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Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

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Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#51

Post by ocdtrekkie »

lapcat wrote: post #33

I really wanted to like Kagi, and admittedly my experimentation did not last long, but contrary to the experience of other commenters, I found Kagi search results to be significantly worse than Google. Maybe it was just the specific subjects I was searching. The final straw for me was when I searched for air quality in my city, and the Kagi results were a total joke, mostly irrelevant. I would have been happy to pay…

I will say in earlier tests I found location-specific queries sort of lacking on Kagi, but I feel like they've improved it. You absolutely do have to be explicit about your location though, because it isn't run by the company tracking your phone.

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#52

Post by jonjojojon »

I think Kagi search quality has a coding bias. Searches related to physics,hardware,math are basically identical to google or noticeably worse. My coding related searches are usually much better with much less SEO spam than google. This might be a function of just how much larger the market for coding related content is online.

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#53

Post by kirubakaran »

daemoens wrote: post #40
dilyevsky wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For c-suite their comp is mostly awarded by the board which is controlled by largest shareholders. So therefore they are highly incentivized to make them happy which is usually achieved by stonk going up and to the right. For middle managers it’s more complex and is usually divorced from the stock price (and often reality too)

Can a stock go to the left? If they figured out time-travel, I'm sure the board would be even happier. /s

If they manage to screw up so bad as to get delisted, the stock will no longer go to the right

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#54

Post by ketzo »

So, one meta-layer of discussion up: do we think the recent surge of Kagi discussion on HN is indicative of a real wave?

Or is “picking a different search engine” gonna be something only 1% of users ever do again?

I honestly think that even if Kagi does remain pretty niche (serve that niche (so far… mostly HN-user-types, I would bet).

But it seems hard to make money at that scale and with a non-advertising business model. So godspeed Kagi, I guess.

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#55

Post by ncallaway »

Urgo wrote: post #43
smcleod wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’ve found Kagis search results far better than DDG, not even in the same ballpark.

If you could provide screen shots or a writeup of HOW they are better that would be helpful. Kogi fans just seems to say its better without really any examples. Not saying its not better, but no one has really shown how it is better.

Search isn’t really something I can show you one result to say it’s better.

I just use it for a week and feel the difference.

Magi has a free trial of 100 searches. Sign up and try it. I did, and when I ran out of my 100 searches, I went and got my credit card and paid $5/month.

When I tried DDG, I ended up back at Google within a week.

I can’t actually explain how it’s better, other than to encourage you to try it and see for yourself. If you run out of searches and don’t feel it’s better, then you can go back to DDG

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#56

Post by Lazare »

Just chiming in here. My experience is:

* Google search was good, but has been steadily getting worse. Over the last 1-3 years it's become actively unplesant.

* DDG solves a lot of privacy issues, but the search quality is strictly worse than Google. I know people who use it preferentially, and I respect that, but personally Google search is already so bad than opting for something even worse is hard for me to accept. And I think almost every DDG user is familiar with having to fall back to Google to get a result.

* Kagi solves the privacy issues and the search quality is excellent - certainly better than Google is today, and subjectively, feels as good at least as good as Google was at its heyday. And notably I have never needed to fall back to Google; it's just a strict upgrade. I absolutely feel it's worth the cost.

I can't really predict if it will stay good; some of the decline in Google is no doubt just because they're the most popular SEO target, so it's possible if Kagi becomes wildly popular it'll be a victim of it's own success. And of course, Kagi's goals and principles may change with time, etc.

But as of today, if you think you might get some value from really good search, and Kagi isn't wildly out of your price range, give it a shot.

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#58

Post by gxs »

I’m so desperate for an alternative to google that a post like this, combined with what I’ve heard about kagi in the past is enough to make me give it an honest try.

I’ve grown such a disdain for google, far cry from when I stood in the long lines to buy the first android phone.

I’m starting to feel the same way about Apple, in fact, I think if it weren’t for messages I’d actually be willing to try something else.

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#59

Post by Semaphor »

konaraddi wrote: post #50
justusthane wrote: post #16

> 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. The enduring (and incorrect) myth of how fiduciary responsibility works.

Could you elaborate?

See the other chain: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37852567

Re: Kagi finally let me lay Google Search to rest

#60

Post by deleriousmuffin »

northerdome wrote: post #22

This was me with Neeva but they sold out. I fully expect Kagi to do the same unfortunately.

The problem was that Neeva sucked. I quit using it after it took me to an actual scam website to buy some product I wanted. What I learned from that was that aligned business model != good product.
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