Brave Origin is a minimalist version of Brave that allows users to disable the revenue-generating features that otherwise support Brave as a business. Brave Origin is available in two ways:

• As a new, standalone browser product, available via a separate app download on your device
• As an upgrade to the existing version of Brave on your device

Both versions will be available via a one-time purchase at https://account.brave.com/, and a single purchase will give you access to both options. For example, after making this one-time purchase, you could choose to download the standalone app and upgrade your existing version of Brave, or use only one of these options.

Purchasing will provide a purchase ID that can be activated on multiple devices, in either—or a combination of both—standalone and upgrade modes. There is technically no limit to the number of times you can activate Origin across your devices and platforms, but there is a monthly rate limit. You can easily manage your activations—and request more—using self-serve controls in https://account.brave.com.

What features are affected by Brave Origin?

Brave Origin users will continue to benefit from our industry-leading privacy, adblock, and speed (via Brave Shields), as well as regular software updates, Chromium patches, and security and privacy improvements. Beyond this core, Brave Origin will affect the following features:

• Leo
• News
• Playlist (iOS and desktop Nightly and Beta)
• Rewards (which also disables browser-based Brave Ads)
• Speedreader
• The daily usage ping, crash logs, and privacy-preserving product analytics (P3A)
• Talk
• Tor
• VPN
• Wallet (which also disables Web3 domains)
• Wayback Machine
• Web Discovery Project
• Email aliases (currently in Nightly build for desktop)

For Brave Origin users who download the separate, standalone app, all of the features listed above will be automatically removed. Any new features we release (outside the core of Brave Shields) would not appear in the standalone Brave Origin app. The features are compiled out of the build.

Brave Origin users who opt to upgrade the existing Brave app on their device will see a new Settings panel. The features listed above will appear in this Settings panel, and be toggled off by default. Any new features we release outside the core of Brave Shields will appear in this panel, and also be off by default. In this case, Brave manages group policies internally to disable features.

How to access Brave Origin

Brave Origin is available via one-time purchase, but the standalone and upgrade versions have different availability on different operating systems. Brave Origin is also available for free for Linux users. The table below should clarify the options:
 

Note that while Brave Origin is available as a free download for Linux users, these users are of course still welcome to purchase if they’d like to support Brave.

How to use Brave Origin as a standalone app (desktop only)

1. Download Brave Origin for your desktop device.
2. Complete the installation, and open the Brave Origin app.
   • You’ll be presented with prompts to either verify your purchase or buy now on the Brave Premium account site.
3. If you haven’t yet done so, complete your purchase. Be sure to save the purchase ID you receive.
4. Go back to the Brave Origin app and enter this purchase ID.
5. Complete the onboarding flow, and browse as you normally would.

Linux users can choose to skip the purchase process and get the Brave Origin standalone app for free. To do so, they should download and install Brave Origin, then click the Proceed with Origin for free on Linux button. Note that this dialog appears only once on Linux.

Also note that the standalone version of Brave Origin will have its own Nightly, Beta, and Release channels, distinct from the free (or Brave Origin-upgraded) Brave channels.

How to use Brave Origin as an upgrade

If you opt to use Brave Origin as an upgrade to the existing Brave app on your device, you’ll see a new control panel in the Brave Settings menu. Existing features—as well as any new features we ship in the future—would appear here, and be toggled off by default.

To upgrade on desktop:

1. Click “☰” (Settings), click System, and scroll to Brave Origin.
2. If you haven’t yet purchased Brave Origin, click Buy now. You will be taken to the Brave Premium account site.
   • If you’ve already purchased Brave Origin, and you’d like to upgrade Brave on another device, log in to the Brave Premium account site to get your log-in code.
3. Complete your purchase. Be sure to save the purchase ID you receive if you’d like to use the standalone build as well.
4. Click Refresh Origin on the account page. The Brave browser will restart.
5. Open the main Settings menu again, and click Brave Origin.
6. You should now see the panel where you can toggle features on / off.

If you upgrade to Brave Origin and later decide you don't want to use it, you can downgrade the installation back to the original standard Brave by going to brave://flags/#brave-origin and changing the value of this flag to Disabled. Note that this will require a browser relaunch before taking affect.

Note that Linux users can choose to skip the purchase process and upgrade to Brave Origin for free by clicking Proceed with Origin for free on Linux on the desktop Settings page.

To upgrade on mobile:

1. Tap “⋮” (Android) or “…” (iOS), tap All Settings, scroll to General, and tap Brave Origin.
2. If you haven’t yet purchased Brave Origin, tap Buy now. You will be taken to the Play Store or App Store.
   • If you’ve already purchased Brave Origin, and you’d like to upgrade Brave on another device, click Get a Login Code instead.
3. Restart the Brave app.
4. Open the main Settings menu again, and tap Brave Origin.
5. You should now see the panel where you can toggle features on / off.

How Brave Origin maintains user privacy

Some early Brave Origin users have asked how Brave can maintain user privacy while requiring a purchase ID (either from a Brave premium account or from the App Store / Play Store).

Brave uses a blind token protocol based on Privacy Pass, which decouples payment identity from service usage. These privacy-preserving subscription credentials allow the browser to verify you have a valid purchase of a premium product (like Brave Origin) without learning anything about you.

Using Brave Origin in a workplace or managed-device setting

Brave Origin will add admin policies for every Brave Origin-related feature. This means that if you use Brave and purchase Brave Origin on a workplace device managed through Group Policy, your administrator could decide to enable or disable certain features, which would override your local device Brave Origin settings.

For example if your admin decided to enable Brave VPN for everyone in your work group, you would still see the VPN icon in the browser even if you had initially disabled Brave VPN in the Brave Origin settings panel. Likewise, if your admin decided to disable Brave VPN for everyone in your work group, you would not see the icon in the browser even if you had initially enabled it in the Brave Origin settings panel. In other words, admin policies will override your local Brave Origin settings.

Note: This is only applicable to Brave Origin as an upgrade.