How to Replace Google with ChatGPT Search in Your Browser

ChatGPT search launched this weekand in many ways it produces richer results than Google. So much so that you might even want to replace Google with the default ChatGPT search in your browser of choice.

This isn’t always possible—some of the most popular web browsers tightly control which services can act as the default search engine. But here’s how to do it in some of the most popular desktop web browsers.

Before we dive in, it’s worth noting that at the time of writing only ChatGPT Plus subscribers have access to web search, it’s not available on free accounts.

Replace Google with ChatGPT search in Chrome

OpenAI makes it easy to replace Google as the default search engine in Chrome, as the company has released a browser extension that does just that. All you have to do is install the browser extension and it will take care of the rest.

Click here to download the ChatGPT search extension. for Google Chrome.

If you don’t want to go all out and replace the default Google, but want to make searching easier with ChatGPT, you can add ChatGPT search to your Chrome site search shortcuts. This means you can enter a shortcut such as “@chat” into your browser’s address bar followed by a search term to search using ChatGPT without having to visit the site first. (Hat tip MasterSnipes on Reddit for publishing the following decision.)

To do this:

1. Open Chrome Settings
2. Select Search Engine from the left menu.
3. Click “Manage search engines and site search.”
4. In the “Site Search” section, click “Add”.
5. Change the name to “ChatGPT” (without quotes).
6. Change the label to “@chatgpt” or a label of your choice.
7. Change the URL to ” and click “Add”.

Now, for example, you can enter search terms like “@chatgpt today’s weather in Chicago” into Chrome’s address bar and it will search using ChatGPT. You should see the address bar change to “Search with ChatGPT” after you type the shortcut and press spacebar.

Replace Google with ChatGPT search In Edge

Microsoft Edge is based on the same Chromium engine as the Google Chrome browser, so it can also download ChatGPT search extension.

However, Microsoft is Microsoft, and that won’t make things any easier for people who want to ditch Microsoft’s default service, in this case Bing. So when you try to install the ChatGPT search extension, it will first be blocked and you will see a warning pop-up:

Click the gray Enable button to ensure that ChatGPT search becomes the default search.

Edge also has a feature similar to Chrome that allows you to add search engines without changing your default settings. To find it:

1. Open settings
2. Select Privacy, Search, and Services from the menu on the left.
3. Scroll down to the address bar, search and click on it.
4. Click Manage Search Engines.
5. Click Add and follow steps 5, 6 and 7 for Chrome above.

Replace Google with ChatGPT search in Safari, Firefox and other browsers

In some other popular browsers, your options are more limited.

Safari allows you to switch the default engine, but only to one of five different providers, not including ChatGPT. ChatGPT search also doesn’t seem to work with Safari’s Fast Website feature, which allows you to search for sites from the address bar without visiting them first.

Firefox also allows users to switch the default search engine, but this requires the search provider to create a browser extension. It looks like OpenAI hasn’t created one for Firefox yet.

Vivaldi is my favorite browser. It is also based on the Chromium engine and allows you to install extensions from the Chrome Web Store. However, when I tried to install the ChatGPT search extension, it did not change the default engine.

However, you can add ChatGPT to your list of Vivaldi search engines using the same process described above for Chrome (go to Settings > Search > Vivaldi Search Engines). Once it is added as a search engine, you can make it your default.

The big question is: Now that you’ve learned how to replace Google with ChatGPT search, will you ever go back?