I started paying for Kagi a few months ago and I'm loving it. Search results and tools are great. People balk at paying for a search engine, but at least this way I know I'm not the product.
this post was submitted on 05 Aug 2023
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Kagi has been great. I'd like to see more searches on their $5 plan as 300 searches a month doesn't feel adequate. It has been great being able to promote, demote, and block sites from searching and I have found my results to be more helpful and relevant than Google alternatives I tried. I don't think I have used Google search at all since signing up. Highly recommend.
The weird thing for me is that by paying to use, you will need to be uniquely identified, and that opens doors for losing privacy in several ways. How is that addressed by kagi?
They address this on their website and go in further detail on their privacy policy. You'd have to read through that to decide if they do enough to earn your trust. But in my opinion not having any advertising removes most of their incentive to try to collect user data. I suppose there could be a temptation to collect the data to resell, but since a large portion of their income relies on the reputation of being a search alternative that has a focus on privacy I feel the risk to their reputation would be greater than whatever revenue that would generate.
Of course there are all kinds of companies that flew too close to the sun and sold out user privacy for a Coke and a smile. I've decided to go with Kagi and have been very happy with them so far. If they ever sell out I'll cash out, but they seem to be the best option for me right now.
I’m using Ecosia. Planting trees FTW!
I run a pihole to block ads network-wide. I tried doing a general search for a bit of info on it and didn’t find much, but I guess my question is are the ads they run more like sponsored results, or like actual advertisements?
You can find info here: https://ecosia.helpscoutdocs.com/category/314-privacy-friendly-search-engine
TLDR they have ads, but related to your current search, not your profile. And they are Bing based.
Just using duckduckgo. I'm not happy with my search results as they heavily prioritize clickbait CEO blogs instead of showing official documentation / sources.
Duckduckgo results are pretty bad in my experience, brave search and startpage are way better.
ddg.gg for the win.
Started using them when I confronted the Google filter bubble for the first time.
But what totally sold me? DDG provided me link for a product I had searched for in vain on Google for years at that point, using the exact same query.
Please reveal the product. I am consumed by curiosity.
Steel leveling jacks, manual, center screw variety, used extensively for leveling mobile homes back in the day.
First time I used DDG to look for them, BOOM, half way down the page a manufacturer in Enid, OK. G? Literally for years kept serving me up pneumatic, expensive, industrial gear or services.
That is definitely not what I was expecting
That is definitely not what I was expecting
Please reveal what you were expecting. I am consumed by curiosity.
Using qwant because it's developed and hosted in France. Better than supporting a US company as a European.
I think there was some drama a while ago about them collecting and sharing data which got them delisted from PrivacyGuides? Not a good look imo.
I’ve been using DuckDuckGo for years now and recommend it all the time.
I get decent, reliable results so haven’t shopped around.
Been a duckie for years now but I find myself going back to google for things like maps and shopping (that nearby search is a godsend) have you found any privacy mindfull alternatives?
On Android you can install Organic Maps, but the downside is that it's 100% offline so you'll need to download the maps for each area you want to have a map of (which, takes storage)
OsmAnd+ seems to be a good alternative recommended often, but I just haven't used it.
On PC, OpenStreetMaps is your friend
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Do you find DDG to be slower than Bing or Google? A few years ago I thought there was a noticeable delay with DDG, but not with Google.
Not really, they’re both nice and snappy.
Default search in Firefox: SearXNG (solves 60-80%)
if not the solution, I then search for "dd [term]" which goes to duckduckgo. Solves mostly the rest.
If not, and I am really desperate, I try: "dd !g [term]" so it goes to ddg, redirects to google and then I am reminded how bad a first page result can be. Only ads, sponsored entries and only big company names. Good luck finding anything from a forum or a small blog on google today. All the search words are bundled up in company results that has nothing to do with the topic.
You don’t use an adblocker?
Sure. But how is that changing the quality of google results? Are you trolling?
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DuckDuckGo from the browser, because 90% of the time I can get where I want with the appropriate !bang from the address bar.
With the appropriate ! bang from the address bar
What does this mean? I want to like DuckDuckGo, but it’s kinda messy.
They are basically shortcuts. For example, I can type "!w ibuprofen" into DuckDuckGo (or the address bar because I have it set as my default search engine) and be brought immediately to the wikipedia page for Ibuprofen. There's also !yt for youtube search, !so for stack overflow search, and many more.
Personally, I use duck duck go as my primary search engine but I only use it to search for things. But since chatgpt4, I use perplexity.ai for actual answers. Browser wise, I use duck duck go where I can or Arc on my Mac with all the usual privacy plugins.
What are your thoughts on Arc? I tried it a couple of months ago but couldn’t really get used to the layout, etc.
Sure it’s as good a browser as any, I just wasn’t feeling it.
My own searxng instance, listed at https://search.space
Perhaps I need to go back to figuring out SearXNG. Although I did read that there’s a slight privacy compromise to use SearXNG over SearX.
Perhaps that doesn’t apply if it’s self-hosted, though.
I tried ecosia and startpage, the results through both are just 95% garbage. Duck Duck Go seems to be okay.
I use Vivaldi as my browser, includes ad block and various useful, if bulky, features.
Brave search user here (on Firefox ✌️), i prefer its UX and UI more than duckduckgo. It has better local result for my region, has discussion-like feature, now also has "summarizer", and it also still has bangs. So far they are not shy showing "search elsewhere" button.
Brave!
Ready to get downvoted again, but I like Brave Search as I've been using the excellent browser for a couple of years now anyway. The search gets better and better with time and has its own independent, privacy friendly picture search now as well. So I'll definitely stick with Brave.
Every search engine is available on every browser. This means you can use brave search with browser not dependent on google's code. It would also protect you from google's web environment integrity plans
DDG cause the bangs are nice, but I find myself searching generally very little these days. I usually just use a bang to search a site I know I will find what I want on, if no bang then I will just navigate to that site. Search results have been shit for over a decade.
I am using startpage.com since they include Google results and DDG just has bad results sometimes
Currently using Startpage and my only criticism of it is that it is noticeably slower than the other 2 that I have used DDG and Brave
I would recommend DDG and Startpage for the people who don't want to use Google search anymore but want similar if not identical search results
I did change the default search engine of some of my relatives to Startpage without them knowing:)
I use presearch. Pretty happy with it. Never paid out my rewards, they're just growing
Been using Qwant for a few years. Good enough for 90% of searches imo. For whatever's left, I'll use DDG, Google in incognito, or Bing.
privacy focused ... called qwant
Hmm.
I use Firefox as main browser, but I discovered for my use case google provides the best results without needing to setup every workstation e.g. 2 home PCs, 1 mobile, 2 for work. And that I need to use all main 3 browsers. Also google provide good service with functions to quickly make currency conversions, simple math ekvations etc which even Bing is far behind.
"AI" services will change this but for now it's too slow.
But in general for me, I have given up that fact to try stay private many years back, it's all a dream just like living off grid, 99% of would not survive 4 days.
But the information can be scrambled, ie shift user accounts, services, software etc. It would also provide better competition due to the userbase is moving around... But most of us are too lazy or afraid to lose history, backups, photos etc. Just see how many that can't just delete an old reddit account due to the time spent to reach an level you aren't ready to leave. To lead to famous qoute I follow online
"Don't let yourself get attached to anything you are not willing to walk out on in 30 seconds flat if you feel the heat around the corner"
Its all about supporting the services you like and are trying to be an counterweight to the other common commercial services... Meaning we need to found/pay for good services, privacy is a luxary looking on the whole user base.
Companies, I based on an idea, but exist to make someone money and if it's tracks it will make many people money and in the end majority will lead the company to earn money and leave the base idea behind.
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