this post was submitted on 28 Mar 2026
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cough
https://kagi.com/
Like google use to be. But better.
I’m really happy with Kagi but I’m scared its price might go up and I’d want them to really not depend on the GAFAM. I think their results or something is still coming out of these bad companies..
Yep. Last I looked, they used both GAFAM and their own infra (teclis)? I think the goal is to eventually move solely to their own infra / web indexing.
I dunno how much longer "search" is going to be a unique category. I think we're probably going to need to move to personal AI fetch tools, as grim as that sounds. I think that's how lots of people use ChatGPT tbh; I'm not a fan of that. I'd favour a more local / self hosted AI agent. Something like Perplexica?
https://github.com/kiranz/perplexica
The surface web is cooked / enshittified almost beyond use and we might need to fight fire with fire.
Aren't they super into chatbots tho?
They have em and you can use em, but you can also turn them off AFAIK.
The bots they have are pretty good too. Lots of open source heavy hitters with ZDR (zero data retention policies)
https://help.kagi.com/kagi/ai/llms-privacy.html
PS: no affiliation with kagi at all. I just like their product.
maybe if it was a one time purchase.
I hear you - a one off purchase (or a $50-100 for 5yrs) would be a selling point. Hell, I'd even buy credits like I do for USENET.
https://stephango.com/quality-software
Just let me pay in one lump sum. Not a fan of rolling subscriptions; never end up using the whole quota, so unless there's a rollover it gets wasted.
Self hosted SearXNG is an option but it's going to be pulling from Bing, Google etc, so the result quality ceiling is capped by those engines. Kagi is trying to be a better search engine overall and not just a private wrapper around existing ones, IIUC.
Personally, I find myself not really searching much any more. I sort of know which sites I need and go there directly. Anything low value goes thru ddg-lite or (gasp) my LLM.
EDIT: Huh...my LLM just told me to sit down
"Kagi supports PayPal and OpenNode (Bitcoin) as alternative payment methods. Crucially, these do not create a subscription. They top off your account with credits, which then fund your Kagi membership. Kagi That's essentially the lump-sum/credits model you described"
Well then....I sit corrected.
i also want to mention Donation based/ads(if not too intrusive) are also fine ig.
and sometimes(depends on country) your only option is monthly subscription (whatever its rent or internet price) you can find for sale buts its like in the millions and i think internet price is monthly only.
but yeah i dislike monthly subscription as much as you(and i agree with you)
i could use a Freemium service that has a monthly subscription too,but i wont buy the subscription.
but obviously i prefer perpetual license the most.
I'm not against a subscription for something like this. Kagi has ongoing server costs, I think it's only fair that users pay on an ongoing basis.
As opposed to, say, Office where the software can be more or less "finished" and I don't need or want updates.
Then fair enough ig?
I'm sure old Google didn't require a subscription.
Because you were the product.