Neeva Search Engine Review | Tech Radar

Neeva (opens in a new tab) advertises itself as “the only private ad-free search engine” and also claims to be free of affiliate links. After signing up for Neeva (we’ll talk more about that in the user experience section), you can either use the search engine on Neeva.com or download an extension for your browser, as well as a mobile app if you have an iPhone. The extension says it gives you more online protection by blocking trackers.

Unlike most search engines, Neeva is not free. You will get a four month free trial, but after that it will cost you $4.95 per month.

Features

Since Neeva blocks ads and affiliate links, it’s great for shopping research without all the clutter. This is what an e-commerce search results page looks like:

If you click on an item in the Top rated products section, a pane opens on the right side with more details:

There’s a reason we’ve highlighted ‘search’, not online shopping in general. Since Neeva blocks ads and affiliate links, the focus is more on reviews than actual purchase links. Sometimes you can click on a product, especially on Amazon, but it’s not as cumbersome as other browsers – which for some people will be a bonus. Compare Neeva’s results to those of Google below.

Privacy

Neeva blocks ads and affiliate links, which is clear when you search, especially if you’re looking for products to buy.

In the Settings menu, there are a few options. You can set up two-step verification to add extra protection to password-protected online areas. You can also use a QR code if you want to connect to Neeva on another device, like your iPhone.

If you activate Memory mode, Neeva will remember some of your search activity to provide personalized suggestions and results. This is enabled by default, so if you want the most tracking-free experience possible, you’ll want to disable it from the start. If you have the Neeva extension, tracking cookies and tracking requests are blocked by default. Under the Memory Mode option is a link to Clear Memory, which will remove your search behavior.

Even though Neeva advertises itself as a highly secure browser, they know more about you than meets the eye. According to them privacy policy (opens in a new tab), a fair amount of data is collected about its users. And although Neeva does not share your information with third parties, your information is used in several ways.

User experience

To get started, you need to go to Neeva.com and enter your email address, then click on the Free try! button.

You must then register and create a password, then click on Create a Neeva account.

This is a clumsier process than most search engines require. Often you can simply use the search engine on the dedicated web page or download the software to your computer. It is rare to be forced to register with a search engine.

Once you set up your account, Neeva’s homepage layout is nice. It’s personalized for you, with your location, local weather, search ideas and news headlines (and you can change your favorite news sources).

You can also connect your apps, such as Dropbox, Google products, Slack, etc. Connecting an app to Neeva means that content from those apps will be included in search results – so you can, for example, use the Neeva search engine to find something in your email.

The Spaces feature allows you to save and categorize search results. It’s kind of like an improved version of classic bookmarks. When performing a search, you can click the Bookmark icon on a result to save it to one of your spaces.

Platforms

Neeva’s browser extension works with major browsers including Brave, Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari. There is also an iOS app.

The competition

When you’re talking about a search engine that doesn’t track you, DuckDuckGo (opens in a new tab) must be mentioned. And if you want to stay as anonymous as possible online, DuckDuckGo will do a better job than Neeva. It’s not as attractive or customizable as Neeva, but that might be secondary to keeping it as private as possible.

You also can’t talk about safe search engines without bringing firefox (opens in a new tab) in conversation. As a leader in its field, if you’re looking for security, it seems the natural choice ahead of Neeva – and it’s backed by the fact that you don’t have to pay for it.

Neeva promotes its e-commerce search results as its main feature, but because ads and affiliate links are blocked, it’s hard to get to the product you want to buy. The Edge (opens in a new tab) The browser is the best I’ve found for online shopping – unless you just want to do research, in which case Neeva may be easier.

final verdict

If you want a personalized search engine experience without a ton of data tracking and sharing, Neeva may be the right option. However, we believe there are other search engines with similar or better benefits, and they are free to use. Even at just $5 per month, a total of $60 per year might seem too expensive for a search engine, especially one that lacks the aesthetics, functionality, or security and privacy features of its competitors. . However, thanks to the four-month free trial, you have plenty of time to test it out for yourself to see if you want to stick with it.

Want a search engine that plants trees? We are not joking. Discover Ecosia (opens in a new tab).