Category
AI search engines: what they are and who makes them
Perplexity, Google AI Mode, Brave Search and 5 more, sorted into types, with the company behind each and where it is based.
Types of AI search engines
Answer engines for people
These products take a question, search the web, and write a cited reply you can follow up on. Perplexity and Google AI Mode work this way, and Brave's Ask Brave sits on top of an ordinary results page. They suit research, shopping and quick fact checks.
Privacy-first paid search
Kagi charges a subscription and sells no ads, so its incentives point at the reader. Brave Search is free, runs its own index and says it does not profile users. Both add AI features, but as optional extras on top of classic results.
Search APIs for developers
You.com, Exa, Tavily, Linkup and the Brave Search API return web results, page text or finished answers to code. They are priced per request and built to feed language models, agents and retrieval pipelines rather than to be read by a person.
Deep research modes
A newer layer plans several searches, reads full pages and writes a report. Perplexity offers it in its apps, while You.com and Exa sell research endpoints by the run. Expect waits of seconds to minutes and a clearly higher price per question than a plain search.
Facts at a glance
| Tool | Publisher | Based in | Access |
|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity | Perplexity AI, Inc. | United States | Free tier + API |
| Google AI Mode | United States | Free tier | |
| Brave Search | Brave Software, Inc. | United States | Free tier + API |
| Kagi | Kagi Inc. | United States | Trial + API |
| You.com | SuSea, Inc. (you.com) | United States | Free tier + API |
| Exa | Exa Labs Inc. | United States | Free tier + API |
| Tavily | AlphaAI Technologies Inc. (Tavily) | United States | Free tier + API |
| Linkup | Linkup Technologies | France | Free tier + API |
