I was just getting interested in Neeva as a paid search engine with some cool AI tools where you’re not an advertising target because you pay. This explains the sudden refund from Neeva - they apparently got bought out and are no longer being a search engine. I don’t really know what to make of it all.
I suppose it makes my decision between it and Kagi easier - I don’t really have a choice. Kagi is a lot more expensive, but I get work to pay for it. Though that does make it harder to potentially recommend to other people I know.
Not that I ever thought paid search would massively take off, but unlike many tasks, search can be centralized enough on a per user basis that something other than ads is worth exploring.
I am using Brave Search, and have done so for a good while. I actually found the results better on Brave Search than on Neeva. My only concern is the shady past of Brave.
Neeva will be missed. I’m sad that it’s gone.
Brave’s CEO opposes same-sex marriage in the US and donated money to anti-LGBT groups. It’s why he was ousted at Mozilla. As a result I cannot in good conscience use anything from Brave.
Ditto. Brave also promotes their own crypto-coin ponzi nonsense. And at one point I believe they made a far-right website a default link on their homepage, before outcry compelled them to remove it.
Duckduckgo search engine works as well as google’s, though. Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)
Edit: I won’t scold anyone for using a free browser though. It’s not like you give them $$$. But they do get your data, and while they claim to be about privacy I don’t exactly trust them as far as I can throw them.
This kinda pained me as well as its a centralized coin that requires you to verify with a passport to even get access to the earned rewards. Literally the opposite of having a private browser. Still happy with it as browser for mobile though, others dont really compare (Firefox had a bunch of bad design decisions I didnt like).
This and the CEO’s shenanigans made me move to startpage, although I’ve heard that it isn’t great for privacy either.
Ouch. I did not know that. I was considering paying for it in order to support them. Now, maybe not
Didn’t know this, thanks for the heads up. Though I stick to duckduckgo regardless, I know not to recommend brave.
Does Brave have webmaster tools nowadays? It’s one the things that so little new search engines do, it’s annoying.