Why not Brave and Alternative to Brave.

Brave fucks with crypto. Never fuck with crypto. It's also Chromium, which means they're complicit in Google's efforts to DRM the internet.
- I'm pro digial cash / Monero ... but it doesn't belong in a web browser. Super sketchy shit they are doing with BAT, which means they are tracking you.
  
  I legitimately would be fine with automatically paying authors. It's not like I enjoy pay walls, ads, or AI garbage writing.
  But yeah that's a job for existing crypto and a Firefox extension. Nothing about this needed a separate money supply or browser.
- The complicit part is the most bullshit thing I have ever heard.
  They said unequivocally that they won't support it, just like they didn't support Manifest V3.
  
  It still is more browser share for Chromium. Business owners will see that share and use it as part of the business case in implementing WEI. If you want it stopped, you gotta use a real alternative such as Firefox.
- Crypto isn't mandatory in brave, I use it for it's built-in ad block and they say they won't implement Google's DRM, also blockchain based since is nice
  
  I'm aware, but it's still supported, and that's enough for me to vomit over a garbage product.
  They say they won't implement Google's DRM but words alone do not matter. If they continue to use Chromium, they'll be forced to adopt that and manifest v3.
- Agree with the chromium dominance but ats up with crypto?
  Its bloat in the browser but I spend maybe 5 mins turning those off and they never bother me again. Haven't seen one of their features magically turned on like what MS does.
  Have they done anuthing sketchy to question their privacy commitments? Most I've seen was their Tor implementation was improper.

See https://www.spacebar.news/p/stop-using-brave-browser
The TL;DR is that while the browser is technically fine, the people that own it are really fishy and are always trying to turn a profit, whether it be pushing crypto or discussing having their own ad network. They also use Chromium which means Google can slowly push things into it. You should use Firefox with Ublock Origin and tune the browser settings for privacy. There are also forks of Firefox tuned for privacy but I don't think most people need it.
- Firefox also cares about profit (the Mozilla Corporation makes Firefox and is a for-profit entity), that’s why they take that money from Google, try to get people to pay for email aliases and VPN, etc. If Brave maintains a chromium fork, they do not have to deal with “Google slowly pushing things into it” other than removing those things.
  
  Firefox also cares about profit (the Mozilla Corporation makes Firefox and is a for-profit entity), that’s why they take that money from Google, try to get people to pay for email aliases and VPN, etc.
  That does seem a lot better to me than crypto and ad networks.
- What's funny is that Brave Shields appear to be a fancy UI around uBlock. The element picker UI isn't drastically changed.
  The wallet was for a whole just Metamask (it is now it's own implementation which is nice).

Say no to chromium. Use Firefox and its forks. Even Safari (webkit) maybe a better choice to support a healthy web environment.
Say no to crypto. I hope I don't need to explain this one. If you have to use Chromium browsers for whatever reasons, use Vivaldi.
- I think it's better to phrase the crypto part differently. Because crypto is a great tool for privacy, while Brave's crypto crap is just annoying.
- since we're on the FOSS community, I'd recommend using Ungoogled Chromium since Vivaldi isn't fully open source.
  
  Ungoogled Chromium is a great choice. I just hope it can auto update itself. 😅
  Also I once encountered an anti-virus programme miscategorize Ungoogled Chromium as malware. It can be annoying for those uninitiated.

The company is run by Brendan Eich who is a hateful POS who spent millions trying to strip people of their human rights, the browser is a chrome reskin contributing to Google's domination of the web, it crams crypto bullshit in your face, and they’re now testing out AI features to add to it.
- They also automatically inserted affiliate links into your browser bar/ search results until it was discovered and the response was a nipple-touching 'sorry'.
  Only found this article on binance on the quick but iirc it affected a couple other pages as well.
  https://www.theverge.com/2020/6/8/21283769/brave-browser-affiliate-links-crypto-privacy-ceo-apology

Google sure is. Brave is a chromium-based browser - a browser that is built off of Google Chrome, so anything Google wants to put in their web browser to track you and devour your internet-soul is also in Brave and all the other “web browsers” that are just chromium skins like Edge.
- Just because Brave forks of Chromium, that doesn't mean they have to accept every change Google does and they can also do their own changes (ex: not supporting Manifest V3).
  At least they are financially independent from Google, which you can't say about Firefox.
  
  At least they are financially independent from Google, which you can’t say about Firefox.
  I absolutely love it when people bring this up.
  It's always funny, mostly because Google is, let's see... A member of the GNOME Advisory Board, a financial supporter of the GNOME Foundation (scroll to the bottom to see their supporters), a supporting member of the KDE e.V., a Gold member of the Linux Foundation, and a major contributor to the Linux Kernel (you'll see some other companies you absolutely hate in that list as well).
  Almost nothing in the major open source space is untouched by Google. But sure, Firefox in particular is evil because "Google money".
  If you don't want to use something with financial support from Google, feel free to run FreeBSD and browse the web with, I don't know, Lynx or something. Or Apple devices with Safari only. That's a pretty good option, actually, provided you like proprietary software and a super locked down system (except WebKit which is open source and I honestly believe more browsers should be based on it). Lol, edit: Google pays more to Apple than Mozilla to be default on Safari, so nevermind that.
  
  If Google pay the best search price that funds browser development, why not? Firefox aren't in the search market. They could easily go bing or yahoo like they used previously, but more income means more money away for building modern web browsers which are millions of lines of code.
  Brave don't need to do that because Google codes their browser for them.

I was a brave user and just got sick of the gimmicks.
I've been on permanent team firefox now on all my devices 😁

they sent me notifications that were ads
- To be fair, they're opt-in. They won't show if you don't use the BAT wallet.
  
  I didn't opt in and I never used the BAT wallet.

I am a very, very long time Firefox user. Brave probably has a case for getting Chrome users to consider switching, but I've never encountered any compelling reason to consider switching from Firefox to Brave.
- I've had a ton of websites break when using Firefox with uBlock Origin, I've never had a broken website with Brave.
  
  If a site breaks because you're using ff, the web developer behind it is clearly a fucking idiot. If it works in chrome it's going to work in FF, unless you've done something extraordinarily stupid.
  
  A ton of websites? I block 3.5 million domains through DNS and run uBlock Origin, Privacy Badger and some other anti-tracking bits and pieces, and I've only ever had problems with a small handful of sites, which were almost all resolved by temporarily unblocking something. I have had to hop over to a Chromium-based browser only once in recent months, for one particularly badly implemented website. Where are you seeing this "ton" of sites that break? My experience has been quite different.
  I find it's just fine to use Firefox and hop over to Brave about once a year when something doesn't work.
  
  It's usually tracking protection breaking the site, in my experience.

https://stackdiary.com/brave-selling-copyrighted-data-for-ai-training/

Brave has a crypto token and that turns Alot of people off of brave. They also heavily encourage people to use custodial exchanges which turns some crypto people. They have also have added their affiliate links on cert pages when users would visit and they had nasty bug in their sync which mixed up user data. Otherwise Brave removes Alot of the bad parts of chrome and brave search is pretty solid. The privacy alternative is Firefox or librewolf. If you need chromium for whatever reason brave or ungoogled chromium

If google is dominant enough, everyone needs to follow. Or get left behind.
I think the main problem that remains is that all those chromium derivatives strengthen googles position as the de facto standard. It is not only about chromium, but also web developments outside of that browser, like DRM, SEO, AMP etc. Websites might adapt or tailor towards that browser or google created standards/tech. And thus, everyone (including Brave and all other, including firefox) needs to follow. Or get left behind.
If Brave, and all other chromium derivatives, don't agree with the direction chromium takes, can't they remove that code? Every deviation from chromium is going to cost resources, so they have to pick their fights. And if google/chromium is dominant enough, you will have to compromise on how much you can deviate. Brave needs to follow chromium or get incompatible.
Using Brave strengthens chromiums position as the de facto standard. And Google getting more dominant.

Because we need more than one browser engine in the world, or Google will own the internet.

Super satisfied Vivaldi user, checking in. Chromium based and removes a lot of the Google. Custom settings are a power users dream.
- Yea, Vivaldi is my first choice when something chromium-based is needed.

I find myself switching between Brave and Firefox. The anti-Brave crowd is mostly dissatisfied with the Brave ownership and the crypto/ad features. I myself don't have a problem with either. The crypto and ad features can simply be disabled. If you like Brave and it does what you want then you should use it
- @hyperspace @Harryh0udini
  A large part is also that it's Chromium based. I agree about the features, the first thing I do with Firefox is go around and disable all the random stuff they've added (eg: pocket)
  
  A large part is also that it's Chromium based.
  Ah right, I forgot about that. It's a valid argument.

Reading comments here and in different anti brave posts I think it's a mix of anti chrome sentiments and pineapple pizza type hate train with a sprinkle of politics because brave owner sens to have right wing beliefs

It's fille to the top with crypto garbage and just like Firefox build in tracker blocker Brave prioretizes website functionality over privacy so certain trackers aren't blocked and you are better off with UBlock Origin anyway, I use and vouch for Librewolf!

Brave is a well market browser but does as much as any other chromium/firefox browser