Kagi is an innovative search engine that aims to “humanize the web” by providing an ad-free and customizable search experience for its users. Here, I look at Kagi and go through the reasons why I use it over Google when searching the web.
Content
- 1. Completely Ad-Free
- 2. Tweakable Site Rankings
- 3. Custom Search Filters
- 4. Privacy Respecting and Does Not Log Your Queries
- 5. Comes with a Powerful AI Service
1. Completely Ad-Free
The biggest selling point of Kagi over Google Search is that it doesn’t contain any advertisements at all. This is because Kagi doesn’t rely on companies buying ad spots on the engine’s results page for its revenue. Instead, Kagi offers a subscription service for its users, starting at $5/month.
While offering search as a subcription-based service might seem weird at first, this model allows the developers to create tools and algorithms for and around the user. Because of that, you can be confident that Kagi will always return relevant results instead of ads at the top of the search page.
Note: Kagi offers a free trial of 100 unique searches if you’re still unsure on whether to use it or not.
2. Tweakable Site Rankings
One of the reasons why I really like Kagi over Google is that it allows me to tailor my search experience for my needs. Right out of the box, the search engine comes with a “site ranking” feature where you can either “rank up” or “rank down” a site based on its relevance to your query.
Doing this will tweak Kagi’s results to either recommend more or reduce the presence of a website, effectively giving you control over your personal Kagi algorithm. This is especially helpful if you want to see the results from smaller, independent websites that often get outranked by large social media platforms.
It’s also possible to pin certain websites on Kagi. This will tell the engine to always place the pages from that website on the top of your search results. For example, I can pin the Make Tech Easier domain on my account to always show the guides from our website.
On a side note: are you looking to streamline how you search the web? Check out our picks for the best search extensions on Google Chrome today.
3. Custom Search Filters
Aside from tweaking the ranking of certain domains, Kagi can also filter out irrelevant results through “lenses.” This is a feature that goes through a list of websites to search for your query, making it quicker to find the results that you want.
Kagi comes with a selection of “preset lenses,” which can filter your queries through common websites today. For instance, I can search for “spacex nasa news” using the “News 360” lens. This will tell Kagi to go through all the major news websites and return the latest SpaceX and NASA news.
Lastly, Kagi also allows you to create your own custom lens. This is useful if you have a website list that you want to search on that’s outside Kagi’s defaults. In my case, I created my own lens for searching through Reddit and Hacker News.
Good to know: Look at some of the best search engines for the invisible web.
4. Privacy Respecting and Does Not Log Your Queries
As a privacy-conscious individual, being able to use the web privately is a key factor when choosing a web service. In this regard, Kagi provides the most transparent privacy and data collection policy over all available search engines today.
Apart from that, Kagi also doesn’t log any of your search queries whenever you use the service. While this means that the search engine can’t provide algorithm-based suggestions, it fully preserves your privacy in the long run.
Additionally, Kagi has also passed an independent security audit for its web services and data handling. This ensures that the small amount of personal data that Kagi stores in its app is secure, even against hackers.
FYI: Protect yourself online by looking at some of the best security and privacy extensions for Chrome.
5. Comes with a Powerful AI Service
On top of its customizable search engine, Kagi also gives you access to its custom GPT and AI Summarizer services. These allow you to quickly look up complex search queries as well as get the key points of web pages and YouTube videos with a single click.
The developers of Kagi are also acutely aware of the potential issues with relying heavily on AI. Because of that, Kagi employs a strict philosophy with regards to AI use on its search engine. For example, Kagi’s AI only pops up if you end your query on a question mark (?), and the developers doesn’t use it to “personalize” your search experience.
I like Kagi’s approach of providing more intentional and limited access to AI tools. It allows me to control when and where I use AI, and it doesn’t stand in between me and the search engine. Ultimately, Kagi’s AI tools act more of an optional companion than a replacement to the traditional search experience.
Jumping from Google Search to Kagi gave me the opportunity to redefine how I interact with the web as a whole. Despite being a subscription-based service, I recommend Kagi if you’re looking for a refined search experience that respects your privacy. That said, Kagi is not the only privacy-oriented search engine you can install today. Learn how you can create your search engine on Linux with SearxNG.
Image credit: Angelo Pantazis via Unsplash. All alterations and screenshots by Ramces Red.
Ramces Red –
Staff Writer
Ramces is a technology writer that lived with computers all his life. A prolific reader and a student of Anthropology, he is an eccentric character that writes articles about Linux and anything *nix.
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