The Brave Insider’s Guide
Everything we know about Brave in one document: what it costs, its grades, getting a refund, getting help and what else to look at. Read it here, or keep a copy.
Brave
The Insider’s Guide
Open-source browser that blocks ads and trackers by default
Every plan, grade, refund rule and rival among browsers, read from Brave’s own pages.
Made by Brave Software, Inc. · checked Oct 5, 2026 · toolgpa.com
Contents
- 01WelcomeWhat it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
- 02Insider tipsWhat most people miss: ways to pay less, settings worth changing and the catches
- 03What it costsEvery plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
- 04What it doesIts main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
- 05Where it standsIts grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
- 06After you payGetting your money back, getting out, and getting help
- 07The alternativesThe tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
- 08Quick answersThe questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
- 09About ToolGPAWho made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
ToolGPA put this guide together from Brave’s own pages, its app-store listings and our grades. Every fact in it is on Brave’s page too, where it is kept up to date. Checked Oct 5, 2026.
Part 01 · Overview
Welcome
What it is, who it suits, its grades and the ten things to know first
3.8
GPA, above 13 of the 15 other browsers we grade
Brave is a free, open-source browser built on Chromium that blocks third-party ads, trackers and fingerprinting by default through a feature called Shields. It includes the Leo AI assistant, Brave Search as the default search engine for most new users, private windows that route through Tor, and an optional crypto wallet and rewards program. Brave Software sells a VPN and premium tiers of Leo, Search and Talk as separate subscriptions.
To get you started, here are 10 things to know about Brave, taken from its own pages and our grades.
The blocking is on from the first launch, so there's nothing to configure.
- 1
Best for blocking ads and trackers out of the box
Brave blocks ads, trackers and cookie pop-ups from the first minute, YouTube video ads included, and runs your Chrome extensions.
- 2
Paid plans start at $2.50 a month when paid by the year
As its pricing page puts it: $3.00 per month, or $29.99 per year (Search premium).
- 3
There is a free plan
The browser is free and fully supported, with Shields ad and tracker blocking, sync, Brave Search, Brave Talk and the free tier of Leo, which needs no account and has usage limits that vary with traffic.
- 4
It runs on 5 platforms
Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
- 5
Shields ad and tracker blocking
Shields block third-party ads, trackers, fingerprinting and cookie consent notices by default on every site, including video ads on YouTube. The settings can be customized or left alone.
- 6
Leo AI assistant
Leo summarizes webpages, PDFs and Google Docs, answers questions and drafts text with no account required. Chats are not retained or used for training, and Bring Your Own Model connects local or remote models.
- 7
Brave Search
The default search engine for most new Brave users serves results from Brave's own independent index of the web, offers AI answers and does not profile the people using it.
- 8
Refunds: no set window
The browser is free, and the paid bits around it come with no money-back guarantee at all: Brave's terms say all transactions are final and fees are non-refundable, with an exception only for technical problems that stop you using what you bought. Against that, each subscription has a seven-day free trial, you cancel yourself from the account site, and you keep the features to the end of the period.
- 9
A 3.8 GPA, above 13 of 15
That is against the other browsers we grade, on value, the free plan, features, ease of use and platforms.
- 10
Keep it
To replace Brave you would be making a web browser. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Brave at a glance
- Pricing
- Free plan, from $3.00 per month, or $29.99 per year (Search premium)
- Free plan
- Yes
- Free trial
- 7-day free trial on Brave VPN, Leo AI premium and Talk premium
- Runs on
- macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS, Android
- Made by
- Brave Software, Inc., since 2015
- Category
- Browsers
- Our grade
- 3.8 GPA, excellent
- Store rating
- 4.8 on the App Store, 660,596 ratings
The report card
Best for blocking ads and trackers out of the box
Brave blocks ads, trackers and cookie pop-ups from the first minute, YouTube video ads included, and runs your Chrome extensions. What puts people off is the clutter: even daily users on Hacker News say they hide the crypto bits, and Brave Origin, the version without them, is $59.99 unless you're on Linux. The VPN, Leo premium, Talk premium and Search premium are each a separate subscription with no bundle, and free Leo's limits shift with traffic.
| Subject | Grade | Comment |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | B | The browser costs nothing, which is the point. What's unusual in this category is how much sits outside it: Search premium $3 a month, Talk $7, the VPN $9.99, Leo premium $14.99, each its own subscription with no bundle. And Brave Origin, the build without the extras, is $59.99 unless you're on Linux. |
| Free plan and trial | A | Free outright, with Shields, encrypted sync, Brave Search, Brave Talk calls and a tier of Leo that works without an account. Leo's free limits shift with traffic, and the VPN, Leo premium and Talk premium each start with a 7-day trial. |
| Features | A | Shields stop ads, trackers, fingerprinting and cookie notices on every site, YouTube video ads too. Then Brave's own search index, private windows routed through Tor, fingerprint randomization, Leo on your own model if you like, vertical tabs, and MV2 extensions still working. |
| Ease of use | A | 4.8 from about 660,000 App Store ratings. The blocking is on from the first launch, so there's nothing to configure. Some iPhone reviewers do report a site or video player that needs Shields turned off. |
| Platforms and integrations | A | Windows, Mac, Linux, Android and iPhone, with bookmarks, passwords and tabs synced encrypted between them. Chrome Web Store extensions work, so leaving Chrome costs you nothing you had installed. |
An A is worth 4 points, a B 3, a C 2, a D 1 and an F nothing. The GPA is the average of the five.
Who Brave is for
- Fits if you want ads and trackers gone without installing a single extension
- Works for people leaving Chrome who want to keep their Chrome Web Store extensions
Who it is not for
- Skip it if a crypto wallet and rewards in your browser annoy you, since removing them for good means Brave Origin at $59.99
- Pricey if you want the VPN, Leo premium and Talk premium together, as each is its own subscription with no bundle
- Not for you if you expect a free VPN, because Brave's is $9.99 a month
- Tight if you lean on Leo, as free limits vary with traffic and more models mean $14.99 a month
- Watch out: some iPhone reviewers report a site or video player that only works with Shields turned off
Good to know
Good for
- People who want ads and trackers blocked without installing extensions
- Chrome users who want to keep their Chrome Web Store extensions
- Those who want an AI assistant that works without an account
- Crypto users who want a self-custody wallet built into the browser
Worth knowing
- The VPN is not part of the free browser: it is a subscription at $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year.
- Free access to Leo varies with traffic and usage. Higher rate limits and more models need Leo AI premium at $14.99 per month.
- VPN, Leo, Search and Talk premium are each sold as a separate subscription; the pricing page lists no bundle.
- Brave Origin, the version without Leo, News, Rewards, VPN or Wallet, is a $59.99 one-time purchase on every system except Linux.
What people say
- 4.8on the App Store, from 660,596 ratings
What they like
- Ad blocking that is built in and works from the start is a reason given again and again for choosing it, by reviewers and commenters alike.
- Reviewers and commenters describe it as quick, with several saying pages feel faster than in the browser they used before.
- Commenters welcome Brave Origin, which they describe as a pared-down edition that leaves out the extras of the standard browser.
What they don’t
- Even commenters who use it daily say the standard browser arrives cluttered with cryptocurrency features and other extras that they turn off or hide.
- Reviewers of the iPhone app report websites or video players that do not work until its blocking is switched off, which one gives as the reason for going back to Chrome.
10 App Store reviews, five of them more than three years old, and about 30 Hacker News comments from one week in September and October 2026, most in a single thread
Part 02 · Tips
Insider tips
What most people miss: ways to pay less, settings worth changing and the catches
6
Things most people miss, each from its own help pages
The things about Brave that are easy to miss until they cost you: ways to pay less, settings worth changing and the catches at renewal or when you leave. Each one is from Brave’s own pages, linked beside it.
Read on Oct 17, 2026. Read from Brave's own site (its FAQ, browser privacy policy, privacy update on Shred, the VPN page and Brave Search's help on bangs) on 17 October 2026. Its help centre would not load for us. Not tried out: these tips are what its own pages say.
- 1
Setting
Turn Shields up to aggressive to catch first-party ads too
By default Shields blocks third-party ads and trackers, but not ads a site serves itself, like the ones on a search results page. Brave's FAQ says the aggressive setting in Shields blocks those as well. It can break the odd site, so you can set it for some sites only.
brave.com - 2
Leaving
Keep your sync code safe, because Brave can't get your data back
Brave's privacy policy says synced bookmarks and passwords are encrypted with a key that only lives on your devices, so it can't recover them if you lose those devices or the key. And a sync chain nobody uses for 12 months expires, and its data may be deleted.
brave.com - 3
Privacy
You can turn off Brave's anonymous product analytics in Settings
Brave sends anonymous product reports it calls P3A, stripped of metadata and pooled with everyone else's. Its privacy policy says you can turn them off in Settings, and that sending crash reports is your choice too. Brave publishes the full list of what P3A measures on its GitHub wiki.
brave.com - 4
Easy to miss
On Android, Auto Shred can wipe a site when you close its last tab
Shred, on iPhone and on Android from version 1.89, deletes one site's data without logging you out of the rest. On Android, open Shields, tap Shred site's data, then Auto shred, to have it happen when the last tab closes. There's a 30-second delay, so you can still bring a tab back.
brave.com - 5
Shortcut
Start a Brave Search query with !w or !a to jump to that site
Bangs send your search straight to another site's results. Type !w and your words for Wikipedia, or !a for Amazon. Brave Search says it supports thousands of them, and its help page links a list of the popular ones.
search.brave.com - 6
Renewal
The VPN trial bills you on day 8, and phone buyers cancel in the store
Each VPN subscription starts with a 7-day free trial, and Brave's page says your payment method is charged once it ends. Cancel within the 7 days to pay nothing. If you subscribed in the app on a phone, billing sits with the App Store or Google Play, so cancel there.
brave.com
Part 03 · Pricing
What it costs
Every plan, the free plan, ways to pay less and how prices have moved
$2.50
A month to start, paid by the year. There is a free plan too
Brave has a free plan. Paid plans start at $3.00 per month, or $29.99 per year (Search premium).
The browser costs nothing, which is the point.
Free
$0
The full browser with Shields ad and tracker blocking, encrypted sync, the free tier of Leo, Brave Search and Brave Talk video calls.
Search premium
$3.00
per month, or $29.99 per year
Ad-free Brave Search results and a cleaner view on all results pages.
Talk premium
$7.00
per month, or $69.99 per year
Video calls with hundreds of people, call recordings, participant muting and passcodes. Includes a 7-day free trial.
Brave VPN
$9.99
per month, or $99.99 per year
Whole-device VPN for up to 10 devices across desktop, Android and iOS, with speeds up to 500 Mbps. Includes a 7-day free trial.
Leo AI premium
$14.99
per month, or $149.99 per year
More AI models, higher rate limits and early access to new Leo features. Includes a 7-day free trial.
Brave Origin
$59.99
one-time purchase
A minimalist version of the browser that can switch off or remove Leo, News, Rewards, VPN, Wallet and other features. Free on Linux.
The free plan
The browser is free and fully supported, with Shields ad and tracker blocking, sync, Brave Search, Brave Talk and the free tier of Leo, which needs no account and has usage limits that vary with traffic.
Trying it first
7-day free trial on Brave VPN, Leo AI premium and Talk premium
Read from brave.com on Oct 5, 2026.
Ways to pay less
Annual discount
About 17% off with yearly billing
Each Brave premium subscription costs about 17% less when paid yearly: Brave VPN is $99.99 a year against $119.88 for twelve months at $9.99, and Leo AI premium is $149.99 against $179.88.
Stated on brave.com
How its prices have moved
- Jul 2, 2026Brave Origin: new, $59.99 one-time purchaseThe archived copy of 2 July 2026 adds Brave Origin to the premium line-up at $59.99 as a one-time purchase; the copy before it, of 3 June 2026, does not list it. The four subscriptions are unchanged.
What the app costs elsewhere
Each country’s App Store price for “Monthly Firewall + VPN”, against $9.99 in the United States, in dollars at the day’s rate. The four cheapest and the four dearest of 11.
| Country | Price there | In dollars | Against the US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Turkey | ₺299,99 | $6.10 | 39% less |
| Philippines | ₱ 499.00 | $7.94 | 20% less |
| Canada | $12.99 | $9.13 | 9% less |
| Indonesia | Rp 169ribu | $9.45 | 5% less |
| Mexico | $199.00 | $10.93 | 9% more |
| Germany | 9,99 € | $11.19 | 12% more |
| South Africa | R199.99 | $12.10 | 21% more |
| United Kingdom | £9.99 | $13.21 | 32% more |
Part 04 · Features
What it does
Its main features, where it runs, what it works with and who makes it
5
Places it runs: macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android
Open-source browser that blocks ads and trackers by default. Here is what it does, as its own site describes it, and what it covers: open source, AI features, password manager, video calls, web browser.
Shields stop ads, trackers, fingerprinting and cookie notices on every site, YouTube video ads too.
- Shields ad and tracker blocking
- Shields block third-party ads, trackers, fingerprinting and cookie consent notices by default on every site, including video ads on YouTube. The settings can be customized or left alone.
- Leo AI assistant
- Leo summarizes webpages, PDFs and Google Docs, answers questions and drafts text with no account required. Chats are not retained or used for training, and Bring Your Own Model connects local or remote models.
- Brave Search
- The default search engine for most new Brave users serves results from Brave's own independent index of the web, offers AI answers and does not profile the people using it.
- Private Windows with Tor
- Tor integration in private windows proxies the IP address, and fingerprint randomization makes the browser look different to every site on each visit.
- Sync, vertical tabs and extensions
- Bookmarks, passwords and tabs sync encrypted across devices, tabs can be stacked vertically, and Chrome Web Store extensions work, including those that rely on MV2.
- Rewards, Wallet and Talk
- Brave Rewards pays BAT to people who opt in to privacy-preserving ads, Brave Wallet is a self-custody crypto wallet, and Brave Talk runs private video calls in the browser.
Where it runs
- macOS
- Windows
- Linux
- iOS
- Android
What it works with
- Chrome Web Store
- Tor
- Wayback Machine
- Google Docs
- Google Sheets
Who makes Brave
Brave is made by Brave Software, Inc., a privately held company that also runs Brave Search. It earns money from private ads that users can opt into, with a share paid to them in BAT, from paid extras such as Search Premium and Leo Premium, and from its Search API for businesses.
- Founded
- 2015brave.com
- Based
- San Francisco, California, with an office in London and staff around the worldbrave.com
- Ownership
- Privately held. Privately held and venture-backed: TechCrunch named Founders Fund's FF Angel, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Foundation Capital and Digital Currency Group as investors in its 2016 seed round, and its own pages name no parent company.techcrunch.com
- Funding
- Raised $4.5 million in seed funding in August 2016, bringing its total from investors to $7 million at the time, according to TechCrunch. In 2017 it raised $35 million by selling its Basic Attention Token (BAT), which its own About page lists among its key dates.techcrunch.comtechcrunch.combrave.com
- Founders and leaders
- Hiring
- 10 open roles: 4 in business development, 2 in engineering, 2 in research and 2 in salesbrave.com
- Lately
- Another Brave User-First AI Win: Leo adds End-to-end Encryption, Oblivious HTTP, and Verifiable Confidential Computing · Oct 15, 2026
- Brave Accounts: your password never leaves your device, ever. · Aug 27, 2026
- Brave launches Email Aliases to keep your personal email address private from websites · Aug 27, 2026
- Brave improves protections against GPU fingerprinting · Aug 13, 2026
Read on Oct 18, 2026 from the company’s own pages and from news reports. What is not stated there is left out.
Part 05 · Standing
Where it stands
Its grades against its category, and whether to keep it or make your own
13/15
Other browsers it is graded above
Brave's GPA of 3.8 is higher than 13 of the 15 other browsers we grade, and level with 2.
It stands best on platforms and integrations (A, above 13 of 15) and worst on value for money (B, above 5).
Its paid plans start at $2.50 a month when paid by the year, against a middle price of $7.08 for the category: 0 of the 7 others that charge start lower.
On features, ease of use and platforms it scores 4.0 out of 4, and no tool on the category's chart scores higher without costing more.
Each grade against the category
Every bar is all 16 browsers we grade, cut by the letter each got. Brave’s own letter is outlined.
- BValue for moneyAbove 5 of 15
- AFree plan and trialAbove 5 of 15
- AFeaturesAbove 12 of 15
- AEase of useAbove 10 of 15
- APlatforms and integrationsAbove 13 of 15
Price against what you get
Each dot is one of 15 browsers. Further left costs less; higher up scores better on features, ease of use and platforms. Brave is the marked dot.
What paid plans start at, a month (each step along is roughly double) →
Keep it, or make your own?
Whether this is something you could build for yourself with an AI app builder, and what you would give up.
Keep it
To replace Brave you would be making a web browser. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
It is one of the better ones too: its GPA of 3.8 is higher than 13 of the 15 other browsers we grade. It costs $29.99 a year. Brave is open source, so there is a third way: take its code and run it yourself.
What you could not
- A web browser.
- A password vault, the last thing anyone should make for themselves.
- Video calls.
- Apps for macOS, Windows, Linux, iOS and Android that stay in step with each other.
- It plugs into other products, Chrome Web Store, Tor and Wayback Machine among them.
- AI features, unless you pay a model provider for each request yourself.
- The depth: we grade its features A, which means it covers the whole job.
What this rests on. Brave’s listing: what it does, where it runs, what it plugs into and what it costs. It is a judgement about the kind of software this is. We have not built a replacement for it, and making your own means looking after it too. How we decide, and every tool’s verdict.
Part 06 · Refunds
After you pay
Getting your money back, getting out, and getting help
What happens once you have paid: whether you can get your money back, how to leave, and how to reach a person when something goes wrong. Each is graded from Brave’s own terms and help pages.
Refunds and cancelling
Ordinary · checked Oct 18, 2026
The browser is free, and the paid bits around it come with no money-back guarantee at all: Brave's terms say all transactions are final and fees are non-refundable, with an exception only for technical problems that stop you using what you bought. Against that, each subscription has a seven-day free trial, you cancel yourself from the account site, and you keep the features to the end of the period. That is the ordinary deal, and a C.
- Refund window
- No set window
- How you cancel
- Yourself, in settings
- Getting your money back
Brave's terms of use say all transactions are final and that any fees paid are non-refundable. The one exception given is that if technical problems prevent or unreasonably delay access to a product, you may contact Brave support or request a refund from the payments address the terms give. Subscriptions bought through Apple's or Google's stores fall under those stores' policies, and Brave says it provides no refund.
Stated on brave.com- How to cancel Brave
A premium subscription bought from Brave is cancelled on the account site: sign in with a login link sent to your email, find the subscription under Account, click Cancel subscription and confirm. Subscriptions bought in the App Store or Google Play are cancelled in those stores instead. Brave says cancelling does not delete the account, and the help article points anyone who gets stuck to its community forum.
- Go to the Brave account site and enter your email address
- Click Get login link, then open the link emailed to you
- Find the subscription under Account
- Click Cancel subscription beside the one you want to end
- Read what the page says happens after cancellation
- Click Cancel subscription again to confirm
- What you keep afterwards
You are not charged for future billing periods, you keep the premium features of the cancelled product until the current period ends, and after that you drop to the free version of that service where one exists. You can resubscribe at any time. Deleting the Brave Premium account is a separate step: it cancels every subscription, purges your email address and purchase history, and cannot be undone.
Stated on support.brave.app- Renewals
The terms say paid subscriptions renew automatically until they are cancelled on the account site, and that you are told if the price of a subscription goes up, with your consent required to carry on where the law demands it. If a payment cannot be taken, Brave says you remain responsible for the amount and it may cancel the subscription.
Stated on brave.com
In your favour
- Every paid Brave product comes with a seven-day free trial, so you can look before you pay.
- You cancel yourself from the account site, with no form and nobody to persuade.
- Brave says it tells you before a subscription's price goes up.
- Cancelling leaves the account alone and you can pick the subscription up again later.
Watch out for
- All transactions are final and fees are non-refundable, in Brave's own words.
- The only refund route named is for technical problems that stop you using what you bought.
- Buy through Apple or Google and the refund is theirs to grant, not Brave's.
- Deleting the Premium account wipes your email and purchase history and cannot be undone.
Customer support
Ordinary · checked Oct 18, 2026
Brave's answer to support is a public forum, and a good one: busy, split by product, and where its own help articles send you when something goes wrong. There is a help centre and a support address too. What there is not is any live route, any stated hours or any promise about how fast anyone replies, and paying for premium buys you none of those. That is a C.
Ways to get help
Email
Brave's site footer lists a general user support address alongside separate addresses for API sales, advertising, business and press. The terms give a different address for refund requests where technical problems stopped you using a product.
Stated on brave.comHelp centre
A written help centre with sections for the desktop and mobile browsers, Rewards, Wallet, Search, Leo, Talk, the VPN and premium account management, including step-by-step articles on cancelling and on deleting an account.
Stated on support.brave.appCommunity or forum
The Brave Community forum is the route the help centre points to for anything its articles do not answer, including problems cancelling a subscription. It is public, split by product, and busy, with thousands of browser topics.
Stated on community.brave.app
Not listed on Brave’s pages: live chat, phone.
- When people answer
Its pages do not say.
- How fast it says it replies
Its pages do not say.
- What depends on your plan
Its pages do not say.
In your favour
- The forum is public, active and free to read before you decide anything.
- Help articles exist for the awkward jobs, cancelling and deleting an account among them.
- Free users and premium subscribers go through the same door, with nothing held back.
Watch out for
- No live chat and no phone line anywhere on the pages read.
- No support hours and no target reply time are stated.
- Paying for premium buys you no faster queue that any page describes.
- When a help article runs out of answers, it sends you to a user forum rather than to Brave.
What these two grades rest on. Read on 18 October 2026: Brave's terms of use, with its payment, subscription and termination clauses, its help-centre articles on cancelling a Brave Premium subscription and deleting a Brave Premium account, the premium product page with its contact list, and the Brave Community forum. Nobody here cancelled a plan, asked for a refund or contacted Brave's support. They are graded apart from the five that make the GPA. How we grade refunds and support.
Part 07 · Alternatives
The alternatives
The tools it is most often weighed against, side by side
Firefox, DuckDuckGo Browser, Google Chrome, Vivaldi and Opera
The 5 tools Brave is most often weighed against, with where each one differs from it.
- 3.8GPA
Firefox
Free
Free, open-source browser from Mozilla with tracker blocking built in.
- Firefox is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Brave also covers video calls.
- 2.8GPA
DuckDuckGo Browser
Free plan · from $9.99/mo
Free browser that blocks trackers, ads and cookie pop-ups by default.
- Only Brave lists a Linux app.
- Brave is open source, according to its own site.
- Brave also covers video calls.
- 3.6GPA
Google Chrome
Free
Google's free browser for desktop and mobile, with Gemini built in.
- Brave is open source, according to its own site.
- Brave also covers video calls.
- Google Chrome also covers passkeys.
- 3.8GPA
Vivaldi
Free
Customizable browser with built-in mail, calendar and feed reader.
- Brave is open source, according to its own site.
- Vivaldi is end-to-end encrypted, according to its own site.
- Brave also covers password manager and video calls.
- 3.6GPA
Opera
Free plan · from $4/mo
Browser with a built-in ad blocker, free VPN and sidebar messengers.
- Brave is open source, according to its own site.
- Brave also covers password manager and video calls.
- Opera also covers screenshots.
Part 08 · Questions
Quick answers
The questions people ask about it, each answered in a line or two
18
Questions, each answered in a line or two
The short version of everything above, for when you only need the answer. Each one is told in full in its part of the guide.
Is Brave free?
Brave has a free plan. The browser is free and fully supported, with Shields ad and tracker blocking, sync, Brave Search, Brave Talk and the free tier of Leo, which needs no account and has usage limits that vary with traffic.
How much does Brave cost?
Brave lists 6 plans. Free: $0.
What platforms does Brave work on?
Brave is available on Windows, macOS, Linux, Android and iOS.
Does Brave offer any discounts?
Brave publicly lists the following: About 17% off with yearly billing.
How is Brave rated?
Brave's iPhone and iPad app averages 4.8 out of 5 from 660,596 ratings on the App Store in the United States, as read on Oct 7, 2026.
Is Brave any good?
We have not tested Brave, so this is what reviewers say. Often praised: Ad blocking that is built in and works from the start is a reason given again and again for choosing it, by reviewers and commenters alike.
Is Brave open source?
Yes. Brave is open source, according to its own site.
What does Brave integrate with?
Brave's listing names Chrome Web Store, Tor, Wayback Machine, Google Docs and Google Sheets.
Does Brave have a free trial?
Yes. 7-day free trial on Brave VPN, Leo AI premium and Talk premium.
Who makes Brave?
Brave is made by Brave Software, Inc. Privately held and venture-backed: TechCrunch named Founders Fund's FF Angel, Propel Venture Partners, Pantera Capital, Foundation Capital and Digital Currency Group as investors in its 2016 seed round, and its own pages name no parent company.
What are the alternatives to Brave?
The closest alternatives to Brave in our directory are Firefox, DuckDuckGo Browser, Google Chrome, Vivaldi and Opera.
Does Brave give refunds?
Brave's terms of use say all transactions are final and that any fees paid are non-refundable.
How do I cancel Brave?
A premium subscription bought from Brave is cancelled on the account site: sign in with a login link sent to your email, find the subscription under Account, click Cancel subscription and confirm.
What happens to my data if I cancel Brave?
You are not charged for future billing periods, you keep the premium features of the cancelled product until the current period ends, and after that you drop to the free version of that service where one exists.
How do I contact Brave support?
Brave's pages list these ways to get help: email, help centre and community or forum.
How does Brave compare with other browsers?
Brave's GPA of 3.8 is higher than 13 of the 15 other browsers we grade, and level with 2.
Is Brave good value for money?
ToolGPA grades Brave B for value for money. Its paid plans start at $2.50 a month when paid by the year, against a middle price of $7.08 for the category: 0 of the 7 others that charge start lower.
Could I make my own version of Brave?
To replace Brave you would be making a web browser. That is not a weekend's work, with an AI app builder or without one.
Where this guide comes from
The prices, plans, platforms and features were read from Brave’s own pages on Oct 5, 2026, and the grades were given on Oct 10, 2026. Graded from this listing, whose facts were read from Brave's own pages on 5 October 2026, and its App Store rating. Also tested with a demo account on 2026-09-27.
Every tool we list gets five grades, A to F, each with its reason, and a GPA that averages them. How each is decided is at toolgpa.com/grades. This guide is ToolGPA’s own work; it is not made, paid for or approved by Brave Software, Inc. Prices change, so check brave.com before you buy.
Part 09 · About
About ToolGPA
Who made this guide, what else is on the site, and how to cite it
3,189
Tools graded, in 94 categories
ToolGPA grades software the way a school report grades a pupil: five subjects, a letter for each with the reason written beside it, and a GPA that averages them. Prices, plans and platforms are read from each maker’s own pages and dated, so you always know how fresh a figure is.
Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Every tool on the site has a guide like this one, free to download and pass on. It all lives at toolgpa.com.
3,189
tools graded
94
categories
426
price changes on record
579
apps priced in 12 countries
What else is on toolgpa.com
- Brave, kept up to dateEverything in this guide, with prices and grades as they are todaytoolgpa.com/tools/brave
- How grades are givenThe rules behind every letter and every GPAtoolgpa.com/grades
- Value chartsWhat each tool costs against what it scores, for every categorytoolgpa.com/charts
- CompareAny two tools side by side, plan by plantoolgpa.com/compare
- Price changesEvery price rise and cut on record, each with its sourcetoolgpa.com/price-changes
- Prices by countryWhat apps cost on the App Store in 12 countriestoolgpa.com/prices-by-country
- Pay lessEvery public discount: yearly billing, students, nonprofitstoolgpa.com/save
- Keep or makeWhich tools are worth paying for, and which you could build yourselftoolgpa.com/keep-or-make
Scan for the live page
Prices and grades as they are today
Quoting this guide?
Please name ToolGPA and link to the live page, so readers can check the figures for themselves:
ToolGPA, "Brave: The Insider's Guide", checked Oct 5, 2026. https://toolgpa.com/tools/brave
Know someone choosing between browsers?
Send them this guide: toolgpa.com/tools/brave/guide
ToolGPA elsewhere: youtube.com/@toolgpa
See our other guides
The best-graded browsers after Brave, each with an Insider's Guide of its own.
- Browsers Insider's GuideEvery one of the 16 browsers we grade, compared
- Firefox Insider's GuideFree, open-source browser from Mozilla with tracker blocking built in3.8 GPA
- Vivaldi Insider's GuideCustomizable browser with built-in mail, calendar and feed reader3.8 GPA
- Google Chrome Insider's GuideGoogle's free browser for desktop and mobile, with Gemini built in3.6 GPA
Choosing software? Every tool graded, every price dated.
Compare tools at toolgpa.com ›Everything in this guide is ToolGPA’s own summary of what Brave’s pages, its app-store listings and public reviews said on the dates shown. Grades are our judgement under the rules at toolgpa.com/grades. Every grade, review and ranking on ToolGPA is our own judgement. No company can pay for a grade or change one. Brave is a trademark of its owner, and this guide is not made, paid for or approved by Brave Software, Inc. Prices and plans change: check brave.com before you buy.