I Tried a Paid Search Engine for a Week, and I Won't Go Back to Google

Ditching Google for Kagi: A Week with a Paid Search Engine

This article details the author's experience switching from Google Search to Kagi, a paid, AI-powered search engine, for a week. The author, who had previously moved away from Google to Qwant, sought to understand the added benefits of a subscription-based search service.

Kagi: The AI-Powered Paid Search Engine

Kagi, a Public Benefit Corporation, positions itself as a privacy-focused alternative to Google. Its core proposition is that users pay a subscription fee for a better, more private search experience, free from data harvesting and intrusive advertising.

Privacy First: Kagi emphasizes that searches are private and not saved. Unlike Google, it does not track user clicks, ensuring a more anonymous browsing experience.
User-Centric Results: By removing the reliance on advertising revenue, Kagi prioritizes delivering the best possible results for user queries, rather than promoting sponsored content.

Key Features of Kagi

Kagi offers several features designed to enhance the search experience:

Kagi Lenses

Customizable Searches: Lenses allow users to tailor search results by selecting specific types of content (e.g., forums, PDFs) or prioritizing/excluding certain websites.
Regional Search Control: Users can lock search results to a specific region, which is particularly useful for international users who want to avoid shipping and handling fees or find local retailers.
Advanced Search Options: Kagi provides an advanced search menu for more granular control over queries.

Personalization Options

Ranking Adjustments: Users can adjust the ranking of websites in their search results, choosing to raise, lower, block, or pin specific sites.
Site Information: A shield icon next to search results provides details about a site's ads, trackers, connection type, and performance.
Reduced Result Count: Kagi often displays fewer, more relevant results by leveraging its own internally developed search index, which is analyzed and ordered independently.

AI-Powered Search Tools

Kagi integrates various AI features to augment search capabilities:

Quick Answer: Provides AI-generated summaries at the top of results, automatically triggered by a question mark at the end of a query or by pressing 'Q'.
Page Summarization: Allows users to summarize individual web pages.
Assistant: An AI-powered chatbot that can utilize various large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Claude. It can also connect to the web and Kagi Search to provide cited results.
- Custom Assistants: Users can create specialized LLM personalities for different tasks.

Pricing Tiers

Kagi offers several pricing plans:

Starter Plan: $5/month (plus tax) for 300 searches and access to standard AI features.
Unlimited Plan: $10/month (plus tax) for unlimited searches and standard AI features.
Ultimate Plan: $25/month for unlimited searches and access to premium AI models (e.g., Claude 3.7 Sonnet, GPT 4o, Gemini 2.5 Pro).

The author recommends starting with the $5 plan and upgrading if necessary.

Top Tips for Using Paid Search Engines

Conserve Searches: Use direct navigation (typing URLs into the address bar) for frequently visited sites instead of searching for them.
Utilize Autocomplete: Leverage address bar autocomplete for quick access to previously visited sites.
Explore Features: Experiment with Kagi's features, such as Lenses and personalization, to tailor the search experience to individual needs.

Conclusion

The author found Kagi to be a significant improvement over Google and other free alternatives, citing enhanced control over search results, improved privacy, and useful AI features. The ability to block unwanted sites and the overall efficiency of Kagi's search index contributed to a more satisfying search experience.