I almost bought Kagi. Initially I wanted Universal Summarizer. Then I realized I could install Edge browser (which is essentially Google-free Chrome) and the integrated, free GPT-4 would summarize for me. And I still haven’t had an “ah ha” moment comparing Kagi’s search results. I’m happy to keep trying for free next month, or whenever my free trial searches reset, until I’m sold on the value.
Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
21–30 of 220 posts
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#22This was me with Neeva but they sold out. I fully expect Kagi to do the same unfortunately.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#23> It’s impossible to both provide the best search results and try to optimize for the highest amount of ad-clicks. And if you’re a public company with an ad-based business model, you are legally required to optimize for the latter.
This is a widely held misconception, but there's no legal requirement to maximize profits. They're required to act in the interests of the corporation and its shareholders, but this is very broad and includes more than just wringing out every source of profit.
I'm a recent Kagi convert, and I'd say that Google's search product declining in usefulness is eventually going to impact its profitability.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#24I am quite interested by Kagi's model, and would like to try it. One issue is that I do find it a little pricey (it's roughly £110/yr just for web search). This seems like a shame. I'd love to understand more re: how they come up with those prices in the first place, if any information is available. It would also be interesting to explore how many of the people praising it here and elsewhere are paying customers.
Pricing information is actually available. They've been really upfront about what and why the costs are what they are.
I pay for it for myself ($5 a month) and would love to expand to my wife and kids, but yea, its expanding price quickly nullifies that idea.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#25> It’s impossible to both provide the best search results and try to optimize for the highest amount of ad-clicks. And if you’re a public company with an ad-based business model, you are legally required to optimize for the latter. This is a widely held misconception, but there's no legal requirement to maximize profits. They're required to act in the interests of the corporation and its shareholders, but this is ver…
Companies don't maximize shareholder value, no matter how much they talk about it.
Companies are run by and for the managers of said company, and what gets them promoted.
Sometimes that aligns with what the shareholders might want, often it does not.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#26Just to chime in and add another datapoint, I switched to Kagi and expected that I'd eventually go back to Google (like I had when I switched to DDG), but the results are just as good or better and I'm happy to pay to not have ads or tracking.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#27I should probably add in that kagi has some secret modes.
If you precede the search query with `!expert` you get an LLM search response.
If you precede it with `!code` you get a GPT-4-ish tuned response. It’s… really good. And since you can do it from a browser bar if you make it your default browser, I find myself reaching for !expert at least 50% as often as ChatGPT these days. Also, it’s extremely good with citations. The !expert mode seems pretty darn up to date, no knowledge cutoff issues. I have no idea if it is search, doing a vector lookup, or they just bake the model every night. Totally magical.
Also, I’m following the LLM stuff pretty closely these days — their universal summarized and their search LLM — no one else is doing that right now. It’s genuinely amazing.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#28Recently I discovered there's no more "Non-commercial" lens. I'm still a happy Kagi user but I found that lens helpful for avoiding over-SEOd sites filled with affiliate links and was disappointed to see it gone.
I believe this was superseded by the "Small Web" lens.
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#29[deleted]
Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest
#30This is such an easy monthly sub for me. Given the importance of search to our daily lives and work, having your search engine provider re-rank results to optimise their own ad revenue at the cost of your own time and attention is insane. In retrospect.