Paying for Searching
In the good old days of the internet, we had simple search engines. They were based on meta data extracted from web pages. Google came along, got smarter, and had intelligence in the content it returned for your humble search. Their mantra was all about respecting privacy.
How times have changed -- Google (and the other major search beasts) want to inhale everything they can about you. Profiling your every move around the internet. They sell this data, making huge sums of money and keeping billionaires arrogant and greedy.
Your search may appear free, but you are selling yourself.
In recent years this has become more obvious to the vast majority, and while some may not give it a second thought -- many are more wary.
I have been looking at alternatives to Google, Apple, and Microsoft's machine. The next obvious choice was DuckDuckGo. They say they do not sell your data, or profile you. However the forced content (aka adverts) at the top of your search results is becoming more and more annoying.
I spread my wings further. What about Mojeek?
a search engine that does what's right, that values and respects your privacy, whilst providing its own unique and unbiased search results
I like what I read about Mojeek. It even has its own crawler, rather than extracting results from Bing & Google (which is what DuckDuckGo does). That said, I found the results quite unfocused -- reminding me of a search experience of several years ago. You can see how it bases the search on keywords, rather than attempting to understand my detailed phrase. It's a great service, but I've become accustomed to more.
Paid?
Paying for search results seems alien. We've all been used to free with adverts.
I wondered if paid services gave me a better experience, so I jumped in and tried Kagi.com.
Our mission is to humanize the web, making it more accessible, ethical, and centered around the needs of individuals.
For $5 (plus taxes) a month I get 300 searches. For $10 I get unlimited. There's a free 50 search version too.
I started with the free version and was immediately impressed. It has intelligence, no averts, no tracking, and focused results. I often found the page I was looking for on the first or second option on page one. Sticking with it, I quickly consumed my free searches, and decided to try a months subscription. It was consistently excellent.
Am I the problem?
So what's the problem? Putting aside how odd it feels to pay for search, I struggled with the 300 limit per month. I search a lot it would seem, and I was quickly eating into my balance of searches. Looking at the second page of searches is another search; changing a filter from 'International' to 'Uk' results costs another.
I found myself having to think before I searched. If I felt I wanted a quite specific search I was using kagi. Whereas, when I wanted more generic and a larger collection to wade through I was jumping back to Mojeek. Honestly, it was annoying having to think!
I can of course upgrade to $10/unlimited. It's only ten bucks (well 12) after all! But, I pay for so many things now. When I am using 'free' software regularly I like to donate to the independent creators. My monthly contribution across the globe is healthy. Do I want yet another one.... for searching..... which seems so unusual.
What now?
At the point of writing this post, I've cancelled the $5 sub as I decided I don't want to get sucked in to the Kagi experience -- I would be forced to increased to unlimited.
However, in using use other search engines, I can already feel myself thinking I would get a more focused results in Kagi. I suspect I will revert and succumb to unlimited. For now I am resisting!
Personally I think 300 a month is too low -- but who am I to dictate their business model?!
What do you use? Do you/would you pay for search?
UPDATE: 30 May 2025, Kagi Convinced me in the end
Comments?
