It's Freemium, you pay $3/month for no ads, or you get ad-supported search _that is privacy focussed_ for free. They're running their own index, it costs money.

It's Freemium, you pay $3/month for no ads, or you get ad-supported search _that is privacy focussed_ for free. They're running their own index, it costs money. The question is whether this is better than Google's offering ... to me it sounds like it is so long as the results stand up to scrutiny. Brave's USP always seems to have been meaning the web work practically without profiteering and maintaining a strong user privacy focus. It always seems to have had payment for content as a part of their model, and so payment for search seems to fit well in that framework. I admit it does seems to be a climb down for those who see Brave as "free + no-ads".