Hey sorry if this has been asked before. I checked and didn’t see any posts, but basically is the kagi search engine worth it? I’m gearing up to cancel Hulu/spotify so I’ll have a little more money in the monthly budget and Kagi is one of the things I’m considering
Currently I use DuckDuckGo and it’s pretty good for me, but the main thing that makes me interested in Kagi is the ability to rank websites so they appear more or less often and the filter by type like academic sources or Reddit only.
I don’t really like ai stuff (not inherently, it’s just shoved into everything so I’ve come to hate it) but it seems pretty unobtrusive in Kagi?
I want to hear from people who actually pay for and use Kagi. Is the 300 searches a month enough for you or do most of you need the unlimited search plan? I know about the free trial but I want to know about the long term user experience
Edit: Thank you to everyone who responded!! I learned a lot about Kagi and I think I’m gonna end up getting the 300/mo plan and see if it’s enough for me. Thanks again! <3
I use Kagi! I average about 1,000 searches/month, so well in excess of the lower tier, but I started with 300 and there’s nothing inherently wrong with it as long as you only use it that often. I’ve grown accustomed to using search instead of bookmarks, and doing simple things like math in the browser instead of a dedicated app, which could help prune some of that usage.
You can use the 100 free searches to gauge how long it will last you.
I personally don’t have any gripes with it, between the ability to rank sites and their new initiative allowing folks to report slop sites, it seems to consistently keep me satisfied.
They do have a feedback site (https://kagifeedback.org/) where you can request new features and file bug reports. The advantage of a paid service is they are very attentive to user requests (within reason). Between their blog and changelog you can gauge how things are developing.
My budget has the flexibility that I’m happy to pay for a service that I use every day, which is aligned with my priorities. For those who don’t have that flexibility, Brave functionally (but perhaps not ethically) is a strong second best option. They’ve been copying Kagi’s homework for a while now and can do some of the same page ranking, etc.
This is really helpful! Thank you! I didn’t realize people could report slop sites. That’s a huge plus in my book
Do you know, if I type in a website in the search bar and go directly there, does that count as a search bc it uses the search bar, or does it only count if you actually load a page of results? Like if I go directly to YouTube.com or I just search YouTube and then click on the result, are those both considered a search, or just the latter? I would assume only the latter, but I’m not certain. If they both are considered a search then I’d definitely be concerned about having enough searches
Going directly there does not count as a search - you should be fine on that count. Again, you can test for free with their 100 free searches if you’re concerned :)