Comparison

Brave Browser & Search Engine vs Banish

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Brave Browser & Search Engine

A fast, private web browser with built-in ad blocking and a VPN. It offers an AI assistant, a crypto wallet, and a privacy-focused search engine. Enjoy offline media playback and enhanced security features.

Highlights
  • Built-in Adblock and Pop-up Blocker
  • Firewall + VPN
  • AI Assistant (Brave Leo)
  • Secure Crypto Wallet (Brave Wallet)
  • Privacy-Focused Search Engine (Brave Search)
  • Offline Media Playback (Brave Playlist)
  • Voice Search
Features
Read full description

Brave is a fast, private web browser that blocks ads and trackers on every site, automatically. No settings to change, no extensions to install. Over 125 million people browse with Brave. It's free, open source, and independent — we don't sell your browsing data. Everything below is built into the browser. One app, not a stack of them. BLOCK ADS ON EVERY SITE Brave Shields stops banner ads, pop-ups, autoplay interruptions, and the ads that play before and during videos. Same on news sites, shopping sites, forums and video pages — no per-site setup, no ad blocker extension. It dismisses cookie consent banners too, and it's on from your first tab. PRIVATE BROWSING THAT BLOCKS TRACKERS Private mode in most browsers only hides your history from your own phone. Brave blocks the cross-site trackers and fingerprinting scripts that follow you from a shopping page to your social feed, strips tracking codes from links you copy, and turns on Global Privacy Control by default. SHRED: DELETE ONE SITE'S DATA, NOT ALL OF IT Clearing browser data usually logs you out of everything. Shred deletes the cookies and storage for one site and leaves your other sessions intact. Set Auto Shred to run whenever you close a tab. BRAVE SEARCH: A PRIVATE SEARCH ENGINE, BUILT IN Brave Search is the default search engine in the browser, running on its own independent index — not resold results from Google or Bing. It doesn't profile you or log your searches. Ask Brave puts search results and AI answers in one place. Switch search engines any time. BRAVE LEO: A FREE AI ASSISTANT Summarize a long article, translate a page, or draft a reply without leaving the tab. Choose from several AI models. Leo doesn't record your conversations, share them, or use them to train models. BRAVE NEWS: A FEED WITH NO PROFILE BEHIND IT Personalize a news feed from hundreds of sources or any RSS feed with Brave News. FASTER PAGES, LESS MOBILE DATA Ads and trackers are most of what a modern page downloads. Blocking them means fewer requests, less data and less battery drain. We rebuilt Brave's ad blocking engine to use 75% less memory, so it stays responsive with many tabs open. MAKE BRAVE YOUR DEFAULT BROWSER Open Settings, scroll to Brave, choose Default Browser App. Every link you tap — from Mail, Messages or any app — opens with ad and tracker blocking already on. WHAT'S FREE AND WHAT ISN'T Free: the browser, ad and tracker blocking, Shred, Brave Search, Brave Leo, Brave News, Sync and night mode. Subscriptions: - Brave Firewall + VPN encrypts your whole device, not just browser traffic, with a kill switch and smart proxy. - Brave Leo Premium unlocks more capable AI models. - Brave Origin: The streamlined, minimalist browser that gives you Brave's industry-leading privacy and ad-blocking, with none of the extras. One-time purchase: Brave Origin, an ultra-minimalist build of Brave — no AI, no crypto, nothing but the web. One purchase covers all your devices. Also inside: encrypted Sync, a self-custody Brave Wallet (off by default), night mode, voice search, password autofill, custom app icons, and bookmark import from Safari or Chrome. OPEN SOURCE Brave is open source, so anyone can audit what the browser does. Read what we collect at https://brave.com/privacy/ Our mission is to protect your privacy online by building a fast, private browser — while growing a fairer revenue model for creators. Enjoying the app? Please leave us a 5 star review! Brave.com · Support: https://brave.com/support Terms of Use: https://brave.com/terms-of-use/ Privacy Policy: https://brave.com/privacy/ SUBSCRIPTION TERMS Price may vary by location. Subscriptions are charged to your Apple Account. Firewall + VPN and Leo Premium are offered monthly and annually, and renew automatically unless canceled at least 24 hours before the end of the current period. Manage or cancel in Account Settings. Free trials may be used once; any unused portion is forfeited on purchase.

About

Banish

This Safari extension blocks intrusive "Open in App" popups and other website annoyances on your iPhone and iPad. Enjoy a cleaner browsing experience without unwanted interruptions or dark patterns.

Highlights
  • Blocks 'Open in App' popups
  • Removes website dark patterns
  • One-time purchase
  • Private and data-free
  • Simple to enable
  • Fast and efficient
Features
Currently charting
Read full description

BANISH. The #1 Safari Extension to block annoying 'Open in App' popups & other dark patterns on the web. “Banish does one thing and does it well: it nukes dickpanels in Safari on iPhone and iPad” — John Gruber, Daring Fireball "The app proved incredibly useful. For instance, when on Quora, clicking a link to another Quora page would normally pop up a blocker that requires you to log in to continue navigating the website. With Banish, this pop-up was gone and you could use the site normally" — Sarah Perez, TechCrunch PRIVATE Banish does not collect or store any of your data - nothing leaves your device. BUY ONCE Just a one-time purchase and Banish is yours. No subscriptions, no in-app purchases, no ads, no nonsense. FAST The app performs the minimal, necessary changes to block popups and free up screen space. SIMPLE It's as easy as downloading the app and enabling it in Safari settings. No maintenance needed. MODERN Banish is written in Apple's latest programming paradigm Swift UI and Safari Extension functionality. --- NOTE: Even with Banish, Smart Banners can still appear at the top for apps you have installed. They can't be removed because they're built into Safari. Need Help? Contact us at BanishForSafari@gmail.com

Screenshots

Brave Browser & Search Engine4 screens
Banish4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is price: Brave Browser & Search Engine at Free against Banish's $2.99. Brave Browser & Search Engine also leads on rating (4.8 vs 3.7) and review sentiment (73% vs 39%). Banish's advantage is in-app purchases (none vs 5) and iOS requirement (15.0 vs 18.0). On update cadence, ads, chart position and device support there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Brave Browser & Search Engine is free to download; Banish costs $2.99 up front. Brave Browser & Search Engine sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $9.99 per month. Banish asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Brave Browser & Search Engine holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Brave Browser & Search Engine has 655K ratings behind it against 262, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 73% of Brave Browser & Search Engine's written reviews are positive against 39% of Banish's.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Both ship on a similar rhythm, roughly every 3 weeks. The most recent releases landed on September 24, 2026 and September 22, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard7 real differences · 4 level
Brave Browser & Search Engine versus Banish: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterBrave Browser & Search EngineBanish
PriceFree — better$2.99
Rating4.8 (655K ratings) — better3.7 (262 ratings)
Positive reviews73.3% of reviews — better39.2% of reviews
Number of ratings655K — better262
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksEvery 3 weeks
AdsNoNo
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchases — betterPaid
Best chart rank#20 — better#49
DevicesiPhone, iPadiPhone, iPad, iPod — better
Requires iOS18.015.0 — better
Further details — not scored
Size361 MB3 MB
Age rating17+4+
DeveloperBrave SoftwareBig Pineapple LLC

Customer experience

Brave Browser & Search Engine

All ratings655,391 ratings
Positive95.3%
Neutral2.1%
Negative2.6%
Written reviews7,473 reviews
Positive73.3%
Neutral7.5%
Negative19.2%

Banish

All ratings262 ratings
Positive65.6%
Neutral5.0%
Negative29.4%
Written reviews212 reviews
Positive39.2%
Neutral9.9%
Negative50.9%

User reviews

Brave Browser & Search Engine

From 655K App Store ratings

What we love

  • 🚀 Fast and efficient browsing
  • 🔒 Strong privacy and security features
  • 👍 Customizable settings and options
  • 💰 Earning potential with Brave Rewards

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Occasional crashes and bugs
  • 🔋 Battery drain issues
  • 🤔 Confusing or unintuitive UI changes
  • 🚫 Lack of full sync capabilities across devices

Banish

From 262 App Store ratings

What we love

  • 👍 Works great
  • 🚀 Blocks annoying popups
  • 💡 Useful for blocking 'open in app' prompts
  • 👍 Simple and effective

Room to improve

  • 🐛 Doesn't work on certain websites
  • 🐛 Breaks functionality on some sites
  • 🐛 Inconsistent performance
  • 🐛 Doesn't block all 'open in app' banners

Bugs and requests

Brave Browser & Search Engine

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Disappearing tabs and lost browsing data
  • Compatibility issues with certain websites
  • Problems with the Brave Playlist feature

Requested features

4 requests
  • Ability to clear browsing history and data in bulk
  • More customization options for the home screen and UI
  • Improved integration with other apps and services
  • Expanded Brave Rewards program and payouts

Banish

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Breaks Twitter functionality
  • Causes issues with Reddit and other sites
  • Doesn't work on YouTube, TikTok, LinkedIn

Requested features

3 requests
  • More granular control/whitelisting
  • Statistics/logging feature
  • Improved compatibility with more websites

In-app purchases

5 purchases

Brave Browser & Search Engine

Subscriptions4
  • Monthly Firewall + VPN7 Days trial$9.991 Month
  • Brave Leo AI (monthly)7 Days trial$14.991 Month
  • Annual Firewall + VPN7 Days trial$99.991 Year
Show 1 more
  • Brave Leo AI (annual)7 Days trial$149.991 Year
One-time1
  • Brave Origin$59.99
None

Banish

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Brave Browser & Search Engine free?
Brave Browser & Search Engine is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Banish free?
Banish costs $2.99, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Brave Browser & Search Engine or Banish?
Brave Browser & Search Engine is rated higher. Brave Browser & Search Engine averages 4.8 out of 5 from 655K ratings, while Banish averages 3.7 from 262 ratings.
Do Brave Browser & Search Engine or Banish have ads?
Neither Brave Browser & Search Engine nor Banish shows ads.
Which is updated more often, Brave Browser & Search Engine or Banish?
Brave Browser & Search Engine ships an update every 3 weeks, and Banish every 3 weeks. Most recently, Brave Browser & Search Engine was updated on September 24, 2026 and Banish on September 22, 2026.
Which is more popular, Brave Browser & Search Engine or Banish?
Brave Browser & Search Engine currently peaks at #20 in the App Store charts, and Banish at #49. Chart position reflects recent download velocity rather than total install base.

Other comparisons