So I’ve been using Kagi for a while now as a paid search engine. I always thought it’s $25 a month plan was a little steep for search, but a) I got work to pay for it, and b) startpage nee google was getting less and less useful, and bing and whatever used it has… well been worse for me always.

Anyway, I just got told that they’ve now adjusted their pricing / added features to Ultimate, and I think (at least now) that’s actually added a lot of value if you’re into the more advanced LLVM / AI models / chat. I have also been paying $20 a month through work for ChatGPT Plus. I might drop that because Kagi now lets you chat with / use GPT4 as well as Claude2 and a Google LLVM model with the one $25 a month, in addition to all the search and AI Search (with sourcing) together.

I don’t know how well paid search is going to ever do - it might be a short term tool. But for now, not having ads in the search, a straightforward pay for service model that seems to work just as well with their stated privacy goals, and getting multiple AI LLVM is pretty cool “one stop shopping” if you will. I also like giving a shot to less ad based models for Internet services that I can’t see how they don’t become privacy invasions.

  • bob_wiley@lemmy.worldEnglish
    18·
    9 months ago

    I’ve been using Kagi for quite a while now and find it to be better than any free search I’ve used.

    • Nothing is free. Stuff costs money to run, either you pay directly or indirectly. Maybe it’s with your data/ads, maybe it’s corporate backers (the case with a lot of open source), or maybe you’re getting a free service on the back of a few developers and sys admins who are hoping to make ends meet based on donations that you’re not contributing to.
    • Personally, I would cancel my streaming services before Kagi. Kagi is cheaper than Netflix, and much more valuable of a service.
    • I would prefer not to be logged in either, but the sites that track you can do it if you’re logged in or not. I’d rather login on a site that isn’t tracking and profiling me, than use a site that is doing it regardless of my login status.
    • Incognito lets you stick in a search string with a token. It’s a 1 time setup.