If you search “Chrome” on Bing, Microsoft now dangles 1,300 Rewards points to keep you on Edge for Windows 11. Microsoft Bing also says you can use the 1,300 Rewards points to get a gift card, which will buy you real products. But if you don’t want to get a gift card, you can still keep using Edge and use Rewards points to support an NGO.

Not just Windows, but several products have turned into a sales channel for Microsoft to promote its apps or services. Bing, which is the default search engine on Windows 11 and Edge, has experienced a barrage of ads recently. For example, if you search Chrome on Bing, you might have seen an ad that wants you to use Edge because it’s more secure.

More recently, Windows Latest spotted a new ad on Bing that tells you to stop trying to download Chrome because using Microsoft Edge actually pays you. Microsoft is not saying it’ll deposit money into your bank account, but it says you can earn up to 1,300 Microsoft Rewards points.

You can’t cash in Rewards points, but you can use the points to buy an Amazon Gift Card, which is another form of money. Based on my location, Bing pitched me several gift cards, including a gift card to buy items in Roblox and even access to Spotify Premium for three months.

You will get all of these if you keep using Microsoft Edge over Chrome.

“Redeem your points for gift cards or donate to one of over 2 million nonprofits,” Microsoft noted in an ad that shows up only when you search Chrome on Bing. “Earn 1,300 Microsoft Rewards points by trying Edge,” the ad, which cannot be dismissed, has a small note at the top that says ‘Promoted by Microsoft.’

Can Google, OpenAI or other companies use similar media-rich ads on Bing for their products? Apparently not, as these so-called ads are only designed to promote Microsoft products.

We’re not seeing ads for other browsers, such as Opera, Firefox or Brave, so it looks like Microsoft is only going after Google Chrome.

Microsoft has another ad that compares Chrome against Edge with features like VPN.

Microsoft runs a new ad for the Edge browser on Bing.com almost every two weeks now. Previously, Windows Latest spotted an ad that tries to sell you Edge as a superior option that runs on the same technology as Chrome when you try to download Chrome using Edge.

These are not my words. Microsoft literally says you don’t have to download Chrome because Edge already runs on the same technology as Google’s browser, which is Chromium.

In the above case, Microsoft has created a Bing ad that shows up when you search for “Chrome” and says, “All you need is right here.” It tells you Edge uses the same tech as Chrome, so you won’t lose sites or features, and then it shows a simple checklist to make Edge look better.

This is a scoreboard that declares Edge browser a winner with a full score. 

For example, Bing ad says using Edge can earn you Microsoft Rewards points. You can’t do that in Google Chrome. Then, it says you will also get access to VPN by staying on Edge, but it doesn’t tell you that Edge VPN is powered by Cloudflare, and it does not let you choose a location.

Microsoft also says you will get “AI personalization” with Edge, which is true, but is it really special? I don’t think. The AI personlization in Edge allows you to generate themes using prompts, but the theme only changes a few parts of the browser.

At this point, Microsoft wants you to believe that the Edge browser is all you need and is on par with Chrome, but what do you prefer? Let me know in the comments below.

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