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Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

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Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#51

Post by fc417fc802 »

mpalmer wrote: post #31
leokennis wrote: post #17

I admire and applaud Kagi for what they are trying to be. But on the AI front, the Assistant is simply worse than using for example Gemini or ChatGPT directly. It is slower, it cannot generate images etc.

On the other hand, it doesn't monetize any of the data you give. Six of one, half dozen of the other, yeah? Re: image gen... it's a search engine. Why would I need my refrigerator to toast my bread?

Because at least for my own usage of Google the LLM started out as an interactive search with substantially better context filtering that could tune the results to my desired technical level. However I promptly started just having it explain the subject matter to me rather than spending 30+ minutes consulting various docs and forum posts because it makes for an excellent secretary/tutor combo provided you vigilantly watch for misinformation.

So to answer your question, while charts might not be particularly useful for a search engine a tutor certainly benefits from them.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#52

Post by fc417fc802 »

sdoering wrote: post #50

If they remove a feature (even if I am not using it) while keeping the price the same - why should I stay a customer? I have a contract. And at least in Germany one party to a contract can not just alter the terms of the contract. They need to cancel the existing contract and offer a new one. And I would not need to accept the new one. Yes, I would not be using Kagi anymore. But why should I have a business relations…

Presumably they would discontinue it at the end of a billing cycle? Or have you entered into a long term contract with them?

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#53

Post by Yeri »

arch-ninja wrote: post #10
Valodim wrote: post #8

Kagi is unfortunately in a tough spot, imo. I'm a happy subscriber, and it's certainly a big improvement over Google search. But the internet just isn't the same place it was five years ago. And as search results (for non-navigational queries) are becoming less useful by the day, I find myself asking AI to do it for me more. There's a lot to like about Kagi, but they'll probably have to reinvent themselves if they wa…

Agreed. I LOVE Kagi as a search engine - so long as it answers queries in under 2s with no ads, I'm a very happy customer. I don't mind if they flirt with LLMs, but if the LLM work detracts from the search work they will lose me as a paying customer. If the LLM work slows down search results I also lose the only thing I pay for - search result response time and correctness.

I always thought the browser, coworking space (https://hub.kagi.com/), and mail (https://kagimail.com/) are a distraction.

I've been a paying customer since 04/2022, and have the early adopter badge. I was easily doing 600-800 searches/month, and now I do 400-300 searches. I think that's the reality. More and more people are asking ChatGPT or whatever for search.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#54

Post by plutokras »

sph wrote: post #5

Good. I'm a paying user from day one, and I never used, nor want to see any AI features on my search engine. I'd use Google if I cared about any of that stuff. Honestly, I just want my money to be used to improve good old match-keywords-against-index search.

I’m also fine with the change. Claude is my go-to for research as the standalone app and shortcut are very convenient.

The Kagi team should focus on the core product; that’s what I’m paying for. I stopped being a ProtonMail customer once they began chasing side projects instead of polishing their actual offering. I hope Kagi doesn't go down that same route.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#55

Post by card_zero »

EbNar wrote: post #22
shaky-carrousel wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For the rest of us that deeply distrust and despise the anti-ethical and wasteful assistants is an upgrade.

Friendly reminder that you're not forced to use it. "I despise soccer, so soccer should disappear".

I am interested in your manifesto

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#56

Post by mstipetic »

leokennis wrote: post #17

I admire and applaud Kagi for what they are trying to be. But on the AI front, the Assistant is simply worse than using for example Gemini or ChatGPT directly. It is slower, it cannot generate images etc.

The research assistant should be able to generate images

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#57

Post by niam »

I didn't consider that bundling Search & Assistant maybe puts them in a tricky spot among some users who revile LLM features, and others who will utilize them to the cap. To the degree that the former is subsidizing the latter, or costing them customers (probably not a ton): I can see why separating the two offerings makes sense.

Though I'm sympathetic to the users for whom this would basically be a strict downgrade in featureset.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#58

Post by oidar »

Ultimate user here. I assume this doesn't kill "quick answers" for pro users - which I use frequently when I need a quick summarization. For assistant use directly, I've been thinking about stepping back from ultimate, as I use claude for AI rubber ducking; which works better than all of the LLMs available on assistant.

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#59

Post by embedding-shape »

kagi_2026 wrote: post #21
embedding-shape wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Guess that serves as a signal that this move from Kagi isn't so bad, if typos is the biggest and greatetst criticism you can come up with as a reply.

[flagged]

Make grand assumptions about other HN users without knowing anything else but their HN comments, I betcha you won't find a better past-time for internet strangers :)

Re: Kagi is contemplating the removal of the assistant from its professional tier

#60

Post by keysersoze33 »

I've been a Kagi Pro user for several years now, and to be honest, the models from the pro tier aren't that useful compared to the free versions of Gemini & ChatGPT.

For me, I pay for Kagi pro for search without Google/Bing enshittification, their Translate (which I use quite often while I'm learning German/working in German - better for me than Google Translate), and their Summarizer. I pay for Claude, and also occasionally use OpenRouter for my AI needs.

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