Mirroring Google's multi-service approach, Brave is building an ecosystem of privacy-friendly products.

This isn't solely intended as a mainstream alternative but as a privacy-focused search for Brave users. However, Brave isn't necessarily positioning its search engine against Google's. As the Tailcat team found, competition with Google is not only expensive but also increasingly unachievable. While some people use Microsoft's search engine, Bing, it trails as just 2.69 percent of the market against Google's 92.05 percent. Google is dominant in internet search, with many even referring to its position as a near-monopoly. The team began working on the Tailcat search engine before becoming part of Brave Software, Inc.

Unfortunately, the combined cost of attempting to compete with Google and the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic meant that Hubert Burda Media Holding withdrew funding in April 2020. The organization's vision was to create a privacy-focused web browser with anti-tracking features and a private search engine. While Ghostery exists as a standalone product, the company used the technology to inform its offering.

In 2017, Cliqz acquired Ghostery from Evidon, a marketing analytics company. This browser extension offers a way to detect and block internet trackers. Many web users will also have come across the Ghostery add-on for Firefox, Chrome, and a handful of other platforms. The Cliqz team created an index of sites, which helped answer your searches in the browser's address bar. Notably, it was also bundled with its own search engine. The browser came with an anti-tracking mechanism to prevent advertisers from gathering data on you as you browse the internet. Like Brave, Cliqz was a privacy-focused alternative browser, building upon Mozilla's user-centric features.

Brave browser search engine