10 Best AI Search Engines: Getting easier search results

Although standard search engines are useful, AI search engines offer faster and more direct answers that can be expanded upon as desired. While still in early development, AI search engines have the potential to change the way we search for information online. 

As AI technology advances, we can expect even more powerful and advanced AI search engines in the coming years.

What is an AI search engine?

An AI search engine is a platform that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to improve the way you search for information online. Compared to traditional search engines like Google search it can provide more precise and informative results.

It’s important to note that AI search engines are still under development. While they offer promising features, they may not always be as accurate or comprehensive as traditional search engines. So remember to always double-check the information that you get from these tools.

Why should I use an AI search engine?

There are quite a few key points why you should use AI search engines:

• Natural language processing (NLP): AI search engines can understand the meaning and intent of your query, even if it is phrased in a complex or nuanced way. This allows them to provide results that are more relevant to your specific needs.
• Machine learning: AI search engines use machine learning algorithms to learn from user behavior and improve their results over time. This means that the more you use an AI search engine, the better it will become at understanding your preferences and delivering the information you need.
• Personalized results: AI search engines can personalize your search results based on your past searches, browsing history, and other factors. This means that you are more likely to see results that are relevant to your interests and needs.
• More informative results: AI search engines can provide more informative results than traditional search engines. This is because they can understand the context of your query and provide summaries of the information that is most relevant to you.

How do I search using AI?

To use an AI search engine, simply choose one and enter your question. These search engines can handle complex queries, provide visual aids, and integrate with other services for a smooth search experience. Some can even generate images, graphs, and code. 

I recommend reading more about these limitations. For instance, Gemini can now generate images, but it is not yet the best option out there.

1. Gemini

Gemini is a large language model chatbot developed by Google AI. It’s designed to be informative and comprehensive in its responses, even for open-ended, challenging, or strange questions. This AI search engine is one of the best in my opinion as the answers are the most human and you can double-check its answers.

Gemini is a promising new language model with a lot to offer users. Its ability to access and process information in real-time, combined with its conversational style, makes it a valuable tool for anyone looking for answers or creative inspiration.

Key features of Gemini:

• Information Retrieval: Gemini pulls information from real-time data sources and tailors it to your questions, providing more context than a simple list of links.
• Conversational: Gemini is trained on conversational data, making its responses more natural and engaging than other chatbots.
• Multilingual: Gemini can communicate in 46 languages, making it accessible to a wide audience.
• Creative Text Formats: Gemini can generate different creative text formats, like poems, code, scripts, musical pieces, emails, letters, etc.
• Still Under Development: While helpful, Gemini is still under development and may not always provide perfect or complete answers.

Gemini Pricing:

• Free to use
• Gemini advanced: $22

2. Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI is a powerful artificial intelligence tool designed to assist with research and writing tasks. It helps you find relevant information, generate different creative text formats, and answer your questions in an informative way. 

• Content Generation: Helps in crafting content by providing relevant information, inspiring content ideas, and making practical recommendations.
• Accurate Information: Deploys large language models trained on extensive text and code datasets to produce accurate answers.
• Mobile App: Offers a user-friendly mobile app available for iOS and Android devices, featuring voice search and support for multiple languages.
• Chrome Extension: Enhances the browsing experience by summarizing active web pages and allowing users to ask questions directly from the toolbar.
• Problem-Solving Abilities: Assists with research, writing, investment analysis, and more by providing information, suggestions, and solutions.
• Real-Time Web Search: Provides real-time search results and access to up-to-date information.
• Access to PDFs: Allows users to access and search within PDF files.
• Citations: Cites the sources used to provide answers, allowing users to verify information and learn more about the topic.
• Summaries: Can summarize texts for quick overviews.
• Personalization: Personalizes answers based on user interests and past search history.

Pricing:

• Monthly Plan: $20, billed monthly.
• Yearly Plan: $200, billed annually with a savings of $40 a year.
• Trial Offer: 7-day free trial available.

3. Microsoft Copilot (Implemented in Bing search engine)

Copilot is an AI-powered search engine integrated into Microsoft’s search engine, Copilot, which helps the search experience by providing more relevant and comprehensive answers. Launched in February 2023, Copilot uses the GPT-4 model from OpenAI to deliver conversational search, summaries, and AI-generated content.

Key features of Copilot:

• Conversational Search: Users can engage in interactive chat sessions with Copilot to refine searches and receive detailed answers with links to sources.
• Summary Generation: Copilot can review and summarize information from across the web to provide immediate answers to queries.
• Creative Content Generation: Copilot can assist with tasks beyond answering questions, offering inspiration, and helping users create content like emails, itineraries, or quizzes.
• Enhanced Search Results Pages (SERPs): Copilot features on SERPs include AI-generated snippets, stories, and the “Let’s Chat” button, which initiates a more fluid conversation with Copilot.

Pricing

• Copilot is free if you just use it on the web.

4. You.com

You.com is a search engine that prioritizes user privacy, diverse content, and innovative apps. It is designed to offer a personalized and focused experience, enabling users to find reliable information quickly. 

The platform values user control over search results and privacy, ensuring that no user data is sold or tracked across the web. You.com promotes a balanced view by delivering a range of sources, encouraging users to make up their minds.

Key features of You.com

• Privacy-Centric Approach: You.com guarantees user privacy, with options for personalized or private modes. It ensures no selling of user data and no tracking, upholding a high privacy standard.
• Diverse Content Sources: This search engine offers a wide array of content sources, including social media, providing users with comprehensive and varied information to form well-rounded opinions.
• Innovative Apps Integration: You.com integrates various apps into its search function, offering a unique and efficient way to access information and services directly from the search results.
• Customizable Search Experience: Users have the control to customize their search experience, prioritizing sources and apps according to their preferences, for a more relevant and personalized result.

Free Plan:

• It includes features like Unlimited Smart Mode for generating content, creative writing, news, and live web results. 

YouPro Plan:

• Monthly Pricing: $9.99 per month (billed annually at $119.99)
• Annual Pricing: $149.99 (discounted to $119.99).

Organizations:

• Special pricing and services for organizations include bulk discount pricing, white-glove account setup, custom subdomains, a dedicated customer care manager, and more.

Educational Discount:

• There is a 30% discount available for students and teachers under the YouPro for Education account.

5. Phind

Phind is an AI search engine for developers that uses generative AI to provide quick and accurate solutions to complex problems. It connects to the internet and can also link to the user’s codebase for contextually relevant responses. 

Furthermore, by integrating the new VS Code extension, Phind now offers its capabilities directly within the user’s coding environment, improving both efficiency and ease of use.

Key features of Phind:

• Contextual Understanding: It maintains a relevant context by connecting to both the internet and, optionally, to the user’s codebase, ensuring that answers are pertinent and useful.
• VS Code Integration: With its new extension for Visual Studio Code, Phind allows developers to access its powerful features without leaving their coding environment, promoting a seamless workflow.
• Debugging Assistance: Provides quick solutions to coding issues and helps understand problems better.
• Learning Enhancement: Helps explore new programming concepts and techniques.
• Time-Saving: Delivers accurate solutions quickly, saving developer time.
• High Performance: Operates five times faster than GPT-4 and has a larger context window.

Pricing:

• Phind Plus: $10 per month
• Phind Pro: $20 per month or $200 yearly

6. Qwant

It’s a French search engine that focuses on user privacy, not tracking users’ search history or collecting their personal data. This makes it a popular alternative to search engines like Google and Bing, particularly in Europe. 

Qwant is a good option for users who are concerned about their privacy and want to be able to search for information anonymously. However, it is important to be aware of the limitations of the search engine before you start using it.

Key features of Qwant:

• Smaller index: Qwant’s index of websites is smaller than Google’s, so you may not find all of the same results.
• Privacy-focused: Qwant does not track your search history or collect your personal data. This means that you can search for information anonymously and without your searches being used to target you with ads.
• Neutral results: Qwant claims to provide neutral search results that are not influenced by your past searches or personal information. This can be helpful if you are looking for unbiased information on a particular topic.
• Customizable: Qwant allows you to customize your search results by selecting which categories of websites you want to see. You can also choose to only see results from specific countries or regions.
• News: Qwant has a dedicated news section that aggregates news articles from a variety of sources.
• Junior: Qwant Junior is a safe search engine for children that filters out inappropriate content.
• Maps: Qwant Maps is a map service that provides directions, traffic information, and points of interest.

Pricing:

• Free to use

7. Wolfram Alpha

Wolfram Alpha is a unique search engine and computational knowledge engine that goes beyond simply providing links to websites. It aims to directly answer your factual questions by using its vast internal knowledge base and performing calculations on real-time data.

While Wolfram Alpha is a powerful tool, it’s important to remember that it has limitations. It may not be able to answer open-ended questions or those requiring subjective interpretation. Additionally, its free version has limited functionality compared to the paid subscription plans.

Key features of Wolfram Alpha:

• Answer engine: Unlike traditional search engines that return lists of websites, Wolfram Alpha focuses on providing direct answers to your queries.
• Computational knowledge: It leverages its vast knowledge base and computational power to process information and deliver results. This allows it to handle complex questions and calculations involving various fields like math, science, history, finance, and more.
• Data-driven: Wolfram Alpha gathers data from various sources, including academic journals, government databases, and commercial websites, to ensure the accuracy and up-to-dateness of its responses.
• Visualizations: It often presents results in visually appealing and informative ways, including charts, graphs, and tables, making complex information easier to understand.

Pricing:

Basic Plan:

• Cost: Free with sign-in. Users need to register for a Basic Account.

Pro Plan 

• Cost: $7.25 per month, billed annually at $60.00.

Pro Premium Plan: 

• Cost: $8.25 per month, billed annually at $99.00.

8. DuckDuckGo

DuckDuckGo is a search engine that focuses on privacy and avoids tracking its users. It’s a great alternative to a traditional search engine like Google if you’re concerned about your online privacy.

They have now added DuckAssist, an innovative feature that uses generative AI to provide natural language answers to search queries.

Key features of DuckDuckGo:

• AI-Powered Instant Answers: DuckAssist uses OpenAI and Anthropic’s natural language technology to scan Wikipedia and similar sources, providing concise, relevant answers directly in search results.
• Privacy-Centric Design: True to DuckDuckGo’s privacy ethos, DuckAssist operates anonymously, requiring no sign-up, and ensures no logging of search or browsing history.
• User Feedback Mechanism: An anonymous feedback link accompanies DuckAssist responses, inviting user input to refine and improve the feature’s accuracy and efficiency.
• Clean and simple interface: DuckDuckGo’s interface is clean and uncluttered, making it easy to use.

Pricing:

• Completely free to use

9. Ecosia

Ecosia is a search engine that plants trees using its ad revenue, contributing to environmental restoration. Its approach combines search functionality with a commitment to climate action. 

Users who search on Ecosia directly support tree planting projects globally, making their everyday internet use part of a larger ecological initiative. Ecosia offers transparency in its operations, providing monthly financial reports and details on tree planting efforts.

Key features of Ecosia:

• Tree Planting Through Searches: Ecosia uses its ad revenue to fund tree planting projects. Each search contributes to this cause, enabling users to support environmental restoration effortlessly.
• Global Planting Projects: Collaborating with local organizations, Ecosia engages in tree planting in over 35 countries, focusing on biodiversity and ecological restoration.
• Financial Transparency: Monthly financial reports are published, showcasing Ecosia’s income and how it’s allocated to tree planting and climate action, ensuring accountability.
• Climate Positive Searches: Ecosia’s search engine is powered by renewable energy, making it a climate-positive service. Their solar panels produce more energy than the search engine consumes.
• Privacy and Data Policy: Ecosia values user privacy, not storing personal data unnecessarily and being clear about data usage in their services.
• Ecosia chat: It an help you be more climate-active every day. The chatbot is powered by OpenAI, but your queries are not used to train the AI model.

Pricing: Free to use

10. Brave Search 

Brave Search has introduced an exciting new AI-powered feature, the Summariser, to improve the user experience when searching the web. The Summarizer offers succinct and precise responses at the top of search results by using web-based information. 

It stands out by synthesizing data from multiple sources into coherent answers while always citing the source’s provenance for credibility and source evaluation. The Summarizer is designed for both desktop and mobile users. It can be easily disabled for those who choose not to use it.

Key features of Brave Search:

• Multi-Source Information Synthesis: The Summarizer integrates data from various web sources, providing users with concise, accurate answers that are easy to understand.
• Source Attribution: It maintains transparency by citing the original sources of information, allowing users to evaluate the trustworthiness of the content.
• User Control and Accessibility: Available on all Brave Search platforms, including desktop and mobile, with an option for users to disable the feature according to their preferences.
• Independent and Private: Developed by the Brave Search team, this feature aligns with the company’s principles of independence and privacy, and does not rely on third-party systems like ChatGPT.
• Advanced AI Technology: Incorporates large language models (LLMs) trained for specific tasks like question answering and summarization, ensuring high-quality, readable summaries.

Pricing: Free to use

Will AI replace search engines?

AI is a powerful tool that can enhance search capabilities. However, it is unlikely to completely replace the search engines we currently use. Instead, we will probably see a hybrid approach where AI refines and personalizes search results while search engines continue to provide the foundation for information discovery and exploration.

Overall, many companies are innovating with AI. I am eager to see the future AI tools and advancements in modern search engines.

What is the best AI search engine?

Currently, I believe Gemini is the best AI search engine. Its user interface is excellent, and it provides specific answers that can be double-checked. The text it generates feels the most human-like compared to other search engines, and it even has image-generation capabilities. 

While ChatGPT may be surpassed by Gemini in the future, only time will tell. As previously mentioned, the usefulness of AI search engines depends on their intended purpose. It is recommended to try out multiple options to determine the best fit.

Ultimately, the “better” search engine depends on your specific needs and priorities. If you value personalization, context awareness, and complex query handling, AI engines might be a good choice. 

However, if you prioritize transparency, explainability, and established infrastructure, traditional engines might still hold the edge. It’s a good idea to be aware of both strengths and limitations to make an informed decision based on your needs.

Final thoughts

AI-powered search engines have immense potential. However, it is important to note that defining them as “more useful” than traditional search engines requires careful consideration. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses, and their usefulness depends on the specific context and user needs.

Always double-check any work done with AI tools, including search engines, content creation, and data analysis tools. None of these tools are perfect and still require human input to be effective.

Both AI and traditional approaches are likely to continue improving and adapting. What’s “better” today might not be the same tomorrow, so staying informed and experimenting with different options is key.