Brave Review: Ad Blocking, Faster Browsing and BAT Rewards

With it's amazing but simple features, Brave is the perfect browser for every type of user

Brave Browser launched its first version on 20 January 2016. Created byby Brendan Eich (creator of JavaScript and former CEO of Mozilla Corporation), Brave is a free and open-source web browser developed by Brave Software, Inc. based on the Chromium web browser. Since it's launch in 2016, Brave has continuously gained in popularity passing 15 million monthly active users in May 2020.

What are the features that make Brave stand out?

Ads and Trackers? Gone.

Indeed, one of Brave Browser’s biggest claims to fame is it's automatic ad and tracker blocking, oh and it’s FREE! Unlike other browsers where you need to go and download a 3rd party extension like AdBlock, AdLock or AdBlock Plus, which often require a subscription of some kind, Brave has it built-in, and it works perfectly! This feature alone puts Brave miles ahead of some other browsers in my opinion.

For the moment I have had no problems with it, all ads and trackers are getting blocked and another great benefit is that you can directly see what Brave is blocking in real-time!

I do however sometimes turn off this feature on certain websites that I know rely on ads as a major source of income or if I’m watching one of my favourite creators on YouTube, talking of which why not check out our brand new Youtube Channel!

It's important to remember that many websites need these ads so they can continue to provide quality content so consider turning this feature off occasionally!

Full Speed Ahead!

Brave claims a 3-6% faster browsing experience compared to others on the market, and although I can't verify those numbers what I can say is that it definitely feels a lot faster!

Thanks to Brave's suite of security and privacy features, websites no longer load flashing banners, pop-ups and advertising trackers which is how the browser achieves these speeds.

Brave will even give you a summary of all the work it's been doing, including how much time it thinks you've saved while using the browser.

Not bad!

Support Sites and Creators With Brave Rewards

Another very interesting feature is the Brave Rewards program. Brave swaps ads on a website with ads of its own, shown as operating system notifications, that don't track you. If you view what Brave calls it's "privacy-respecting ads" or engage with them, you're not generating revenue for a publisher as you normally would with other browsers. Instead, you earn Brave's basic attention tokens (BAT), a kind of cryptocurrency that can turn into real dollars. 

Every month you will earn 70% of the BAT revenue that advertisers spend on the ads you'll see, while the remaining 30% goes to Brave. As the BAT tokens stack up in your account, you can make contributions to websites you love, and tip users on Twitter, YouTube and other sites like The Detechtor! Publishers receive the contributions in the form of cryptocurrencies if they opt into the system.

Your earnings can be used to support your creators by tipping them or by setting an automatic monthly contribution.

How to get Brave?

Have I convinced you? If so you can download it here! Brave will then guide you into a faster browsing future, and don't worry, you can easily migrate your bookmarks over!

If you enjoyed this review, why not check out some of our other stories on how technology impacts our lives! You can also listen to our brand new podcast: The Detechtor Podcast hosted by me, hope you enjoy!