Kagi
Ad-free search you pay for, with an AI assistant built in
1/2Kagi is a search engine funded by subscriptions rather than advertising, so results carry no ads and no tracking. Because it knows who you are, it can let you shape results: sites can be raised, lowered, pinned or blocked for your account, and Lenses constrain a search to a chosen set of sites, which can be shared with other Kagi users. Kagi Assistant sits alongside search on paid plans, with Quick mode for fast answers and, on Ultimate, Research mode and flagship models from Anthropic, OpenAI, Google, DeepSeek and Mistral. Plans are metered by searches: the free trial covers 100, Starter 300 a month, and Professional and Ultimate are unlimited. Family and Team plans cover several people, payment works through PayPal or OpenNode as well as cards, and a fair pricing policy credits back any month you do not use.
- No ads and no tracking, funded by subscriptions
- Raise, lower, pin or block sites in your own results
- Lenses constrain a search to a chosen set of sites
- Share a lens with other Kagi users by link
- Kagi Assistant with Quick mode for fast answers
- Research mode and flagship models on Ultimate
- Family and Team plans for several people
- Unused months are credited back under fair pricing
Based on what people have said
Every answer links back to the mentions it came fromWhat do users like about Kagi's search features?
Users appreciate the ability to customize results by blocking, pinning, or ranking specific sites, which helps filter out SEO-heavy or AI-generated content. Many find the search experience clean, fast, and more effective than Google, with some noting that the AI assistant provides helpful, annotated answers.
8 mentions · r/degoogle · Hacker News · Hacker News · Hacker News · Hacker News · Hacker News · and 2 more · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
What are the common criticisms regarding Kagi's business and privacy practices?
Some users express concern over the company's use of a Russian index and its US-based operations, with some individuals choosing to stop using the service due to these factors or personal objections to the CEO's approach. Others criticize the company for gatekeeping its API or feel that paying for a search engine is unnecessary when free alternatives exist.
7 mentions · r/SearchKagi · r/degoogle · Hacker News · r/degoogle · r/privacy · @fox.computer · and 1 more · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
Is Kagi worth the cost?
Opinions are divided. Many subscribers feel the service is worth the price because it provides a high-quality, ad-free experience that makes them the customer rather than the product. Conversely, some potential users find the subscription model prohibitive, and others argue that free alternatives like DuckDuckGo or Brave Search offer sufficient functionality.
9 mentions · r/AskReddit · r/degoogle · Hacker News · r/degoogle · r/privacy · @kanoki.net · and 1 more · Aug 2026 – Sep 2026
How does Kagi perform for specific tasks like translation or shopping?
Experiences vary; while some users find the search engine excellent for general queries, others have reported issues with the translation feature. Additionally, some users have expressed a desire for a dedicated shopping feature to make the service a more complete solution.
2 mentions · @rebane2001 · Hacker News · Aug 2026
These summarise counts and dates only. Read the quotes themselves under what people are saying.
What people are saying about Kagi
48% positive“If you have cash try Kagi.”
“#Ecosia, Qwant, Brave & Kagi are some of the best alternatives of Google Search Engine.”
“\+1 to Brave and Kagi because they have their own index. Most of the other alternatives are just wrappers that call out to Google or Bing.”
“Kagi”
“I use Kagi, loving it, but it is paid.”
“I’m a fan of Kagi, but it doesn’t seem like they’re really listening to feedback from the community (even supporters paying for subscriptions). Tabs disappear without warning constantly; many sites are unusable or buggy; redirect links throw errors; the list goes on…”
“anybody used kagi mcp yet? how is it”
“I am looking into trying kagi.”
“Kagi, because it works very well.”
“Kagi, Mint, Firefox, Thundermail, Thunderbird, Matrix?”
“But I'll definitely try grapheneOS and kagi.”
“if there's no answer from kagi's side, it might be worth reaching with another channel like discord, mail or kagifeedback”
“Not sure what happened, since mid-August, @kagi.com has been sending my blog a pretty ridiculous amount of traffic, enough that Kagi is now my #4 all time biggest referrer.”
“I am gonna stick to kagi for now, but will monitor this closely. I like the idea”
“Awaiting Kagi's reply to this.”
“Plus... Kagi is just great for me. And I don't mind AI if I'm 100% in control when to use it and how.”
“Trled this for one month, and the search result is lacking compared to Kagi. Search result is bit slower like it take 3-4 second to load on the complex query.”
“I don’t have a problem with Kagi. I like its search, AI, and feature set.”
“Anyway, Uruky is adding a lot of the useful features from Kagi, like pinning/raising/lowering/blocking domains and TLDs and search scopes. They both claim to have similar motives – no ad based like Ecosia and Qwant, supporting the small web, private search.”
“When my Kagi credits are used up, I plan to give this a try. There are other mapping tools, I already don't really like Kagi asssitant, and I have a ft.com membership for news.”
“The search engine is called "Uruky" and it is a former Kagi user who liked the concept of Kagi but had a different vision.”
“Kagi will never make it. Asking people money for search is a non-starter.Also, I type in something in the search bar and...nothing happens.”
“Kagi is better. You might want to try it.”
“Kagi was using Yandex, it comes up on every Kagi post here. Seems that they've removed that info from their site now though...”
“Not necessarily, as evidenced by TFA, whose scraper still seems to work even after it visits each individual SERP entry to harvest the URLs.But Kagi’s SERP API provider is going to have to adapt, I guess.”