Bravehasgottenmoreattentionthanmostalternatebrowsers,partlybecauseaco-founderwasoneofthosewhokick-startedMozilla’sFirefox,partlybecauseofitsveryunusual—somesayparasitical—businessmodel.
ComputerworldtookadeepdiveintoBravetofigureoutwhatitis,whatitdoesandhowitdoesit.Here’swhatyouneedtoknowtodecidewhetherBrave’sforyou.(Ifyoudodecidetotryitout,downloadinformationisdetailedbelow.)
TheBravebrowsercanshowusershowmanyadtrackers(andads)havebeenblocked.
Braveisamore-or-lessstandardbrowserthatletsusersnavigatetowebsites,runwebapps,anddisplayonlinecontent.Likeotherbrowsers,itisfreetodownloadanduse,rememberssiteauthenticationinformation,andcanblockonlineadsfromappearingonsites.
No.Bravedoesn’tlayafingeronthose,includingtheubiquitousGoogleAds(formerlyAdWords)advertisementswithinGoogle’sresults.That’snotasurprise:Adblockingextensionsdon’tstymiesearchadseither.
OniOS,BraveinsteadreliesonWebKit,theopen-sourcefoundationthatalsopowersApple’sSafaribrowser.WebKitisrequiredasthebackboneofanythird-partybrowsersubmittedtoApple’sAppStore.
OtherbrowsersthatdependonChromiumincludeEdge,Opera,VivaldiandQihoo360,oneofthemostpopularChinese-madebrowsers.
(Inhindsight,Eich’sdecisiontogowithChromium—ratherthanwithFirefox’sGeckorenderingengine—wassmart,eventhoughmostexpectedBravetoleanMozilla’sway,whatwithEich’sconnectiontothelatter.)
Brave’sdefaultbrowserbehaviorcanbecustomizedinpreferences.
Gladyouasked.Yes,istheanswer.
Braveboaststwothings:speedandprivacy.Bothresultfromitsad-strippingstrategy.
There’snothingtechnologically-specialaboutBrave’sperformance;it’ssimplyretrievinglessdatathanotherbrowsers.
WhatsetsBraveapartisitsaggressiveanti-adattitude.Thebrowserwasbuilttostriponlineadsfromwebsitesanditsmaker’sbusinessmodelreliesnotonlyonadblocking,butonreplacingthescratched-outadswithadvertisementsfromitsownnetwork.It’sasifanewsportscablenetworkannounceditwouldusetechnologytoremoveadsfromanothernetwork’sprograms,say,ESPN’s,thenrebroadcastthoseprogramswithadsofitsowndevising,withtherevenuefromthoseadsgoinginitspockets,notESPN’s.
Bravealsoeliminatesalladtrackers,theoften-minutepagecomponentsadvertisersandsitepublishersdeploytoidentifyuserssothattheyknowwhatothersitesthoseusersvisitorhavevisited.Trackersareusedbyadnetworkstoshowproductssimilartoonespurchased,orjustconsidered,leadingtothememeofpersistentlyseeingthesameadnomatterwhereonenavigates.
SinceBrave’sappearance,mainstreambrowsers—Chrome,Edge,Firefox,Safari,andothers—havealsoadoptedvariouskindsofanti-trackingdefenses.(Infact,whereonceperformancewasthebattlefieldforbrowserskirmishes,withpagerenderingspeedsthegaugeofsuccess,privacyfeaturesnowrepresentthebattleground,andit’strackerblockingonwhichtheappsarejudged.)Brave’sclaimofprivacysuperiority,then,isnotascompellingasitwas,say,threeyearsago.
No,andforthetalkearlyon,itneverwas.Unlikeotherbrowsersthatblockadsandtrackers—whethernativelyorwhenequippedwithanad-blockingadd-on—Bravehascreatedanadecosystemtoreplacewhatitwipesoffwebsites.
Bravescrubssitesofadsandadtracking,thenreplacesthoseadswithitsownadvertisements,whicharenotindividuallytargetedbutinsteadaimedatananonymousaggregateofthebrowser’suserbase.Bravehassaiditwentthatrouteratherthanasimplerall-ad-eliminationmodelbecause,whilefewusersrelishads,manyrealizethatwithoutthem,thecommercialwebasitnowexistswouldbenighimpossible.That’swhy,claimedBrave,itnotonlyswappeditsadvertisementsforthoseoriginallydisplayedbyasite,butbuiltacyrpto-currency-basedsystemthatcan,theoreticallyatleast,compensatethosesamewebsites.
It’sdefinitelyauser-centricmodel.“We’rebuildingasolutiondesignedto…giveusersthefairdealtheydeserveforcomingtothewebtobrowseandcontribute,”Eichmaintainedtwoyearsago.
Brave’sadsarequitedifferentthanthetraditionalin-pageadswebusersknow—andinmanyways,hate.Instead,Brave’sadsappearasnotificationsthatpopup—justlikeotherin-browsernotificationsthatsitesrequestfordisplay—infrontoftheuser.Clickingononeofthesenotification-likeadsopensanewtabinBrave,wherethe“real”adcontentappears.
ThefoundationoftheBraveeconomyis“BasicAttentionTokens”orBATs,whichhaveavaluederivedfromacyber-currency.Thosetokenswillbeawardedbasedonuserattention,ormoreplainly,timespentviewingadsandcontent.BraveuserswhoagreetoreceiveadswillberewardedwithBATs;thetokenscanbepassedtopublishersassupportfortheirsites.Alternately,Braveenvisionsuserstradingtheirtokensforpremiumcontentoradvancedsitefeatures.
BraveusershavebeenviewingadssinceApril2019andarenowreceivingads,althoughit’sunclearwhenBravewillactuallybeginservingadstoalluserswhooptin,orwhentheexchanging-BATspartoftheprocesswillbeready.
AsofApril7,asingleBATwasworthabout$1.20.(Therewereapproximately1.5billionBATsincirculation,foratotalmarketcapofnearly$1.8billion.)InitslatestMonthlyActiveUser(MAU)statusupdate,Braveclaimedthatusershadcontributedsome26millionBATstositepublishersandwebcontentcreators(thelatterareoftenpostingonsocialmedia,orsites/serviceslikeYouTubeandTwitch).
ThefinancialfoundationofBraverelieson“BasicAttentionTokens”orBATs,whicharetiedtoacyber-currencyandusedtosupportwebsites.Userscanautomatically“tip”sitesbasedonhowmuchoftheirtotalonlinetimeisspentviewingtheircontent.
Somebrowsersdon’thavetoworryaboutmakingmoneybecausethey’rejustacoginamuchlargermachine.Forexample,Chrome,Microsoft’sEdge,andApple’sSafaridon’tneedtoturnaprofitbecausetheirparentorganizationsvaluethemfornon-monetaryreasonsaswellastheirabilitytoproducerevenueinsomefashion.
Otherbrowsers,notablyFirefox,aretheopposite:Theymustfindawaytogeneraterevenue.Mozilladoesthatbystrikingdealswithsearchfirmsfordefaultplacementinthebrowser.(ThecurrentdealiswithGoogle.)
BraveSoftware’sfinancialfoundationrestsonsomethingcompletelydifferent:Itsshareofadrevenue.Unlikeotherbrowsers,whichonlydisplaywebsitesinanecosystemwherethosesitesareearningadrevenue,Bravehasinserteditselfintothemoneystream.Braveistheentityearningrevenuefromads,eventhoughtheuserviewsthesamesiteas,forexample,Edge,whichearnsnothing.
Brave’scutofpublisheradsis15%,whileitstakeofuseradsisaheftier30%.
(Useradsarethenotification-stylepop-upsthebrowserdeliverstousers;theycurrentlymakeupthebulkofBrave’sads.Publisheradsarethoseviewed“onorinassociationwithpublishercontent.”Abanneradatthetopofasite’shomepage,forinstance,isapublisherad.)
Braverakesin15%,althoughitraised$35millionayearagoinjustsecondsbysellingtheBATcryptocurrencytoinvestors—butclearlyit’sexpectingthatitstake,asmuchas30%oftheBATsearnedbyusers,willbearevenuegeneratorasitsellsthoseBATstoadvertisers.
Bravehasothermonetarymeans,asitkeptathirdofthe1.5billionBATs—thatbillionandahalfisacap,thecompanysaid—foritself(200millionBATs)andasstarterseedforbrowserusers’wallets(300millionBATs).AtthecurrentBATvalue,Brave’s200millionequals$240million.Thatmoney,Bravesaidin2017inawhitepaper,wouldbeused“tobuildouttheBlockchain-baseddigitaladvertisingsystem.”
AccordingtoBrave,thebrowserhadmorethan25millionmonthlyactiveusers(MAU)asofFeb.2,2021.ThecompanystressedthatithadmorethandoubleditsMAUintheprior12months.
AlthoughthatMAUsoundsimpressive,withthewholeworldonline,25millionisadropofthebucket.Mozilla’sFirefox,abrowserthatComputerworldhaslongbelievedtobeontheknife’sedgebetweensurvivalanddissolution,reportedaMAUofapproximately219millionaroundthatsameFebruarytimeline,oraboutninetimesBrave’s.
Search.
InMarch,BraveSoftwareannouncedthatithadacquiredasearchenginecalledTailcat(yeah,wehadn’theardofthembefore,either),which,accordingtoBrave,“willbecomethefoundationofBraveSearch.”
LikethebrowsermadebyBrave,Searchwillpayuserstoviewsearch-relatedads.Butthecompanysaiditwouldalsooffer“optionsforad-freepaidsearch,”whichwouldbeaveryvisiblemarkertoseparateitfromtherun-of-the-millengines.
Thepageshouldautomaticallyrecognizethedevice’soperatingsystemandoffertheappropriateversion.Ifitdoesn’t,selectfromthechoicesatthebottom:Windowsx86orWindowsx64;macOS(Intel)ormacOS(ARM64);andLinuxx64forCentOS/RHEL,Debian,Fedora,Mint,openSUSE,andUbuntu.
GreggKeizercoversWindows,Office,Apple/enterprise,webbrowsers,andwebappsforComputerworld.