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I've been using Kagi over the last few days and have actually been pleasantly surprised with it performing better than both Google and DDG for my use cases. It'

I've been using Kagi over the last few days and have actually been pleasantly surprised with it performing better than both Google and DDG for my use cases. It's still free during the beta so might be worth giving it a shot.

JonathanBuchh 5y ago
I’ve also been using https://kagi.com https://kagi.com for the past couple of days and have found the search results to be unparalleled to both Google and DuckDuckGo. I haven’t come across any SEO spam and the results seem to be of better quality overall. They have all of the same bangs DDG uses and get results from Bing, Google, and a bespoke index. Because they query Bing and Google, it will be pretty expensive when it launches (it's in private beta) since it costs $12 per 1000 queries, but since search is so important, it will probably be worth it. They say they're privacy focused too, but it's hard to be sure when a product isn't open source. Kagi isn't trying to take significant market share from Google or DDG, but find a niche (probably Hacker News type people). The one thing I find they're lacking is maps and location based results (e.g. you can't search for "lunch near me"). If you're interested, I'd recommend checking out their FAQ: https://kagi.com/faq https://kagi.com/faq
- antihero 5y ago
  Hmm, annoyingly some bloody invite based thing instead of just being able to try the damn thing. What is this, 2004?
  - omnicognate 5y ago
    I'm on the waitlist. AIUI they intend this to be a paid service eventually, which is highly desirable to me. If it can be made to work, I would very much like a search service that is directly paid for by its users, rather than funded via side channels such as advertising or paid results placement that create skewed incentives. If they're not ready to charge for use yet, a limited preview makes more sense than a public free service.
    - fallat 5y ago
      Signed up; I will gladly pay for better results. Google has sold its soul long ago to the capitalism gods. DDG and Brave are no better.
  - eproxus 5y ago
    Apparently their invite, once you receive it, is free to share with anyone. Enjoy: https://kagi.com/signup?invite_code=adfreesearchengine https://kagi.com/signup?invite_code=adfreesearchengine
    - Melatonic 5y ago
      Might be a limit on the number of users - this link now gets an "expired" message after attempting to signup. Anybody else have one I can try?
  - freediver 5y ago
    It is in closed, invite-only beta.
  - u2077 5y ago
    They also have a browser that’s still in beta. Here’s the direct link to test flight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/DeC8ZDnu https://testflight.apple.com/join/DeC8ZDnu (got this after a month on the waitlist)
    - kajiryoji 5y ago
      Can you be very kind to provide the Mac browser link as well? It seems this link is only valid for ios and iPadOS apps
  - littlecranky67 5y ago
    Just tried and it seems we have an underdog here that could be useful to avoid spammy results. I can totally see why they want this to be invite only, as they probably need to find out how to scale well. If it would go viral suddenly, they might not collapse and the whole effect would backfire. Edit: This is really promising and interesting. They show a summary of the link when you hover over the crystal ball icon next to it, together with a button for "Block" and "Boost" - i.e. you can vote with your account. These metrics could be used for ranking and kill affiliate marketers.
- technofiend 5y ago
  Signed up for the beta, but their signup page has one annoyance... clicking back doesn't take you back one page in the signup process, it ejects you to the top but your answers are saved. Fine if it's an honest mistake, weird if it's an aesthetic choice, not a good idea if it's an indicator of how they plan to be different. It would be much better to prove how smart they are by fixing google's search than "fixing" well-established UI patterns.
- Melatonic 5y ago
  How long did you have to wait for the invite?
  - Semaphor 5y ago
    2 days in my case
littlecranky67 5y ago
Thanks for sharing this link! I described my odyssey to finding craft printers in this thread [0], and just repeated the search on kagi.com. The results are better IMHO, even though the first hit is a link to some kind of Mindcraft-clone game that allows to craft printers. The second link directs at least to Canon's Craft Landingpage, and there are way less Spamsites and more Manufacturers links within the first 20 results. Those sites that are Spam, are at least a bit more disguised/offer more content than usual so I will let kagi get away with that. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136
Semaphor 5y ago
Worth mentioning, that they actually have the blacklist feature for domains that google removed years ago.

JonathanBuchh 5y ago

I’ve also been using https://kagi.com https://kagi.com for the past couple of days and have found the search results to be unparalleled to both Google and DuckDuckGo. I haven’t come across any SEO spam and the results seem to be of better quality overall. They have all of the same bangs DDG uses and get results from Bing, Google, and a bespoke index. Because they query Bing and Google, it will be pretty expensive when it launches (it's in private beta) since it costs $12 per 1000 queries, but since search is so important, it will probably be worth it. They say they're privacy focused too, but it's hard to be sure when a product isn't open source. Kagi isn't trying to take significant market share from Google or DDG, but find a niche (probably Hacker News type people). The one thing I find they're lacking is maps and location based results (e.g. you can't search for "lunch near me"). If you're interested, I'd recommend checking out their FAQ: https://kagi.com/faq https://kagi.com/faq

antihero 5y ago
Hmm, annoyingly some bloody invite based thing instead of just being able to try the damn thing. What is this, 2004?
- omnicognate 5y ago
  I'm on the waitlist. AIUI they intend this to be a paid service eventually, which is highly desirable to me. If it can be made to work, I would very much like a search service that is directly paid for by its users, rather than funded via side channels such as advertising or paid results placement that create skewed incentives. If they're not ready to charge for use yet, a limited preview makes more sense than a public free service.
  - fallat 5y ago
    Signed up; I will gladly pay for better results. Google has sold its soul long ago to the capitalism gods. DDG and Brave are no better.
- eproxus 5y ago
  Apparently their invite, once you receive it, is free to share with anyone. Enjoy: https://kagi.com/signup?invite_code=adfreesearchengine https://kagi.com/signup?invite_code=adfreesearchengine
  - Melatonic 5y ago
    Might be a limit on the number of users - this link now gets an "expired" message after attempting to signup. Anybody else have one I can try?
- freediver 5y ago
  It is in closed, invite-only beta.
- u2077 5y ago
  They also have a browser that’s still in beta. Here’s the direct link to test flight: https://testflight.apple.com/join/DeC8ZDnu https://testflight.apple.com/join/DeC8ZDnu (got this after a month on the waitlist)
  - kajiryoji 5y ago
    Can you be very kind to provide the Mac browser link as well? It seems this link is only valid for ios and iPadOS apps
- littlecranky67 5y ago
  Just tried and it seems we have an underdog here that could be useful to avoid spammy results. I can totally see why they want this to be invite only, as they probably need to find out how to scale well. If it would go viral suddenly, they might not collapse and the whole effect would backfire. Edit: This is really promising and interesting. They show a summary of the link when you hover over the crystal ball icon next to it, together with a button for "Block" and "Boost" - i.e. you can vote with your account. These metrics could be used for ranking and kill affiliate marketers.
technofiend 5y ago
Signed up for the beta, but their signup page has one annoyance... clicking back doesn't take you back one page in the signup process, it ejects you to the top but your answers are saved. Fine if it's an honest mistake, weird if it's an aesthetic choice, not a good idea if it's an indicator of how they plan to be different. It would be much better to prove how smart they are by fixing google's search than "fixing" well-established UI patterns.
Melatonic 5y ago
How long did you have to wait for the invite?
- Semaphor 5y ago
  2 days in my case

littlecranky67 5y ago

Thanks for sharing this link! I described my odyssey to finding craft printers in this thread [0], and just repeated the search on kagi.com. The results are better IMHO, even though the first hit is a link to some kind of Mindcraft-clone game that allows to craft printers. The second link directs at least to Canon's Craft Landingpage, and there are way less Spamsites and more Manufacturers links within the first 20 results. Those sites that are Spam, are at least a bit more disguised/offer more content than usual so I will let kagi get away with that. [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29772136

Semaphor 5y ago

Worth mentioning, that they actually have the blacklist feature for domains that google removed years ago.