> Does the Cliqz browser still disallow plugins, such as ad blockers?

Hey, I work on Cliqz' adblocker (open-source here: https://github.com/cliqz-oss/adblocker). Cliqz browser comes built-in with adblocking, anti-tracking, anti-phishing and private search built-in so that users are protected by default.

You can also install another one if you prefer since all Firefox extension are also available from Cliqz! But the one built-in is pretty good already[^1] and we're happy to get more feedback about how we can improve it!

Finally, Cliqz search is also available standalone now so feel free to give it a try! https://beta.cliqz.com/

[^1]: https://whotracks.me/blog/adblockers_performance_study.html

Just an FYI: I wanted to add beta.cliqz.com to my Firefox search engine list to test it a bit over the next few days. Firefox doesn't seem to "recognize" it as a search engine so you cannot add it using the normal procedure that works on all the other search engines.

So how does cliqz makes money?

Hi, Marc here, I work at Cliqz. We (unfortunately) don’t (at least not a reasonable amount). We have an advertising model, but it does not rely on any personal data. We also always think (and tested) a paid product, which would be the purest and (In my view) best form. Experience unfortunately suggests, that only very few people would pay. But, I would be happy to be convinced otherwise. Going back to the article though: This is exactly why we believe there should be a lot of competition and a variety of different alternatives. And one or the other might figure out a new approach towards financing search.

it doesn’t seem like a crazy idea to pay for a quality privacy focused search product. I’d better pay with actual money than with personal data.

> I don’t trust a browser nor a search engine if an ad imperium paid for it and gives it away for free.

Yeah, that’s why I don’t trust chrome or google search.

Good point!

Still, I was referring to the Burda conglomerate. Why would we want to replace one ad giant’s tech with that of another (more regional) ad tycoon?

> Thanks but no thanks.

Lol, yeah. The HN headline is like "hell yeah, break up and/or nationalise Google/Alphabet," but the link is "get our product please think of us poor little oppressed advertising agencies" and, uh, no.