John Paul M. Joaquin Tech 04.28.2023 23:Apr PM EDT

Brave Removes Microsoft From Web Browser, Search Engine

Brave and Microsoft are calling it quits.

The company behind the privacy-focused web browser and search engine of the same name has announced it is parting ways with Microsoft and its Bing search engine due to its increased cost.

Brave and Microsoft had previously partnered in June 2021 to give the former's search engine a little hand on queries.

Brave's Reason For Ditching Microsoft

Brav mentioned in its announcement that it is launching its own API index to handle search queries and results for its own search engine, which protects users' privacy by block trackers, cross-site cookie tracking, and more, per its official website.

According to the company, it was only a matter of time before it launched and used its own API. When Brave Search, the company's search engine, launched in 2021, about 13% of the queries required the help of third parties, namely Microsoft Bing's API, to achieve the quality desired across various types of queries.

However, it claims that it was able to be more independent in less than a year, with Microsoft Bing providing only 7% of search queries after such a period. Brave mentioned that it achieved such a result and its eventual independence from Microsoft Bing due to two things:

Brave Search's rapid adoption, making it the fasting growing search engine since Microsoft Bing, and
The Web Discovery Project's broad adoption, which made results have the nuance and completeness needed to compete on privacy and quality while allowing users to anonymously contribute browsing data to grow the Brave Search index.

While such an achievement is noteworthy, it is important to note that Microsoft itself had a hand in Brave's announcement of the launch of its own API index. The company mentioned that the uncertainty over the future of the Bing API, along with Microsoft's announcement of an "unprecedented increase" in its API pricing, created undue pressure for search engines that either rely on it fully or partially.

Although Brave Search no longer uses the Bing API for search queries, Brave does admit that the removal of Microsoft's API may have an effect for certain queries, or for some regional or language-specific results. As such, the company advises its users to submit feedback as often as possible.

Microsoft's Price Increase For Bing API

Brave's decision to call it quits with Microsoft isn't unfounded. The latter company raised the price for its Bing API significantly, according to Microsoft's latest pricing update as of press time.

Some of the new prices are triple or quadruple their original prices, making the choice to continue adding the API to search engines, pricier and more expensive.

Microsoft mentioned that it raised its prices to "meet market demands" and align the pricing of its products and services with customer consumption trends and preferences. It is also probable that Microsoft did this to make itself a profitable company during a time of recession and economic uncertainty.