Privacy Tool Spotlight: Brave Origin
It's no secret that we love Brave browser. We rely on it daily to block the worst things the internet throws at us: fingerprinting, ads, trackers, and malware (including the sneaky kind that hides inside fake ads). It also lets us watch YouTube without interruptions from video ads, while still showing the ones creators put in themselves. We keep Brave installed on every device we own because it works great across all our platforms, including Linux (Ubuntu and Zorin OS), iOS/iPadOS, and macOS. We used it on Windows too before we moved away from that ecosystem. Overall, it just does its job reliably everywhere. And when it's paired with the network level blocking from the Firewalla router the internet is far more enjoyable.
We also freely admit we don't use every single feature. On every fresh install, we turn off several options so the browser feels exactly the way we want. Now there's a new choice that makes this even easier. It removes many of those extra features right from the beginning because they aren't even in the code. It's called Brave Origin, and we're big fans of it. Here's why.
Features We Don't Use
When we previously wrote about Brave browser there were several features we enjoyed about it. And there are optional features we really didn't use often or at all. These features may be forms of revenue generation for Brave, and some are really great, but we just didn't need them. These features include:
Leo: An on-device and cloud-assisted AI assistant built into the sidebar. It can summarize pages, answer questions, chat about content, and handle tasks like rewriting text or analyzing PDFs, all while aiming for stronger privacy than mainstream AI tools.
News: Brave News feed that delivers personalized news headlines and stories directly on the new tab page or via a dedicated panel. It pulls from various sources and can be sponsored in the free version.
Playlist (iOS and desktop Nightly/Beta): A built-in media player that lets you save videos, audio, and playlists from websites (especially YouTube) for offline or background playback without needing separate apps.
Rewards (Basic Attention Token [BAT] for seeing ads): The opt-in system that shows privacy-respecting ads and rewards users with BAT cryptocurrency. Revenue is shared with users and creators; disabling it also removes Brave’s own ads entirely.
Speedreader: A reading mode that strips away clutter from articles for faster loading, less data usage, and a cleaner, focused reading experience (similar to reader views in other browsers).
Stats like the daily usage ping, crash logs, and privacy-preserving product analytics (P3A): Telemetry that sends anonymous usage data, crash reports, and aggregated metrics to Brave. P3A is designed to be privacy-preserving and unlinkable, but many minimalists prefer zero data leaving the browser.
Talk: Brave’s built-in video conferencing tool (powered by Jitsi). It supports private video calls, screen sharing, group watching, and YouTube livestreaming directly in the browser—no extra apps required. Free for 1:1 and small groups; premium for larger calls.
Tor: Integration for opening private windows that route traffic through the Tor network for stronger anonymity (hides your IP and adds extra layers of protection, though slower).
VPN: A paid Firewall + VPN that encrypts your connection and protects up to 10 devices. It’s convenient but requires a subscription for full use.
Wallet: A built-in, self-custodial cryptocurrency wallet for managing crypto assets, NFTs, and Web3 interactions. It also enables .crypto or other Web3 domains when active.
Wayback Machine: Direct integration with the Internet Archive’s Wayback Machine. It adds a button or option to view archived versions of the current page if it’s unavailable or changed.
Web Discovery Project: An opt-in, privacy-preserving system that anonymously contributes browsing data (searches, page visits, engagement metrics) to help build and improve Brave Search’s independent index.
Email aliases (currently in Nightly build for desktop): A feature that generates disposable email aliases (similar to services like SimpleLogin or Firefox Relay) to hide your real email address when signing up for websites.
We want to be clear, we do or have enjoyed some of these features. Having Tor available as a menu item to quickly perform tasks anonymously is great. We also finally tried Brave Talk when privacy guru Naomi Brockwell held an "Ask Me Anything" and it seemed to perform well. Finally, we enjoy Leo as part of the search results, giving additional context to certain queries. We will also point out that we're subscribers of Brave Premium Search as a way of financially supporting Brave.
Now there's a new option to disable or remove the bits we just don't use and it's called Brave Origin.
Why Brave Origin Exists
Even though you can disable or hide most of these features in regular Brave, many users (including us) prefer them gone completely. Brave Origin delivers exactly that: a cleaner, more minimalist version where the unused code is compiled out entirely in the standalone build.
It comes in two forms:
- A separate downloadable browser (the purest option)
- An in-app upgrade that adds easy toggles for the features you want to keep
For privacy minimalists, the standalone version of Brave Origin means there's no residual code, no accidental re-enablement, a smaller install size, and peace of mind. This change also reduces the overhead of the browser operation, with empty Brave Origin tabs being about 5MB lighter than Brave browser tabs. This also means those features are 100% gone and can't be reenabled.
That's where the upgrade option is helpful. When enabled in the standard Brave Browser, you decide which features you'd like to retain while disabling the rest.
Brave Origin is currently available as a standalone browser for Linux, Windows, and macOS. The upgrade option will (eventually) be available on all platforms. You can find more information at https://support.brave.app/hc/en-us/articles/38561489788173-What-is-Brave-Origin
Brave Origin or Origin Upgrade is free on Linux and a one time cost of $60 USD for 10 licenses for other platforms.
Why the Fee?
The reality is that there is a cost for all of the wonderful privacy tools we enjoy on the internet. There are things like server, network, and talent costs that must be recouped either through subscription or donations. For Brave as a project, Origin provides direct revenue from users who want the core privacy engine without the extras.
We think this makes a lot of sense. Brave has always been open source and focused on privacy first, but building and maintaining a top-tier browser platform takes serious ongoing work: security updates, Chromium patches, new privacy improvements, and support across every platform. Most of their regular version is kept free by features like Rewards and the optional VPN.
By offering Origin as a one-time purchase, Brave gives minimalists a clean way to support the project directly without using those extra features. It's not a subscription that keeps charging you every month. You pay once, get lifetime access for up to 10 devices, and help keep Brave independent and focused on users instead of advertisers. For many of us who value privacy tools, paying a fair price to remove bloat and support the team behind it feels like a good deal.
Do You Need It?
Honestly, that's a decision only you can make. Maybe you're perfectly happy with the regular Brave browser. Perhaps you want the cleanest possible experience and true digital minimalism beyond just disabling features. Or you might want to keep all the extras available and simply support Brave in another way.
For us, we gladly support all of the privacy tools in our Privacy Toolbox while enjoying both the Origin browser and the Upgrade option. However you choose to use Brave is completely up to you.
If you're someone who values a lean, focused browser and wants to support the Brave team at the same time, Origin is worth a serious look. It perfectly matches the way we like to browse: simple, private, and bloat-free.
Remember: We may not have anything to hide, but everything to protect.
