There are 17 AI search engines worth knowing in 2026, and three of them, Google AI Mode, ChatGPT, and Perplexity, carry most of the volume. Google told investors in July 2026 that AI Mode passed 1 billion monthly active users, OpenAI announced in February 2026 that ChatGPT reached 900 million weekly active users, and Pew Research Center’s February 2026 survey of 5,119 US adults found that 60% now read the AI summary at the top of search results.
This is the full directory, not a three way fight. It covers Google, Microsoft Copilot, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Kagi, Andi, iAsk, Komo, Perplexity, You.com, ChatGPT, Claude, the Gemini app, Grok, Meta AI, Arc Search, and Exa. It leaves out the crawlers that feed these engines (see the list of AI crawlers). Every price comes from the company’s own pricing page.
You will not use all 17. The point is that the same buyer question (“best personal injury lawyer near me”) gets a different answer on each one, from a different index, cited a different way. Pew found 49% of US adults use AI chatbots and 42% use them to search for information.
Each engine on this list answers the same buyer question differently. Check the free AI visibility audit to see which ones mention your business and which name a competitor.
Which AI search engines exist in 2026?
Seventeen engines are live in 2026; the table gives each one’s company, model or version, citation style, company page price, and fit.
| Engine | Company | Model or version (2026) | How it cites | Pricing (company page) | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Google AI Mode and AI Overviews | Gemini 3.5 Flash default since May 2026 | Link chips (Overviews); link cards and inline links (AI Mode) | Free; AI Pro $19.99/mo; Ultra $100 to $200/mo | Local and consumer queries at scale | |
| Copilot Search (Bing) | Microsoft | Copilot Search in Bing, April 2025 | Numbered footnotes plus sources panel | Free; Microsoft 365 Premium $199.99/yr | Edge and Windows default users |
| Brave Search (Answer with AI) | Brave Software | Own 20 billion page index | Sources on every answer | Free; Premium removes ads | Privacy first, independent index |
| DuckDuckGo (Search Assist, Duck.ai) | DuckDuckGo | Bing results plus third party models | Source links under answers | Free; subscription $9.99/mo | Anonymous search with optional AI |
| Kagi | Kagi Inc | Kagi Assistant, Quick and Research modes | Numbered references | Trial 100 searches; $5, $10, $25/mo | Paying for zero ads |
| Andi | Andi | Own index, chat answers | Links beside each answer | Free, no ads | Casual free search |
| iAsk.ai | Ai Search Inc | iAsk Pro model | Source list under answer | Free with ads; Pro $9.95/mo | Students and factual lookups |
| Komo | Komo | Web search plus generated answer | Sources with answer | Free | Niche private search |
| Perplexity | Perplexity AI | Routes across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, Nemotron | Inline numbered citations, every answer | Free; Pro $20/mo; Max $200/mo | Research and follow up questions |
| You.com | You.com | Chat platform; Answer and Research APIs | Citation grounded, inline references | API $5 per 1,000 calls; 100 free/day | Teams building on a search API |
| ChatGPT search | OpenAI | GPT-5.6 Luna free; GPT-6 on Plus and Pro | Inline links when search runs | Free; Plus $20/mo; Pro from $100/mo | Largest conversational audience |
| Claude | Anthropic | Sonnet 5 free; Opus 5.5 and Fable 5.1 paid | Inline links when search runs | Free; Pro $17/mo annual ($20 monthly); Max from $100/mo | Long documents and reasoning |
| Gemini app | Gemini 3.5 Flash, Gemini Omni | Source links when grounding runs | Free; AI Pro $19.99/mo; Ultra $100 to $200/mo | Android and Workspace users | |
| Grok | xAI (SpaceXAI) | Grok 4.6 | Inline links to pages and X posts | Free; SuperGrok $30/mo; Plus $100/mo | Real time news and social sentiment |
| Meta AI | Meta | Standalone app plus Meta’s social apps | Source links on grounded answers | Free | Users who never open a search engine |
| Arc Search | The Browser Company | Browse for Me, iOS and Android | Lists pages it read | Free | Mobile first searchers |
| Exa | Exa Labs | Search, Deep Search, Agent API, Websets | Structured outputs with citations | $10 free credits/mo; $7 per 1,000 searches | Developers building agents |
“Free” almost always means rate limited, and the citation column is the one that matters for a business, because it decides whether a mention becomes a click.
How are the 17 AI search engines grouped?
Five groups cover all 17, and each entry below gives a real reason to pick it and a real limitation.
1. Search engines with a web index and AI on top
Google AI Mode and AI Overviews. Reason: Google’s Q2 2026 earnings remarks put AI Mode past 1 billion monthly active users, the largest AI search surface on earth. Limitation: you cannot opt in, and the Overview and the AI Mode answer can name different firms for the same query.
Copilot Search in Bing. Reason: default in Edge and Windows, with footnotes plus a “show all sources” panel that surfaces more pages. Limitation: Bing’s share of search is a fraction of Google’s, so the same presence moves fewer buyers.
Brave Search. Reason: its own index (20 billion pages at the 2024 launch of Answer with AI) and sources on every answer. Limitation: it can fall back to Google results when its index is thin.
DuckDuckGo. Reason: Search Assist and Duck.ai strip your IP and build no profile. Limitation: it depends on Bing’s index, so a business invisible on Bing is invisible here too.
Kagi. Reason: no ads, no tracking, and a Fair Pricing policy that credits any unused month. Limitation: $5 to $25 per month after a 100 search trial keeps the audience small.
Andi. Reason: free, no ads, chat first design. Limitation: no public usage figures or pricing page.
iAsk.ai. Reason: unlimited free searches on the base model and a $9.95 Pro tier with 300 daily Pro searches. Limitation: ads on the free tier, and it self reports its accuracy.
Komo. Reason: private, no ads, sources with every answer. Limitation: no published usage numbers or pricing page.
2. Answer engines built for AI from the start
Perplexity. Reason: inline numbered citations on every plan, and a $20 Pro tier that routes across ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Nemotron models. Limitation: free usage is capped weekly, and thin service pages rarely get cited.
You.com. Reason: its Answer API builds a citation grounded response from retrieved passages only. Limitation: public pricing is API only, from $5 per 1,000 calls; the consumer chat has no listed price.
3. Chatbots with web search
ChatGPT search. Reason: OpenAI reported 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, and Pew found 44% of US adults use ChatGPT, nearly double the next chatbot. Limitation: many answers come from model memory with no citation.
Claude. Reason: web search on the free plan and a long context that suits whole documents. Limitation: Pew puts Claude at 6% of US adults, and it searches only when it decides the question needs fresh information.
Gemini app. Reason: 950 million monthly active users per Google’s Q2 2026 remarks, and 24% of US adults per Pew, second only to ChatGPT. Limitation: grounding is inconsistent, so many answers arrive with no source links.
Grok. Reason: real time web and X search on the free plan, the only engine pulling live social posts into answers. Limitation: a competitor’s viral thread on X can outrank your service page.
Meta AI. Reason: Mark Zuckerberg told shareholders in May 2025 that Meta AI passed 1 billion monthly users across its apps. Limitation: most of those users never typed a search intent, and web citations are sparse.
4. Mobile browser with built in answers
Arc Search. Reason: Browse for Me reads several pages and builds one answer listing the pages it used, free on iOS and Android. Limitation: The Browser Company moved its focus to Dia, so Arc Search is maintained, not growing.
5. Developer and API engines
Exa. Reason: built for agents, $7 per 1,000 searches, $10 in free credits monthly, and Websets for structured lists. Limitation: no consumer interface; it matters only when an agent someone else built uses it to find you.
Which AI search engine is most accurate?
No engine is most accurate across all query types, and no primary study in 2026 ranks all 17 on one test. The fairest proxy is sourcing discipline: Perplexity, Copilot Search, and Brave cite every answer, while ChatGPT and the Gemini app cite only when they run a live search. Accuracy claims from the engines themselves (iAsk’s benchmark pages, Andi’s homepage) are self reported. For a business the useful question is narrower: does the engine name the right firm for a buyer query in your city?
Which AI search engines are free?
All 17 have a free tier, and 14 are free for normal daily use, including Google AI Mode, Copilot Search, Brave, and the free tiers of ChatGPT, Claude, and the Gemini app. Perplexity is free with weekly limits. Kagi is paid after a 100 search trial, and You.com and Exa charge per request after a free allowance.
Paid tiers cluster at about $20 per month (ChatGPT Plus, Perplexity Pro, Claude Pro, Google AI Pro) and $100 to $200 per month (ChatGPT Pro, Perplexity Max, Claude Max, Google AI Ultra). None of them change which businesses get cited; they change usage limits and model access.
What is the difference between AI Mode and AI Overviews?
AI Overviews is the summary above regular Google results; AI Mode is the conversational tab that replaces the results page. In May 2026 Google merged the two into one flow, so a user can ask a follow up from an AI Overview and land in AI Mode, with Gemini 3.5 Flash as the default model for both. Pew’s data shows 60% of US adults read the summaries, which is why the Overview matters more than the tab for most local businesses. A page cited in one is not automatically cited in the other. Full breakdown in AI Mode vs AI Overviews.
Which AI search engines cite sources?
Fourteen of the 17 cite sources on every answer that touches the web, from Perplexity and Copilot Search to Brave and Google AI Mode. Three cite only when they choose to run a live search: ChatGPT, Claude, and the Gemini app. Meta AI behaves like that second group. An uncited answer is a mention with no click, and a mention from model memory cannot be earned by publishing a page this month. What sources AI engines cite covers which page types each engine pulls.
Which engines should a law firm or clinic track?
Track five: Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Copilot Search, and the Gemini app. Those five combine the largest audiences with consistent citations. Brave, DuckDuckGo, and Grok are worth a quarterly check. The rest are worth knowing, not worth a dashboard.
The work behind visibility on those five is the same: pages that answer one buyer question each, third party coverage the engines already trust, and review profiles with clean business data. That is the combination Subscribe PR runs as a PR and AEO retainer for law firms and surgeons.
FAQ
How many AI search engines are there in 2026?
Seventeen are live as of September 2026: Google AI Mode and AI Overviews, Copilot Search, Brave, DuckDuckGo, Kagi, Andi, iAsk, Komo, Perplexity, You.com, ChatGPT search, Claude, the Gemini app, Grok, Meta AI, Arc Search, and Exa. Treat the count as a snapshot; Google merged two products this year.
Which AI search engine has the most users?
Google AI Mode, at more than 1 billion monthly active users per Google’s Q2 2026 earnings remarks, with the Gemini app at 950 million. ChatGPT reported 900 million weekly active users in February 2026, a different metric that likely lands in the same range. Meta AI claimed 1 billion monthly users in May 2025, but most of that is passive exposure inside WhatsApp and Instagram.
Is Perplexity better than ChatGPT for search?
For sourced answers, yes: Perplexity cites every claim inline on every plan, while ChatGPT cites only when it runs a live search. For audience, no: Pew found 44% of US adults use ChatGPT and did not list Perplexity among the top seven chatbots. Be visible on both, but a ChatGPT mention reaches far more buyers.
Do AI search engines use the same web index?
No. Google, Microsoft Bing, Brave, and Exa each maintain their own index. DuckDuckGo builds on Bing. Perplexity, ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, and Meta AI combine their own crawling with licensed results. A page missing from Bing is missing from DuckDuckGo and Copilot Search at once, which is why indexing on both Google and Bing is the first check.
Which AI search engines are private?
Brave, DuckDuckGo, Kagi, Andi, and Komo market themselves as privacy first. Brave and Kagi run without profiling, DuckDuckGo strips the IP address before forwarding Duck.ai prompts to model providers, and Kagi has no ads because subscribers fund it. ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and Grok offer training opt outs, but they are accounts tied to identity.
Will there be new AI search engines in 2027?
Probably fewer, not more. Smaller standalone engines have been closing since OpenAI, Anthropic, and Google added web search to their own products, and You.com moved its public pricing to API only. Consolidation favors engines with their own index (Google, Microsoft, Brave, Exa) or a billion user channel (OpenAI, Meta).
The short version
Seventeen AI search engines are live in 2026, five decide most of your AI visibility, and every one cites sources differently. The audience numbers are primary sourced: 1 billion monthly on AI Mode, 900 million weekly on ChatGPT, 60% of US adults reading AI summaries. The five that matter for a law firm or clinic are not going anywhere.
Seventeen engines is too many to check by hand. Let the free AI visibility audit run your buyer prompts across the ones that matter and report who gets named.
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