Former Googlers launch Neeva, a $4.95 per month ad-free, privacy-focused search engine

In short: Although it’s the preferred choice of most internet users, it’s no secret that privacy and an ad-free experience are two things that aren’t associated with Google’s search engine. There is an alternative though, one that comes from two former Googlers, although it will cost you $4.95 per month.

Sridhar Ramaswamy and Vivek Raghunathan, two former Google executives (about 30% of their company’s staff are former Googlers), hope their new search engine Neeva will be able to steal part of the 90% market share enjoyed by their former employer. Unlike Google, which makes most of its money from ads, Neeva uses a subscription-based model, which means there are no privacy issues or ad-populated search results.

In addition to having no ads, Neeva also blocks all trackers, and users can choose their favorite news sources, retailers, and other sites rather than seeing generic results. There are also product recommendations collated in one place with reviews from reputable sites and verified customers, and Neeva promises to share “at least 20%” of its revenue with content creators, paying when their content responds directly. to a user’s search query.

Neeva works with all major browsers, including Chrome, Firefox, Brave, Edge, and Safari, and the company promises never to share user data. You can also synchronize your email, calendar and documents with the search engine.

“I tell people that Neeva is as much a social experiment as it is a technology experiment,” Ramaswamy, the company’s CEO, told fast company. “He seeks the answer to the question, ‘If there was a high-quality product that clearly benefits you in many ways, would you pay for it instead of having it free, supported by advertisements?'”

If you’re curious to try Neeva, the first three months are free, then it’s $4.95 per month.