AI search engines look alike on screen, but they differ in where their results come from, how they cite, whether they carry ads, what they cost and what happens to your queries. This page sets seven AI search products side by side using identical fields: Brave Search (with Ask Brave and the Brave Search APIs), ChatGPT search, Google AI Mode, Kagi Search and Assistant, Microsoft Copilot, Perplexity and You.com. Every fact comes from the provider's own help centre, pricing page, privacy policy or blog, and where a provider publishes nothing on a field the cell says so. It is written for privacy and security teams, procurement leads, publishers and anyone choosing an AI search tool for personal or work use. Engines are listed alphabetically; order is never a ranking, and this page gives no verdicts.
Last checked: 2026-11-15.
This is an independent reference page from NHI Mgmt Group based on public provider documentation; it is not sponsored or endorsed by any provider.
Key takeaways
- Index origin varies. Brave states that it serves results from its own index of more than 40 billion pages with no fallback engine, OpenAI says ChatGPT search sends disassociated queries to third-party providers such as Bing, and Google AI Mode draws on Google Search.
- Citations are inline in most products. ChatGPT search, Google AI Mode and Microsoft Copilot all document linked sources in answers, and the Brave Answers API returns citations with each grounded response.
- Ads depend on plan and country. Google is scaling "Sponsored" ads in AI Mode across ten markets, OpenAI limits its ads test to ChatGPT Free and Go in the US, and Kagi states it has no ads.
- Pricing units differ. Consumer products charge per month (Kagi from $5), while Brave prices API calls per 1,000 requests and You.com quotes custom enterprise pricing.
- Privacy settings live in different places. Retention ranges from Kagi's one-day default for Assistant threads to Microsoft's 18 months for Copilot conversation history in the older Copilot app, and training opt-outs sit in account settings or are fixed by plan.
What is being compared
An AI search engine runs web searches for the user, passes selected passages to a language model and returns a written answer with links. The products on this page reach that result in different shapes: a mode inside a classic search engine, a chat assistant with a web tool, a dedicated answer engine, a paid search subscription and developer APIs. The AI Answer Engines Hub explains the shared retrieval pipeline; this page goes field by field instead.
| Engine | Owner | Shape | Main access point |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Search and Ask Brave | Brave Software | Search engine with AI answers, plus Search and Answers APIs | search.brave.com, Brave browser, API |
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI | Web search tool inside ChatGPT | ChatGPT web, desktop and mobile apps |
| Google AI Mode | AI mode inside Google Search | google.com/ai, AI Mode in Search, Google app | |
| Kagi Search and Assistant | Kagi | Paid search subscription with an AI assistant | kagi.com |
| Microsoft Copilot | Microsoft | Consumer AI assistant that searches the web | copilot.microsoft.com, Windows, Mac, mobile, Edge, Xbox |
| Perplexity | Perplexity AI | Dedicated answer engine with the Comet browser assistant | perplexity.ai, apps, API |
| You.com | You.com | Search, answer and research APIs for developers and enterprises | API and enterprise products |
As of 2026-11-15.
Where do results come from?
The index behind an engine decides which pages it can cite. Two engines asked the same question can return different sources simply because they search different indexes.
| Engine | Index or search source stated by the provider | Retrieval behaviour stated |
|---|---|---|
| Brave Search and Ask Brave | Brave's own index, "crawled, ranked, and served end to end", more than 40 billion pages (provider figure) | No fallback to another search engine for any query |
| ChatGPT search | Third-party search providers such as Bing, receiving queries in disassociated form | Searches automatically when a question may benefit from web information, or manually via the search icon or "/" |
| Google AI Mode | Google Search; pages must be indexed and eligible to show with a snippet | Query fan-out: several related searches across subtopics and data sources |
| Kagi Search and Assistant | Own indexes Teclis (web) and TinyGem (news), plus anonymised calls to third-party search providers, specialised engines such as Marginalia and vertical sources | Research mode on the Ultimate plan |
| Microsoft Copilot | Not stated by Microsoft on the Copilot for individuals page | "Can search the web and provide concise summaries with sources" |
| Perplexity | Searches the web for sources such as articles, websites and journals; own crawler PerplexityBot | Basic searches and Pro Searches, with Pro Search limits set by plan |
| You.com | Not stated by You.com on its homepage | Web Search API for real-time search by AI agents, plus Contents, Answer and Research APIs |
As of 2026-11-15. For how each provider's crawlers can be allowed or blocked, see the AI Crawler and Grounding Controls Tracker and AI Crawler and Scraper Controls.
How does each engine cite sources?
| Engine | Citation format stated by the provider |
|---|---|
| Brave Search and Ask Brave | Answers API responses are grounded on one or more searches with citations; LLM Context results include a URL and timestamp per source |
| ChatGPT search | Inline citations (hover to preview on desktop web), a Sources button listing cited and other relevant links, and clickable citations on images |
| Google AI Mode | Inline links, which Google said on 15 October 2026 would appear higher in responses more often; an official sites section in testing |
| Kagi Search and Assistant | Not stated by Kagi on its search sources, pricing or privacy pages |
| Microsoft Copilot | Summaries "with sources"; format not detailed on the product page |
| Perplexity | Numbered citations in each answer, linking to the original sources |
| You.com | Not stated by You.com on its homepage |
As of 2026-11-15. Citation behaviour per engine is covered in more depth in ChatGPT Search Explained, Google AI Mode Explained, Perplexity AI Explained and Microsoft Copilot Web Answers Explained.
Do AI search engines show ads?
| Engine | Ads in answers, as stated by the provider | Where and for whom |
|---|---|---|
| Brave Search and Ask Brave | Brave Search is ad-supported and Brave Search Premium removes ads; Brave records ad clicks and views for measurement and states "No personal data is processed" | Placement in AI answers not stated by Brave in its search privacy policy |
| ChatGPT search | Test announced 16 January 2026: ads at the bottom of answers, labelled and separate from the answer | Logged-in adults in the US on Free and Go; Plus, Pro, Business and Enterprise have no ads |
| Google AI Mode | Ads labelled "Sponsored"; multiturn ads in follow-up queries launched in the US | Scaling in Australia, Canada, India, Kenya, Malaysia, New Zealand, Nigeria, Pakistan, the Philippines and Singapore; Brazil, Mexico and the UK planned for Q4 2026 |
| Kagi Search and Assistant | "No ads, no tracking" | All plans; funded by subscriptions |
| Microsoft Copilot | Not stated on the Copilot for individuals page; the privacy FAQ describes ads personalisation as a separate setting | Copilot does not serve personalised ads to signed-in users under 18 |
| Perplexity | July 2024 Publishers Program post described brands paying to place related follow-up questions; plan pages do not list ads | Not stated by Perplexity on its plans page |
| You.com | Not stated by You.com on its homepage | Not stated by You.com on its homepage |
As of 2026-11-15. OpenAI also says ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers, conversations are kept private from advertisers, and ads are not eligible near sensitive or regulated topics such as health, mental health or politics. The Ads in AI Answers Tracker follows rollouts by market.
How much do AI search engines cost?
Prices are as published on each provider page on the check date, in US dollars, before tax. Where a provider page does not show a price, the cell says so.
| Engine | Free option | Paid options stated | Pricing unit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Search and Ask Brave | $5 of free API credits each month per API plan | Search API $5 per 1,000 requests; Answers API $4 per 1,000 requests plus $5 per million input and output tokens; Enterprise on custom terms | Per request and per token, prepaid credits |
| ChatGPT search | Free tier (ads test in the US) | Go $8 a month (OpenAI, January 2026); other plan prices not stated in the fetched pages | Per month, per ChatGPT plan |
| Google AI Mode | Free in Google Search | Gemini 4 Carbon in AI Mode for Google AI Ultra subscribers, with daily limits | Free, with subscription features |
| Kagi Search and Assistant | Trial: 100 searches and 100 Assistant interactions | Starter $5 (300 searches), Professional $10 (unlimited), Ultimate $25 (Research mode and flagship models); 10% off annually | Per month |
| Microsoft Copilot | "Free baseline experience" | Microsoft 365 Premium for the highest usage limits; price not shown on the Copilot page | Per month, Microsoft 365 subscription |
| Perplexity | Standard (Free) with "practically unlimited" basic searches | Pro and Max (prices not shown on the plans help page); Education Pro $10 a month with verification; Enterprise Pro $40 a month or $400 a year per seat; Enterprise Max; API pay as you go | Per month or per seat; API credits |
| You.com | Free API key to start | Custom enterprise pricing | Not stated on the homepage |
As of 2026-11-15. For consumer chatbot plans in general see AI Chatbot Free Plans Compared and AI Chatbot Subscription Plans Compared.
What happens to your queries?
Privacy is the field where the documents differ most in depth. The table records only what each provider's own privacy policy, help page or plan page states.
| Engine | Query and conversation retention | Use for model training | Data shared with others |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brave Search and Ask Brave | De-identified queries stored (query, platform, operating system, country, language, date), not linked to a user, device or IP address; Ask Brave state erased after 24 hours of inactivity; shared conversations kept up to 7 days | Search API: queries not shared or used for training; Ask Brave model provider Nebius runs with zero data retention | Ask Brave runs on AWS servers in the US; Nebius never sees IP addresses |
| ChatGPT search | Governed by the ChatGPT privacy policy | Not stated on the ChatGPT search help page | Disassociated queries and general location from the IP address may go to search providers such as Bing; Microsoft's privacy policy also applies |
| Google AI Mode | History saved when Search history is on; deletable from the AI Mode history panel or My Activity | Google uses Search interactions and feedback to develop generative AI in Search; data seen by human reviewers is disconnected from accounts | Optional connection of Gmail, Calendar and Photos for tailored answers, which can be disconnected |
| Kagi Search and Assistant | Queries logged temporarily for debugging, not linked to accounts; Assistant threads deleted after one day by default | Uses model providers that do not save data or train on it "whenever possible" | Third-party code loads only when needed (maps, payments, optional sign-in) |
| Microsoft Copilot | Conversation activity stored for 18 months by default (privacy FAQ for the older Copilot app; the updated app released on 18 August 2026 is not covered by that FAQ) | Used for training unless a signed-in user opts out; excluded for signed-out users, users under 18, Entra ID accounts and six named countries | Conversation history may personalise ads if both ads personalisation and Copilot personalisation are on |
| Perplexity | Configurable data retention on Enterprise Max | Opt-out in settings on Pro, Education Pro and Max; never used for training on Enterprise plans; API data not logged or used for training | Not stated by Perplexity on its plans page |
| You.com | Web search customers can have queries and data automatically purged | Zero data retention offered on the Inference Router across models and web search | Not stated by You.com on its homepage |
As of 2026-11-15. The six countries Microsoft excludes from Copilot training are Brazil, China (excluding Hong Kong), Israel, Nigeria, South Korea and Vietnam, where personalisation is also unavailable.
What enterprise and developer controls exist?
- Brave Search and Ask Brave: Search and Answers APIs with stated capacity of 50 and 2 queries per second; Enterprise plans add custom endpoints and full-funnel zero data retention; storing results or training on them requires a plan with storage rights; SOC 2 Type II attestation stated.
- ChatGPT search: available inside ChatGPT business plans, which carry no ads according to OpenAI. Workspace controls are covered in the ChatGPT Enterprise Security Guide.
- Google AI Mode: Workspace users whose Search and Assistant service is off cannot use Search history unless an administrator turns it on; supervised child accounts are managed through Family Link.
- Kagi Search and Assistant: Family and Team plan tabs appear on the pricing page; their terms were not shown in the fetched content. Assistant use falls under a Fair Use Policy.
- Microsoft Copilot: organisational Entra ID accounts are excluded from consumer Copilot model training. Work use of Microsoft 365 Copilot is a separate product, covered in the Microsoft 365 Copilot Security Deep Dive.
- Perplexity: Enterprise Pro adds a Trust Center, seat management and centrally governed File Connectors; Enterprise Max adds SCIM, audit logs and an Insights dashboard. See Perplexity Enterprise Security.
- You.com: Web Search, Contents, Answer, Research and Finance Research APIs, an MCP server, an OpenAI-compatible Inference Router with a stated 99.9% uptime SLA, and a stated SOC 2 certification.
How to choose: factual criteria
No engine on this page is the right answer for everyone. Weigh these criteria against your own use.
| If you need | Field to check on this page | Question to ask the provider |
|---|---|---|
| Independence from one search index | Where do results come from? | Which index answers my query, and is there a fallback? |
| Verifiable answers | How does each engine cite sources? | Can every claim be opened at its source in one click? |
| No advertising | Do AI search engines show ads? | Does my plan and country show ads, and how are they labelled? |
| Predictable cost | How much do AI search engines cost? | Is pricing per month, per seat, per request or per token? |
| Short retention | What happens to your queries? | How long are queries and conversations kept, and can I delete them? |
| No training on my data | What happens to your queries? | Is training off by default, by plan, or only after I opt out? |
| Grounding for your own agents | Enterprise and developer controls | What are the rate limits, storage rights and retention terms of the API? |
Small organisations often pick a consumer plan and set its privacy toggles; larger ones usually need plan-level guarantees (no training, SCIM, audit logs) written into the contract. Head-to-head pages cover two engines at a time: ChatGPT Search vs Perplexity and Google AI Mode vs ChatGPT Search.
Where identity and security fit
AI search raises the same governance questions as any external AI service. Staff may paste sensitive text into a free consumer engine, so an acceptable-use rule should name approved plans and the settings that must be on. API-based engines are called with API keys, which are machine credentials: give each application its own key, store keys in a secrets manager and rotate them. Browser assistants that act with a signed-in session add a further risk covered in the Agentic Browsers Security Guide. See also the Safe Use of AI Chatbots Guide and Blocking Personal ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini Accounts at Work.
Practitioner checklist
- List which AI search engines staff already use, and map each to the plan they are on.
- For each approved engine, record retention, training default and opt-out location from the provider's own privacy page.
- Turn off training and ads personalisation in consumer accounts where the provider offers the setting.
- Prefer plans where the provider states that data is never used for training when work data is involved.
- Confirm whether ads appear on your plan in your country before rolling a free tier out to staff.
- Issue one API key per application for search APIs, store it in a secrets manager and set a rotation date.
- Recheck prices, ad markets and privacy terms against the official pages before any purchase; these change monthly.
Standards and references
- Brave: Brave Search Privacy Policy
- Brave: Brave Search API
- OpenAI Help Center: ChatGPT search
- OpenAI: Our approach to advertising and expanding access
- Google Search Help: AI Mode
- Google: Ads in AI Mode expansion
- Kagi: Privacy Policy
- Microsoft Support: Privacy FAQ for Microsoft Copilot
- Perplexity: Introducing the Perplexity Publishers Program
- Kagi Help: Search sources
- Perplexity Help Center: How does Perplexity work?
- Brave: Brave Search
Also checked on 2026-11-15: Google Search Central: AI features and your website, Kagi: Pricing, Microsoft: Copilot for individuals, Perplexity: Which subscription plan is right for you, You.com.
Related NHI Mgmt Group resources: AI Answer Engines Hub · What Is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)? Definition, Signals and Measurement · Brave Search and Ask Brave Explained · Kagi Search and Kagi Assistant Explained · You.com Explained