Brave

Overview

Brave was created by Brendan Eich, the creator of JavaScript and a co-founder of Mozilla and Firefox, along with Brian Bondy. The company launched Brave in 2016 with a specific bet: that browser-level ad and tracker blocking, combined with a blockchain-based alternative ad model (Basic Attention Token, or BAT), could fix a broken advertising ecosystem. Brave is built on Chromium, so it inherits Blink’s rendering engine and near-total compatibility with Chrome extensions and sites, while stripping out Google’s telemetry and account services.

Brave’s source code is fully open and published on GitHub under the Mozilla Public License, and its blocking engine (Shields) blocks ads, trackers, and third-party cookies by default without requiring any extensions. The optional BAT rewards system, which pays users a share of privacy-respecting ad revenue for opting into ads, remains controversial among some users who see it as an unnecessary addition to an otherwise straightforward privacy browser, but it can be fully disabled.

Key Features

• Shields — Built-in ad, tracker, and third-party cookie blocking enabled by default, no extensions required
• Chromium compatibility — Supports the same extensions and renders sites identically to Chrome
• Brave Search — An independent, privacy-respecting search engine built into the browser (other engines remain selectable)
• Tor integration — Private browsing windows can route traffic through Tor for stronger anonymity
• IPFS support — Native support for browsing InterPlanetary File System content

Use Cases

• Privacy-conscious browsing — Default ad/tracker blocking without configuring extensions
• Chrome extension users switching for privacy — Full compatibility with the Chrome Web Store
• Anonymous browsing — Built-in Tor windows for sensitive browsing sessions

Who It’s For

Brave is aimed at users who want Chrome’s compatibility and speed without Google’s data collection, and who want ad/tracker blocking on by default rather than bolted on via extensions. It’s free to use across desktop and mobile platforms.