[1] HotBot was launched in May 1996 by Wired online division HotWired, as a tool providing search results served by the Inktomi database.

The search engine was co-developed by Inktomi, a four-month-old start-up staffed by University of California, Berkeley students.

[2] HotBot was launched using a "new links" strategy of marketing, claiming to index the entire web weekly, more often than competitors like AltaVista,[3] and its website stated it being the "most complete Web index online" with 54 million documents.

[4] Its colorful interface and impressive features (e.g. being able to search with any entered words, or an entire phrase) drew acclaim and popularity.

[14] In July 2011, HotBot was relaunched with a new robot-like mascot, a new logo, and a modern site design.

[16][17] In 2023 the aforementioned VPN company pivoted to offering an AI based web-search feature, inspired by however not officially affiliated with the domain's original usage in 1996.