I’ve fallen down numerous rabbit holes whereas doing seemingly easy searches: “Find out how to make a latte?” turns into “Latte vs. americano?” which turns into “How dangerous is caffeine for you?” and ends with “Espresso alternate options.” AI-powered serps can prevent time and provide you with higher outcomes — if you know the way to make use of them.
I examined practically a dozen serps and narrowed the checklist to those 9 choices, which embody the most effective for cell, the most effective for customers new to AI search, and plenty extra. Take a sip of your espresso (or espresso different), and let’s go.
Desk of Contents
What are AI serps?
AI serps use some mixture of internet crawlers, innate synthetic intelligence, and person knowledge to enhance customers’ search experiences and supply extra related data. Paradoxically, these machine-powered engines are among the most intuitive, and rating among the many total high serps.
Since AI serps are constructed to raised perceive human intent, they will prevent time guessing the mixture of key phrases that can return your required outcomes. And search engine outcomes pages (SERPs) will typically embody AI-generated summaries with cited sources, so that you don’t must click on by way of a number of URLs to examine their relevance.
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How I Examined AI Search Engines
I examined every search engine on Chrome by asking the identical query: What are the most recent content material advertising and marketing tendencies for SaaS firms in 2025? I used incognito mode and cleared the cache between every new search. I stayed logged out besides the place I’ve famous in any other case (just a few require free logins).
All the various search engines touched on the identical core tendencies, so my rankings concentrate on comprehensiveness, readability, total person expertise, citations, and whether or not a selected search engine is best for sure customers.
A be aware on pricing: Many of those serps have barely difficult pricing buildings, however most supply a free and not less than one paid possibility. The paid choices often have further options like prolonged entry to the newest AI fashions, however whether or not you want these fashions will rely on how you employ AI.
9 Finest AI Search Engines
1. Finest Total: Perplexity
Perplexity got here out on high for its acquainted and easy-to-use UX, complete and skimmable outcomes, and depth of assets.
It has a really related interface to ChatGPT because it makes use of OpenAI’s language fashions, so it can really feel acquainted to a variety of customers:
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Perplexity’s outcomes embody a “Sources” tab on the high, so you may simply toggle to see the checklist of citations. It’s an effective way to skim and ensure its sources are respected and high-quality.
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Distinctive amongst all the various search engines I examined, Perplexity features a abstract desk in its outcomes, which I discovered immensely useful — generally my eyes cross after I see all that data scroll down my display, so I appreciated the skimmable abstract.
Perplexity cited 20 sources, practically twice as many as every other AI search engine I examined. It was one among solely two that pulled outcomes from YouTube, and it was the one one which additionally included Reddit (which could be a goldmine if you happen to discover the fitting subreddit).
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Perplexity supplies an in depth breakdown of tendencies, loads of citations, and a abstract desk. That makes it the most suitable choice for knowledgeable entrepreneurs, who could have to do deeper analysis — but additionally the most effective for less-experienced entrepreneurs who could need to begin with the abstract.
What I Like
Visually effectively organized, with excessive readability for each new and skilled entrepreneurs.
The abstract desk is a standout characteristic.
Intensive citations and the most effective search range by far, itemizing 20 sources, together with YouTube and Reddit.
What Wants Enchancment
Perplexity was the one AI search engine that didn’t have apparent areas for enchancment.
Pricing
Perplexity has a two-tier pricing plan, plus Perplexity Enterprise accounts.
Free perpetually: Contains limitless free searches and three Professional searches a day.
Skilled: $20/month. Contains 300+ Professional searches a day.
2. Finest for Visible Learners (and Second-Finest Total): Komo
Komo’s search outcomes start with a nifty color-coded “Perspective Pulse” — the clearest and cleanest abstract of any search engine I examined.
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Komo has two different options that make it stand out in a crowd: You may choose each a search corpus (e.g., the net, educational sources, socials, information, video, blogs) and one among 10 pre-defined personas.
Personas allow you to select the way you need the knowledge organized — choices embody gathering quotes, offering an explainer or a TL;DR, or gathering knowledge. I didn’t check personas for this text, as they require a paid subscription.
Komo additionally allows you to select which AI mannequin to make use of to your search. The choices embody numerous fashions from Gemini, Claude, and OpenAI. That is nice for knowledgeable AI searchers who’ve a deal with on the professionals and cons of all of the choices on the market.
What I Like
The sources are famous instantly subsequent to the related textual content. However not like different serps, which use footnotes or dropdown menus, Komo makes use of a button with the web site’s favicon that breaks up the wall of textual content. I discovered it a lot nicer to have a look at than different SERPs.
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Respectable search range, with 10 sources listed.
What Wants Enchancment
There are such a lot of choices — AI fashions! Personas! Search corpora! — that it might overwhelm customers who’re model new to AI search.
Komo wants extra search range to compete with the likes of Perplexity — but it surely’s nonetheless an in depth second place for me.
Pricing
Free plan: $0
Fundamental plan: $15/month
Premium plan: $30/month
Marketing strategy: $200/month
3. Finest for Cellular: Arc Search
I examined Arc Search on an iPhone 14 Professional utilizing the free Arc app for iOS; it’s additionally obtainable for Android.
Arc is simple to make use of and simple to learn on cell, and its outcomes had been related in high quality to the web-based browsers I examined. Plus, its voice search labored seamlessly, simply understanding what “SaaS” was (I pronounced it “sass”).
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It additionally makes it straightforward to see all of the sources at a look, and Arc and Perplexity had been the one AI-powered serps I examined that pulled outcomes from YouTube movies. Arc cited 11 totally different sources, which is on par with different AI serps.
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What I Like
No third-party adverts.
It auto-archives outdated tabs — between my cell Chrome and Safari apps, I presently have 216 open tabs, and that’s a document low. So if you happen to’re like me, Arc will probably be so much lighter.
You may change seamlessly between Arc and Google search, which is especially helpful on cell.
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What Wants Enchancment
I discovered the UX a bit too cute, and a bit cluttered.
It took me a second to understand that “Browse for me” meant looking out with AI.
One of many questions in Arc’s FAQ is the way it makes cash if it’s each free and ad-free. Drawback is, it doesn’t reply it — and that leaves me with extra questions.
Pricing
4. Finest for Google Customers: Gemini
For those who’re already absolutely built-in into the Google ecosystem, Gemini is a simple alternative for AI-powered search. Previously often known as Bard, the AI chatbot could also be engaging to those that have grown accustomed to Google’s many merchandise.
Gabrielle Herrera, a senior advertising and marketing supervisor of group progress at HubSpot, sums it up: “I actually take pleasure in Gemini as a result of it is built-in with the Google Ecosystem — which was my most well-liked search engine to start with.
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Gemini is separate from Google’s AI Overviews, which seem on the high of some Google search outcomes (and which I’m not overlaying right here, because it’s not a separate search engine).
Gemini’s outcomes had been among the most complete of the bunch, and it included extra details about AI’s position in content material advertising and marketing tendencies, together with Google’s E-E-A-T search high quality rater pointers.
What I Like
Good search range, with 13 sources cited.
It has a “Double-check response” characteristic, which makes use of Google to run a secondary search of your query to make sure accuracy.
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What Wants Enchancment
Gemini consists of sources for every bullet level, however it’s important to click on on a down arrow to seek out them. I’d wish to see a complete checklist of all sources included within the preliminary outcomes.
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Pricing
Gemini has three plan tiers, together with one that gives Gemini Superior free to U.S. faculty college students.
Gemini is free, but it surely locations some limits on entry to its most superior mannequin.
Gemini Superior is $20/month and will increase the bounds on its “most succesful experimental mannequin, 2.5 Professional.”
5. Finest for the Privateness-Involved: Courageous Search
Courageous Search is the AI-powered engine of alternative if privateness is your high concern. It doesn’t observe customers or their queries, which means it might probably’t share or promote private knowledge — as a result of it by no means collected it within the first place.
Its AI-powered search engine guarantees it’s “the one massive real-time reply engine that places privateness first and doesn’t depend on Massive Tech serps.” It wasn’t the most effective or strongest search engine I examined, however the high quality of knowledge is on par with the remaining.
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Courageous Search additionally appears so much like Google, so it’s an amazing place for AI inexperienced persons to begin.
What I Like
Courageous has tabs for Photos, Information, and Movies, identical to Google. This stood out among the many serps I examined, which largely present text-based outcomes.
Courageous is thought for its dedication to privateness and safety, making it a necessary possibility within the AI-powered search panorama.
What Wants Enchancment
Poor search range, citing solely 4 sources.
I searched usually and with the “Reply with AI” characteristic for each questions and obtained equivalent search leads to each modes — so it’s unclear what benefits Courageous is bringing to AI-powered search.
Pricing
Courageous provides quite a few merchandise like a VPN, a proprietary browser, Courageous Search API, and plenty extra.
Courageous Search is free to make use of.
Courageous Search Premium is $3/month or $29.99/12 months, and is ad-free. In contrast to its opponents, there aren’t any further options, however Courageous touts Premium as a option to assist non-public, unbiased search.
6. – 7. Finest for Folks Who Hate Search Engines: Claude and ChatGPT
In an off-the-cuff HubSpot Slack survey on favourite AI serps, Claude and ChatGPT — regardless of not truly being serps — had been the highest two responses. And in the event that they appear to be serps and quack like serps, I made a decision they’d move the duck check.
HubSpot movement designer Oscar Estrada mentioned, “I like that ChatGPT is ready to search by way of each textual content and voice modes. Additionally, its deep analysis performance is fairly helpful.”
ChatGPT is nice for newbies — it summarizes every level in only a sentence or two, so I wasn’t overwhelmed with data. It’s additionally acquainted to a variety of of us, because it was one of many first AI chatbots on the scene.
Since HubSpot has an Enterprise Claude account, I signed in and used 3.7 Sonnet. The free model makes use of a much less highly effective mannequin.
What I Like
Claude’s pleasant, conversational tone stands out amongst all the various search engines.
ChatGPT has a “Sources” button that opens a proper sidebar — I appreciated having the ability to see the checklist of sources on the identical web page because the outcomes.
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What Wants Enchancment
ChatGPT and Claude have poor search range, every itemizing solely 5 sources for my question.
Pricing
Each Claude and ChatGPT have completely serviceable free variations.
Claude’s Professional model is $17/month, and ChatGPT Plus is $20/month.
8. Finest for Outlook Customers: Microsoft Copilot
Microsoft Copilot is an AI companion software that pairs with Microsoft 365 apps, akin to Phrase, PowerPoint, and Excel.
Copilot integrates into Microsoft 365 apps to assist with essentially the most acceptable duties, from writing thought-starters in Phrase to design assist in PowerPoint to e mail inbox effectivity in Outlook.
Copilot additionally has an online model that features equally to different AI serps. You enter a query, and it curates a response by scouring the net for references. For this text, I examined the web-based model.
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What I Like
Copilot is constructed for Microsoft, so if you happen to’re an Outlook person, this can be your search engine of alternative.
What Wants Enchancment
Copilot solely listed two sources — far fewer than every other search engine.
Copilot isn’t a search engine initially, and that reveals in each the general UX and the SERPs, which had been missing in comparison with the others I examined.
Pricing
Free plan limits entry to sure fashions throughout peak utilization occasions.
Microsoft Copilot Professional is $20/month and consists of “most well-liked entry to essentially the most superior fashions throughout peak occasions.”
9. Finest for Tutorial Analysis: EXA’s Websets
EXA is a little bit of a wild card on this experiment, and a phrase of warning: it’s not for most individuals.
However for these doing deep educational analysis or entrepreneurs who need an exhaustive checklist of assets to make use of for their very own analysis, EXA’s Websets could be a incredible complement to different serps.
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As an alternative of summarizing outcomes like most different AI-powered serps, EXA’s Websets finds weblog posts, scholarly articles, and different information associated to your question and search standards. For those who want to do your individual analysis, this can be a useful gizmo for figuring out the most effective and most related assets with only one question.
What I Like
Searches each scholarly journals and articles/weblog posts.
Clearly labels which of your standards every article “meets” and “misses” — a novel and great tool for analysis deep dives.
What Wants Enchancment
The spreadsheet-like interface isn’t practically as intuitive as others on this checklist.
The credits-based free plan begins at 750, and after one search, I used to be all the way down to 420.
Pricing
EXA’s target market is AI firms — and as such, it’s the most costly on this checklist by an extended shot.
You may attempt EXA’s Websets free of charge utilizing a credit-based system.
The starter plan is $200/month and consists of 20k credit; Professional is $800/month and consists of 80k credit.
The place There’s A Will, There’s A(I) Means
Earlier than testing AI serps for this text, I used to be already an occasional Perplexity person, however I used to be pleasantly stunned by a number of others on this checklist. Whether or not you’re new to AI or a seasoned professional, check out just a few of those serps and see which of them meet your wants.
Editor’s be aware: This put up was initially printed in July 2024 and has been up to date for comprehensiveness.
