Ask.com shuts down after over 25 years

Ask.com, formerly Ask Jeeves, which launched 29 years ago on June 3, 1996, before Google launched, shut down on May 1, 2026.

Ask.com now has a turn down page that reads:

Every great search
must come to an end.
As IAC continues to sharpen its focus, we have made the decision to discontinue our search business, which includes Ask.com. After 25 years of answering the world’s questions, Ask.com officially closed on May 1, 2026.

“To the millions who asked…”
We are deeply grateful to the brilliant engineers, designers, and teams who built and supported Ask over the decades. And to you—the millions of users who turned to us for answers in a rapidly changing world—thank you for your endless curiosity, your loyalty, and your trust.

Jeeves’ spirit endures.

Ask.com has been known as an answer engine, the Jeeves butler was who you spoke to in the early days. With AI and all these new answer engines, Ask.com could have deployed its own unique taste for its answer engine. But I guess with all the competition and the market being harder, IAC, Ask.com’s parent company, decided to turn it down.

Ask.com will always have a place in the search marketing industry and Ask, including Jeeves, will be missed.

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