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
58% positive“yeah, Orion is what came to my mind, I only know about it because I use Kagi as my search engine.”
“I have a couple other extensions, I put AdGuard and ProtonVPN on all my browsers, and a couple have a Kagi extension as well.”
“This is exactly the kind of rent-seeking behavior I wanted to get away from, and I am dismayed that Kagi is gatekeeping the API in this way.”
“Kagi let's you block sites and prioritize the order of search results. I love it.”
“Orion (by Kagi) is still new, but seems to be trying.”
“I was simply getting no answer from Kagi Quick assistant, and as of now, I see that they've reverted back to GLM-5.2!”
“As a Kagi customer, I find this was just about the worst way to handle it. I pay for a search engine because I want searches to cater to MY need for accurate and unbiased information.”
“I was persuaded only Kagi (paid search engine) gave me an easy access to this kind of features. That is neat.”
“Brave Search is also great if you want independent results without tracking, while Kagi is awesome if you prefer ad free search.”
“Kagi has them too. And don't quote be but I believe you can create your own too.”
“Update: I learned that kagi has the worst privacy combo: Based in the US Uses a Russian index”
“Kagi is great if you don't mind paying so is DDG and brave search if you switch some settings but if you want European I guess qwant and startpage are some of the options”
“I have been paying the same for my Kagi subscription since the start”
“Firefox browser (I pretend that Google doesn't fund it), Kagi or DuckDuckGo for search.”
“Kagi if you actually want results, Perplexity if you want answers -Google search hasn’t been Google search for a while now”
“I bashed it with various searches for 10 minutes and the results were all from Google and it doesn't do the Kagi thing of mixing and matching from various sources.”
“DuckDuckGo, Kagi, Ecosia, Brave Search, and Startpage”
“Obviously the best is kagi”
“> Almost nobody objected to my characterization of Google and Bing search results, but people told me that I was wrong about Kagi.Paying for a product makes you defensive, especially if there are free alternatives.”
“When I used Kagi, my favourite feature was pinning Wikipedia to the top of all results.”
“I recently started using Kagi and have been really happy with it. It is so clean and simple, which is refreshing to me.”
“Kagi looks cool but i don't have money to spend on a search engine.”
“Kagi”
“Kagi is also good but I bounced off of it after a year or so of use because of concerns about the CEO's approach to security, and because I feel that any of my money going to Yandex and X AI is just a bit farther than I can stomach right now. But if one can justify or compartmentalize these factors, it's a great search engine.”
“kagi search is one of those things where it's so good and reliable that it fades away and you forget about it, other examples being helium & tailscale”