Price terms as published
Each line is the vendor’s own wording, split from the price capture checked on 2026-11-04. Nothing here is rounded, converted or re-worded — the full sentences stay in the review below. Lines that carry only a price continue the plan named on the line above, in the vendor’s own order.
| # | Plan / term | Checked |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Free — every pick costs $0 | 2026-11-04 |
Google has no off switch for AI Overviews. The help page documents the feature, its countries and languages, and how your data is used — there is no toggle, because Google treats AI Overviews as part of Search itself. Everything on this list is therefore a workaround: either change the URL Google gives you, hide the box with CSS, or search somewhere else.
The difference between those three is durability. A content blocker works until Google renames a class name; a default engine works until Google changes what udm=14 returns. Ratings, user counts and permissions below are the vendors’ own store figures, checked 2026-11-04 — no extension was installed for this page, so these are listing facts, not hands-on scores.
What “AI blocker” means in 2026
The phrase covers three products people keep mixing up. The first is a filter on Google’s own results — you keep using Google, but the AI panel and often the ads and shopping blocks disappear. The second is a search-engine swap, where the AI was never there to begin with. The third is a site-owner control in Search Console that decides whether your content is used in AI answers, which does nothing for a reader who just wants the overview gone.
Only the first two belong on a blocker list, and they behave differently. A filter is fragile by construction: it targets markup, and Google redesigns markup. A search-engine swap is durable, because it changes what the server returns rather than what the browser hides. That is why the top two picks are a setting and an extension, not two extensions.
Pricing and licensing: every pick here is free
None of the eight options has a paid tier, a subscription, or a trial that expires — worth saying in a category where some “AI remover” products charge monthly to hide a box. Three picks are extensions distributed free through the Chrome Web Store: Hide Google AI Overviews publishes its source under an open-source licence on GitHub, while Bye Bye, Google AI and Pre-AI Search are free but closed-source, so you can inspect their permissions in the listing rather than their code.
The two uBlock Origin lists are community-maintained text files with no licensing cost, and you can read every rule before importing them. The Web-results route is a URL parameter Google already supports and charges nothing for. Free is not the same as costless: an extension is code with access to the pages you browse, so permissions deserve more attention than price.
| # | Pick | Type | Rating | Scale | What it removes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Google Web default engine (udm=14) | Setting | — | — | AI Overviews + shopping, maps, discussions |
| 2 | Hide Google AI Overviews | Chrome / Firefox | 4.1 (1.2K) | 1.2K ratings | AI Overviews, AI “People also ask”, AI Mode tab |
| 3 | Bye Bye, Google AI | Chrome | 4.3 (570) | 100,000 users | Your choice: AI, ads, discussions, videos |
| 4 | Pre-AI Search | Chrome | 4.3 (58) | 10,000 users | AI Overviews + pre-2023 filter |
| 5 | Stevo’s AI Blocklist | uBlock Origin list | — | — | AI features across Google, YouTube, Amazon, Reddit |
| 6 | Google AI Overview Hide | uBlock Origin list | — | — | AI Overview box only |
| 7 | Web filter tab | Google built-in | — | — | Per-search, no setup |
| 8 | Startpage / DuckDuckGo / Brave | Search engine | — | — | By leaving Google |
For exact step-by-step setup — Chrome desktop, Android, iOS and Firefox — the full walkthrough is on SaaSToolIndex’s how to turn off Google AI Overviews guide.
1. Google Web as your default search engine (udm=14)
Add {google:baseURL}search?q=%s&udm=14 as a custom search engine in chrome://settings/searchEngines and make it default, or use tenbluelinks.org to add it in one click on Chrome mobile and Firefox. The udm=14 parameter returns Google’s Web results — the “Web” filter, made permanent. Because Google serves that view server-side, it is unaffected by interface changes that break every CSS-based blocker here.
What it costs you: no shopping results, no map pack, no news carousel, no AI panel. Product and local searches get weaker. Most people keep a @web shortcut for switching back.
2. Hide Google AI Overviews — the extension to try first
1.2K ratings at 4.1/5, open source at github.com/zbarnz/Google_AI_Overviews_Blocker. It hides AI Overviews at the top of results, the AI answers inside “People also ask”, the AI sections of “Things to know” and the AI Mode tab. The listing states it runs only on Google search pages, collects no data and makes no network requests — a blocker that phones home is a worse trade than the overview. Firefox has a build under the same name on addons.mozilla.org.
What it misses: mobile Chrome does not run extensions. It works by hiding elements, so a Google redesign can leave the box visible until the author ships an update.
3. Bye Bye, Google AI — the toggle panel
The largest audience of any pick: 100,000 users, 570 ratings at 4.3/5. AI Overviews are hidden by default, and separate toggles remove videos, discussion blocks, shopping blocks, “People also ask” and sponsored results. It also registers a w + space keyword in the address bar for jumping straight to Web results.
Its listing is candid about the mechanism: it sets those page areas to display: none, and “if Google changes its CSS, we’ll have to update the extension.” Same fragility as pick 2, with a wider blast radius — hiding shopping or “People also ask” can remove the one answer you wanted, so review the toggles after a few days.
4. Pre-AI Search — remove AI and AI-written results
4.3/5, 58 ratings, 10,000 users. It removes AI Overviews and additionally filters results to content published before the AI-generated-content era (pre-2023). That second feature is the reason to choose it and the reason to skip it: pricing, product names and laws all changed after 2023, so a pre-2023 page can be worse than the AI Overview you were avoiding.
5. Stevo’s AI Blocklist — the widest coverage
Stevoisiak/Stevos-AI-Blocklist is a uBlock Origin filter list that covers AI Overviews and AI Mode buttons on Google plus generative-AI features on YouTube, Amazon, Reddit and other sites. Import it under uBlock’s Dashboard → Filter lists → Import. If the complaint is “AI everywhere in my browser”, not just Google, this is the pick.
6. Google AI Overview Hide — one line, one box
xolossus/Google-AI-Overview-Hide is a single-purpose list, the smallest possible install for a person who only wants the Overview box gone. PCWorld’s published recipe for the same effect is one line under uBlock’s My filters: google.com##.hdzaWe. That is a class name, which is exactly why this category of fix needs re-checking after every major Google redesign.
7. The Web filter tab — zero setup
On any results page, click Web in the filter row under the search bar. It reloads the page as Web results for that search only. No install, no account, and on desktop the row is usually visible — on mobile it is often behind “Tools” or absent entirely.
8. Leave Google — Startpage, DuckDuckGo, Brave
If the requirement is “no AI answers”, switching engines is the only fix that cannot be undone by a class-name change. Startpage and DuckDuckGo return link lists by default; read the fine print, since DuckDuckGo ships its own AI assistant you have to disable separately, and Brave and Kagi sell AI features of their own. “No AI Overviews” is a Google-specific problem; other engines put their AI where you can opt out of it.
How these picks differ from one another
The real choice is not extension versus extension; it is URL versus CSS. Picks 1, 7 and 8 change what Google or another engine returns, so they survive redesigns and do not care which browser you use. Picks 2 through 6 hide elements after the page loads, so they break when markup changes, they do not exist on mobile Chrome, and two of them can hide parts of the results you wanted.
Within the CSS group, the difference is scope. Pick 2 hides AI blocks and nothing else, which makes it the least surprising day to day. Pick 3 is a control panel: more removed by default, more to re-check. Pick 4 changes which results you get, not just what is hidden. Picks 5 and 6 move the rules into uBlock Origin, so the difference versus picks 2 to 4 is who maintains them — a repository you can read rather than an extension you install.
Versus Google’s own settings, none of them is a competitor: Search Labs’ toggle opts you out of experiments rather than the shipped feature, chrome://settings/ai governs Chrome’s history search rather than Google results, and the Search Console Search generative AI control is a publisher tool that changes whether your site is used in AI answers — the opposite direction from what a reader wants.
What no AI blocker fixes
- Google’s own settings. Search Labs’ “AI in Search” toggle opts you out of experiments, not the shipped feature.
chrome://settings/aicontrols Chrome’s history AI, unrelated to search results. Neither removes AI Overviews. -aias a negative keyword. It removes pages that mention AI — including the pricing page you wanted — and does not reliably remove the Overview.- Site owners’ Search Console control. Google’s Search generative AI setting decides whether your content appears in AI answers. It does not change what a reader sees. It is the only switch Google actually built, and it points the other way.
- Mobile Chrome. No extension route exists. Use the Web filter or make Google Web the default engine.
The interface is still moving
Google is testing the removal of the AI Mode button from the search bar — reported 2026-11-03 by Search Engine Roundtable. Any blocker targeting that button or the Overview box is chasing a moving target; the default-engine route is not.
What is the best AI blocker for Google?
The Web-results engine in pick 1, set once as your default, is the best answer for most people: it removes the AI panel before the page renders and keeps working when Google redesigns. Add pick 2 if you want Google’s normal layout back and only the AI blocks gone.
Is there a Google setting to turn off AI Overviews?
No. Google’s AI Overviews help documentation describes the feature and its data use without offering a disable toggle, and a Chrome Community Product Expert answer states that Overviews are part of the core Search experience. The only switch Google ships is the Search Console control for site owners.
Do AI blocker extensions work on mobile?
Only on browsers that support extensions. Chrome for Android and iOS do not, so the mobile options are the Web filter tab and making Google Web the default search engine — the latter works in Chrome on both platforms.
Are AI blocker extensions safe to install?
Judge them like any extension: minimal permissions, open source where possible, no network access. Pick 2 publishes its code and states it makes no network requests; pick 3 is closed-source but widely installed and only hides page elements; picks 5 and 6 hand you the rules as text you can read before applying them.
Store figures (ratings, user counts, permissions) read from the Chrome Web Store and addons.mozilla.org listings on 2026-11-04; filter lists read from their GitHub repositories; Google’s position read from its own AI Overviews help page and June 2026 publisher-controls announcement. No extension was installed or run for this roundup.