec 2024
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Privacy
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It's fine. Not a fan of the AI garbage generator at the top. For obscure queries Big G still returns the best results and this will not change any time soon.
Something else that won't change: If you're not paying for a service, then that service will be trying to monetize you in some other way and will therefore have an incentive to spy on you.
You can disable the ai in settings.
I use brave as default search on Firefox, and search in incognito by default. On mobile, brave doesn't save the "disable AI" setting so the slop is there for every search, not to mention slowing down the process.
My negative picks are:
- By default it enables sending usage metrics and local search results which they claim to be anonymous.
- Also unlike other search engines it doesn't have parameters for search query which can be used set your preferences, thus avoiding hustle to configure settings everytime.(in cases like delete cookies when browser closed and incognito mode).
I really want to switch to brave's search engine from ddg (mainly cuz brave has its own index while ddg uses Bing's). But I have a rlly nice theme on ddg, which makes me feel rlly comfortable. Sure, I can put up user themes/ user scripts whatever for brave search too, but I'm not getting the time to do all that.
Switch to searxng, make your theme, and never get locked in again.
I never tried searx much. I'll do it now :)
Just keep in mind SearX isn't around anymore, as it's been replaced by SearXNG.
Mind sharing what kinda theme you rocking?
Ooo I have a custom one, which is pitch black and has like pink n gray accents n stuff like that. Looks really sexy on my screen
I ditched brave for DuckDuckGo, then DuckDuckGo for Ecosia…
I ditched brave for DuckDuckGo, then DuckDuckGo for Ecosia…
you went back to Bing and Google. Congratulations
DDG uses bing and yandex under the hood, no?
https://duckduckgo.com/duckduckgo-help-pages/results/sources/
Most of our search result pages feature one or more Instant Answers. To deliver Instant Answers on specific topics, DuckDuckGo leverages many sources, including specialized sources like Sportradar and crowd-sourced sites like Wikipedia. We also maintain our own crawler (DuckDuckBot) and many indexes to support our results. Of course, we have more traditional links and images in our search results too, which we largely source from Bing. Our focus is synthesizing all these sources to create a superior search experience.
SearXNG best by far
The AI (Leo) always gives me what I'm looking for, no matter how obscure my inquiries get, and handles all of my programming questions exceptionally well. I still have to go to Google when searching for images, but I believe in Brave and our searches will help to build it. Plus, it has an onion site, for secure searches while using the Tor Browser. In general I love Brave's support for Tor. If you'd like me to link the onion site, let me know.
For images I use Startpage, sane result as with Google, but without it's tracking and logging. For al other the best results give me Andisearch, which is apart one of the most private search out there.
I am a fan of Startpage as well! They also have an onion site. Anytime I see that, it is a green flag to me considering there's an inherent favoring for anonymity. With that, I know your recommendations are reliable and I'll put Andi to the test. Everybody says they have the best AI, so the only way to find out is with testing. I do need to stop using Google...
I use Andi since almost 2 years now as main search, it was the first AI search ever, long before all other introduce it. It's from a small Startup of 2 Devs, which also hate Google and the surveillance crap used by it and other Big Brother companies. Centering the LLM less in the capability to be a Chatbot like others, but be able for a good summarize and explain the articles from reliable sources. It don't invent nothing when it don't find the answer, in this case it offers a traditional websearch.
I replaced all of my searches with Andi and it was as advertised. Didn't beat around the bush at all. Though Brave is a lot better with programming questions and obscure references. I went back and forth testing each out.
I use Andi as main search by default, but naturally I use also others, eg. Startpage for images, also Mojeek among others, apart some specific ones for Forums, Pixabay, Wikies, etc.. I always find what I search
Thanks for the screenshot. I love trying out new software and I haven't heard of half of those engines. Whoogle caught my eye.
Whoogle also use the Google search API, like Startpage. But Whoogle is FOSS, you can selfhost it, or use one of it's open instances. But this you must see by yoursel which works best for you.
For other search engines, you can look in the Vivaldi Forum, there is maybe the most complete list of search engines you can find, complete with insert code, made by an user
https://forum.vivaldi.net/topic/46609/guide-vivaldi-search-engines-collection
You are putting me on!! Thanks!!
i was using Brave search until i discovered qwant. Been usjng it for months now and quite like it
Can you use the brave search engine from other browsers? (Is it a proxy for any other search engine?)
I'm expecting a negative, but a fella can dream.
Full disclosure: currently using StartPage and reasonably happy. StartPage is a proxy for Google as far as I can tell, although I've seen people say (on Reddit) it refers to Bing too.
You can. For instance, look up the Brave Search extension on Firefox. Or you can just set the brave.search link to your home page button on any browser.
Oh thank-you. As you have guessed, I haven't done even basic investigation.
I'll try to add it on as a search engine on Firefox to play with.
Thank-you again kind netizen.
No, it is not a proxy for another search index/engine.
Yes, you can add Brave search to your other browsers.
Thank-you.
I've just installed Perplexity and reading about it replacing Google on https://www.theregister.com/2024/12/16/opinion_column_perplexity_vs_google/
I use it regularly because it is so far the best free privacy respecting search. But holy shit the lack of features (can't even do boolean search) is insane