“Search” no longer just means opening your browser and typing a pared down, chopped up phrase into the search bar. It has moved far beyond that to encompass more sophisticated search systems and searching on a wide range of different platforms.
Many search engines now are capable of understanding context, intent, and sometimes even creativity. And it’s not just search engines – one of the biggest shifts in search has involved the development of generative AI search tools.
Unlike traditional search engines that rely on indexing and ranking pages based on relevance, generative AI tools go a step further by generating custom answers, summaries, or even entire pieces of content based on user queries.
In this blog post, we’ll explore some of our favorite generative AI-powered search tools, examining how they work, the technologies behind them, and how they’re transforming the way we discover information.
Our Top Generative AI Search Tools for 2025
1. Perplexity AI
Perplexity AI was built to be an AI search engine from the jump. Its interface blends many of the features of AI chatbots with the classic and familiar functionalities of the search engines we all know.
What the Interface is Like
It includes a textbox that’s similar to what you see with the vast majority of AI chatbots, and when you click in to use the chatbot, you’re introduced to some suggested queries – much like a search engine might prompt you with certain trending searches or queries related to current events.
Once you enter your search query, the response from Perplexity provides a textual, generated reply like many chatbots, but it also includes relevant links to the source material that helped inform the response. This way, users can find an appropriate website if necessary for additional information. Perplexity also provides a “related” section with additional queries that the user can click to generate subsequent, relevant responses. This is reminiscent of Google’s “People Also Ask” feature, for example.
On the side bar of a generated response, Perplexity also provides the option to “Search Images,” “Search Videos,” or “Generate Image.” If you download the Perplexity browser extension, you have the capability of setting Perplexity as your default search engine.
Pro Search Feature
With its paid tier, Perplexity also offers Pro searches, which go beyond their standard quick search option. When conducting a Pro search with Perplexity, the tool will perform additional research to provide even more in-depth responses to your questions. The Pro search functionality is better at solving complex problems, can summarize sources, and can even interpret code. Pro search is best suited for academic and professional research.
Pricing
Perplexity has two pricing options:
- Free, with or without an account
- Professional – $20/month with additional features, including your selection of LLM options, Pro searches, and the ability to upload and analyze files
2. ChatGPT by OpenAI
ChatGPT could easily be considered the AI tool that kicked off this “AI race.” It was designed primarily as an AI chatbot, but it has become an increasingly popular tool for search as many people’s behaviors around search and information gathering are shifting.
What the Interface is Like
Relatively recently, ChatGPT introduced a “Search” feature that integrates searching the web with ChatGPT’s existing chatbot interface. This feature enables the chatbot to add real-time information from the web when generating a response to your query.
The tool can be used manually – i.e. a user can click on the “Search” option to bring it into the conversation – or it may be activated automatically if an answer to a prompt could benefit from additional information found on the internet. The basis of this tool is ChatGPT’s natural language processing capabilities, which enable it to understand the meaning of an input, search the web, and return relevant information.
Pricing
ChatGPT has five pricing tiers:
- Free, with or without an account (access to some additional features with an account, even on the free plan)
- Plus – $20/month with additional access, advanced voice mode, ability to create custom GPTs, and opportunities to test new features
- Pro – $200/month with unlimited access to multiple models
- Team – $25/month/user with additional tools, an admin console, and the ability to share materials within your workspace. Data from users on this plan is excluded from training ChatGPT
- Enterprise – contact sales for pricing; an expanded version of the Team offering
The web search feature is currently only available with a paid subscription.
3. SearchGPT by OpenAI
SearchGPT is another tool from OpenAI that, as of the writing of this article, is still in the prototype phase. This product is designed to combine the strength of OpenAI’s AI models with the wide array of information available on the web. The idea is to add the conversational abilities of LLMs to search capabilities to help users find what they’re looking for faster and more easily.
The waitlist to try this prototype is currently closed.
4. You.com
You.com provides a search-enabled AI chatbot that’s more focused on business use.
What the Interface is Like
Similar to other AI chatbots and search engines, the interface is set up with a text box where you can enter any sort of query, and you’ll receive a generated conversational response with real-time web results. The web results are incorporated as footnotes at the bottom of the response that the user can click through if they’d like to verify a source or visit a website to read more.
In some cases, You.com may also add images if or where relevant. Similar to Perplexity – and traditional Google search – You.com also includes a type of “People Also Ask” section beneath its response. Additionally, the platform offers a “private mode,” mirroring Google’s “Incognito Mode” for the browser.
Additional Features
Before you even get started with a search, You.com provides you with four buttons: “Research,” Creative,” “Genius,” and “Build Your Own.” These buttons are meant to help provide additional context/set up for how you’re planning on using the chatbot and search engine. Research and Creative are exactly as they sound – they assist with detailed research and creative visual generations, respectively. Genius mode is meant for complex, multi-step problems, and Build Your Own lets you “create your own custom agent.”
You can also select a certain industry if it would better inform your search. At the time of writing this article, the industries available to me were “Marketing,” “Sales,” “Engineering,” “Product,” “Data Analysis,” and “Finance.” These suggestions may be helpful for users that struggle with a blank text box and a steady, blinking cursor.
You.com also has mobile apps, a chatbot integration with WhatsApp, and desktop browser extensions.
Pricing
You.com has four pricing tiers:
- Free, with or without an account, offering its own proprietary LLM
- Pro – $20/month with additional access to other LLM models, file uploads, and the ability to use custom agents
- Team – $30/month/user, including unlimited queries with custom agents, and all data is excluded from training AI models
- Enterprise – contact sales for pricing; an expanded version of the team offering
5. Brave Search
Brave Search has gained traction mainly because it emphasizes increased privacy and security around online searches and general browsing. For example, Brave Search blocks certain tracking and ads on websites, which not only enhances privacy but can also improve browsing speed.
You can use Brave Search in your existing browser, much like many of these other AI search platforms, but you can also download Brave’s exclusive browser with a native, AI-powered search engine, removing the need for Google or Bing.
What the Interface is Like
Beneath the text box (in the website version of Brave Search), they start by offering the user a couple of possibly relevant search queries. At the time of writing this article, my suggested queries were, “What’s the worst-selling game console of all time?” Gift ideas under $50,” “What’s the first movie filmed in America?” and “What was the longest baseball game in history?” These queries were based on no information from me – I hadn’t input anything or provided Brave with any sort of data – and they clearly focus on the sort of curiosity queries that many have tended toward with Google and zero-click searches.
Typing in the text box pulls up suggested searches and queries, exactly like searching in a traditional search engine like Google, and the response page is eerily reminiscent of a Google or Bing search results page. It starts with an AI-generated response at the top, like Google’s AI Overviews, then delivers classic, linked results to relevant web pages.
Additional Features
The company behind Brave Search states that the answers generated at the top of the results page are based on their own, proprietary, independent index, rather than on Google or Bing like some other generative AI search tools.
Pricing
Brave is free to use.
6. Andi Search
Andi Search works for a wide range of users, and it has an intuitive interface that includes a friendly greeting in the chatbot section of the screen and a guide to “Getting Started” on the right-hand side.
What the Interface is Like
When you enter a search, Andi functions much like a chatbot, providing an initial generated answer as a direct reply to your input. It also offers web results on the right side to augment its response, and you can sort through different types of results (where applicable), change how the search appears (e.g. grid vs. list), and further refine your search with related searches.
You also have an option to click a “Tell Me More” button beneath the response to your query, and Andi reads through the various web search results and provides a summarized write up to help consolidate some of the possible information.
Andi is somewhat less conversational than other chatbot-based search tools, and it doesn’t generate images. It doesn’t log searches, and it blocks tracking and ads.
Andi uses Claude as its foundational LLM.
Pricing
Andi is free to use.
7. Komo
Komo is similar to many of the other models we’ve already discussed.
What the Interface is Like
When visiting the website, the user is greeted with an input text box, the option to choose between different LLM models, a “Web” feature for web searches, and the option to pick between “Ask,” “Research,” “Search,” and “Explore” functions.
In Ask mode, users receive AI-generated responses to their questions. After inputting a query, the user receives a response that includes an AI-generated text answer, links to the web pages used as source material, and a “Learn More” section with suggested related searches. There’s also an “Explore” section on the right-hand side with additional web results. Komo offers a feature to create a “Mind Map” or a tree chart of your results, but a user must have an account to access this.
Search mode works like a classic search engine. Research mode is only available to premium subscribers and provides AI-generated topic analyses and citations. Explore mode provides links to videos in response to query inputs.
While Komo does not have ads, it does learn from your past searches to better customize future interactions and answers.
Pricing
Komo offers five different pricing options:
- Free, with or without an account
- Basic – $15/month, including additional search features, multiple LLM models, search personas, and research mode
- Premium – $30/month with expanded access to the features included in basic and opportunities to test new features
- Business – $200/month, includes everything in the other tiers plus exclusive enterprise features
- Enterprise – contact sales for pricing; an expanded version of the Business offering with enhanced security and privacy features
8. Waldo
Waldo is a generative AI search tool that bills itself primarily as a research assistant targeted toward businesses. Their tagline, “Become an expert in seconds” supports this research-oriented priority.
What the Interface is Like
Unlike many of the other tools mentioned here, Waldo includes prepackaged workflows including Brand Audit, Cultural Trends, the Four Cs, and more. Waldo can also integrate with other platforms and pull sentiment data from social media platforms.
With its emphasis on research, Waldo provides information around regional contexts, allows users to select or block certain sources, and provides citations for any sources it uses. The platform utilizes existing search indexes, like those from Google or Bing, and presents them in a customizable interface. These features can help users create business pitches or brand strategies.
Waldo is not an accessible platform that is simply free to use. They are specifically targeting businesses as their end users, so it’s a pricier and more highly specialized tool.
Pricing
Waldo has four pricing tiers, aimed at those using the tool for professional needs:
- Freelancer – $149/month; limited to 1 user, includes an AI research assistant, sourcing and citations, automated workflows, and export capabilities
- Teams – $179/month/user for 5 seats; ability to create custom workflows, schedule recurring workflows, and collaborate on research with your team
- Teams Pro – $199/month/user; 10 seat minimum, includes the ability to search social media posts, integrate other sources, and upload and analyze files
- Enterprise – contact sales for pricing; 50 seat minimum with additional tech features like a workspace administration and single sign-on as well as more comprehensive support through a dedicated account manager and hands-on trainings
Level Up Your Organic Strategy: Enhance Your Visibility in Generative AI Search Tools
Generative AI search tools represent a fundamental shift in how we access, interact with, and learn new information. Whether it’s streamlining research, enhancing content creation, or providing more dynamic, personalized search experiences, the potential applications are vast.
As these technologies continue to advance, we can expect them to become even more integrated into our daily lives. For businesses and content creators, it will be critical to understand how everyday users are embracing generative AI search tools and what that means for how organic marketing strategies need to shift to ensure continued visibility on this new frontier of search.
These answer engines necessitate that brands revolutionize their strategy to bolster and maintain their position in this completely new type of search. By investing in answer engine optimization and integrating innovative tracking tools, brands will be able to better understand and influence how they show up in these generative AI search tools.
Goodie is an AI search visibility and answer engine optimization platform that can support your brand’s goal of being a top competitor on answer engines. The platform comes with comprehensive dashboards that synthesize data and provide insights about your brand’s visibility on the biggest LLMs on the market, including ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Perplexity, and Meta. Goodie can help your team see how AI platforms and chatbots understand queries that are relevant to you and your brand so you can take the strategic steps necessary to optimize your visibility.
Let Goodie show you the future of search.
FAQs
What are the main benefits of generative AI search?
Generative AI search tools and AI-powered search engines can help further personalize the search experience. With their capabilities in utilizing user behavior and preferences, they’re able to deliver personalized search results and additional relevant suggestions. In most cases, these features can help make it more likely that users will find the correct and most helpful answer.
Most AI-powered search engines these days also rely heavily on natural language processing, which means they’re better equipped to understand semantic meaning or highly nuanced aspects of a user’s query, which means they can deliver results that feel more specific and relevant.
How up-to-date are generative AI search engines?
Generative search engines are relatively new types of technology, and different platforms or LLMs have different levels of knowledge. The platforms and tools that can search the web always have access to the most up-to-date information. Some other tools, however, are trained on existing data, and, therefore, there’s a cutoff in their level of knowledge. For example:
- ChatGPT 3.5 has a knowledge cutoff date of January 2022
- ChatGPT 4 has a knowledge cutoff date of April 2023
- ChaptGPT 4o has a knowledge cutoff date of October 2023
- Claude 3 Opus has a knowledge cutoff date of August 2023
- Claude 3.5 Sonnet has a knowledge cutoff date of April 2024
- Claude 3.5 Haiku has a knowledge of cutoff date of August 2023
- Llama 3 70B has a knowledge cutoff date of December 2023
How does RAG help generative AI search tools produce the most accurate information?
RAG stands for retrieval-augmented generation, and it’s an AI framework that combines traditional ways of retrieving information – like search functionalities you’re familiar with – and large language models. When these two work together, the generated information is more accurate and more relevant to your original query.
RAG works in three main steps: retrieval, pre-processing, and generation. During the retrieval phase, the model uses search algorithms to sort through external data – like web pages. Then, in pre-processing, the information is modified for optimal communication. Once ready, the information is incorporated into the already trained LLM, which provides the LLM with more specific context and understanding of the topic. The response to your query is then generated.
What are the best ways to use AI search engines?
- Asking natural language questions, i.e. typing out your thought process exactly as it occurs to you, so you don’t have to edit your query before searching.
- Using specialized modes offered by different tools. Some models offer a research mode, for example, which is a great tool to use for specific projects and queries.
- Using AI-generated summaries for responses or search results with a wide range of complex information.
- Solving complex problems or equations. Many of these tools can reason through complicated issues and provide solutions, and they can also generate and/or debug code.
- Performing competitive research. By inputting queries that are relevant to your brand, product, or service, you can better understand the context you’re operating in. Does your brand come up for these searches, or do your competitors?
What are the challenges of AI search engines?
AI-powered search engines are still a relatively new technology, and many of them are still being developed. Many of these programs have not had all issues solved for, and there’s often still a lot of room for improvement in certain areas.
For example, AI search engines need data inputs in order to train their algorithms. This data isn’t always available, or the models may be trained inconsistently. Additionally, since these AI tools are learning from the data inputs, they may pick up on certain biases or inaccuracies if they were present in the original data. This could harm the quality of accuracy of the results they generate and deliver to users.
On a similar note, some people also have concerns about data privacy. Some of these platforms retain user data and may or may not use it to train their AI models.
Lastly, some generative search AI platforms can still be subject to producing inaccurate information.
What’s the difference between generative AI and a large-language model (LLM)?
AI-powered search engines are still a relatively new technology, and many of them are still being developed. Many of these programs have not had aGenerative AI and LLMs are related, but they’re still separate concepts within the overarching umbrella of artificial intelligence. In many of the tool;s we discussed above, LLMs were a key component of these generative AI search platforms, but each platform had features and capabilities beyond the LLM component.
LLMs are a specific subset of generative AI that are focused primarily on natural language processing and text generation. Generative AI can speak to additional content generation tasks, going beyond text to include images, audio, and video.
