Part of why internet search sucks is that many gave up trying in the face of Google.
Part of why internet search sucks is that many gave up trying in the face of Google.
Pseudo-monopolies are great at extinguishing imagination like that, and tbh Google search (as I understand its basic setup) was only as good as it was thanks to timing and few really good competitors.
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I was informed about Kagi through one of the posts here and tried it out. It's quite amazing how much better it is compared to even DDG. I didn't mind DDG but it felt "old" but Kagi seems to prioritize user experience over everything else. It may not be free, but it's worth the cost for me.
What's the cost? What makes it better? Is it like Google used to be?
They have a few plans, but the cheapest is $5/mo. If you go past the allotted searches it's pay per search after that (at a very tiny cost).
I switched to DDG when Google started adding cards at the bottom of the first page and made search results utterly useless for me. DDG wasn't bad but it still felt like something was missing or some results were flooded by a specific site. Kagi went the extra step to group results from a site sorta like how Google has.
Ultimately it's the benefits of old Google but some nice refinements and QoL improvements. Because it's paid for, they don't need to sell your data or shove paid for results down your throat.
Thank you!
I'll tack on to what the other commenter said:
- Cost: I considered myself a heavy searcher (software engineer and gamer) and have been surprised to see I have rarely exceeded even half of my allotted searches ($5/mo, 300 searches). I'm now reprogramming my brain to stop turning to alternatives when something should be easy to find because "I might use up all my queries".
- Better: apart from all of the cool features, and there are many, there's also that it just "feels better". I don't know how to qualify that despite being a professional in that world. It's kinda the opposite feeling that I had using Google over the last 5+ years where I wondered if I was getting dumber or if the internet (and Google) was absolutely full of garbage.
It's on the very short list of subscriptions I pay for right now despite having a very limited budget at the moment.
I think based on your response I'm going to jump in. What other subscriptions you think are worth it?
Not the OP but currently have:
- Kagi - Search...
- Proton - Email, Calendar, VPN, Pass (I just use for aliases). Now that I've upped my privacy knowledge I need to reevaluate. I do like their products though from a useability perspective. VPN supporting port forwarding is a bonus.
- Backblaze B2 - off site backups using rclone and Round Sync (android rclone) to sync files
- Mullvad VPN - Just got based on the XMR payment option and RAM only servers. Still deciding where I have a VPN included with Proton. I don't like putting my eggs all in one basket though as I did with Google so its attractive to keep.
- Bitwarden - Password manager. May switch to self hosted in the future.
- Standard Notes - May switch to self hosted if I don't lose any features I use.
You obviously have good taste 👌😁 (no /s)
Thanks! Also trying out these just to evaluate this past week, lol.
- EteSync - Contact sync since Proton won't integrate natively with android (grr). Probably self host this one when I get time to rebuild my server also.
- Jmp.chat - More of a curiosity, but thought it was cool I could get a number with voice/text over XMPP (native dialer integration, tex t in XMPP client) plus a data eSIM all with Monero and without giving any info. Not private due to the calls/text come in the clear. Could be anonymous if you get a phone not tied to your name. Obviously you can be narrowed down to a tower you're connecting to also. Using a free xmpp server now but want to self host this one also.
- Frugal Usenet / NZBgeek - Bought with crypto over VPN and no personal info. Working on rebuilding my mini-pc server as an *arr stack, then look into self hosting everything else.
Sorry, I forgot to check for replies til now. I'm using almost the exact set of services the other commenter is, minus mullvad (proton is fine for me), backblaze (I have a homelab with a lot of redundant storage capacity and have enough important stuff backed up to the cloud in other ways I'm fine with having to rebuild the rest if something big happens), and standard notes (but I have been considering switching to it just this week, just haven't done the research).
I used the trial and then just started paying for it. So far, it is much better results, and I like that they do not track you. Also, their small web lens has been fun to play around with.
Another Kagi fan here. I pay $10 a month.
I'm a reasonably heavy search user, but have never hit the quota.
It's wonderful to have relevant results again.
The one thing it doesn't work for is shopping. From time to time I use Google. I should probably switch that to Bing, as the lesser of two evils.