I will be honest, say there’s a new law that says on every device, users have the initial choice to select between any search engine, they’ll probably choose google anyways because most of these people have grown up that way.
Make a better alternative and people will come. Ddg is ok but it still is basically a reskinned Bing and Bing itself isn’t that good. Other search engines aren’t as polished yet either
Not many people want to (or can) shell out 10 $/month for a search engine. I’m not saying it’s pointless, I’m simply saying that few people would do it.
Those same people probably have no problem paying more than that for YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. Truth is, ad-supported search will always go to shit because it’s in direct competition with its own product. It’s the same reason YouTube with ads keeps getting worse.
Because according to their perception “search” has less value than “watch”, which may make sense if one seldom really uses a search engine (i.e., they just use the same 3-4 websites).
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted, you’re right. The value prop is different for different people. But I use search a lot more than I use YouTube, so I pay for the former and not the latter. I think that over time, people will get more used to the idea of paying for search. Not everyone, but plenty of people who want the premium experience it offers. I know I could never go back.
People here loves to downvote for every little shit they disagree with… And they say Reddit is toxic…
Anyway, I don’t care. I just disable “show score” in settings and let the kids play.
Back to the topic, I don’t use youtube at all, I don’t like watching videos. I think Kagi is a great idea, but honestly 10 €/month is a lot of money for me at the moment, so I’m just self-hosting SearXNG and call it a day.
That’s why I self-host SearXNG. And have enabled several other “underdog” search engines like Mojeek and Marginalia. On my devices I’m using Redirect Web for Safari to send any search request to Ecosia (configured in my Safaris) to my SearXNG instance. Works great for me!
I switched from DuckDuckGo to Startpage and it has been much better. Problem is, Startpage is just a reskin of google without the AI crap and fewer ads so there is no real escape.
It has been proven to work, and the idea is not to make people choose others it is to encourage competition. How would you get your better product in front of most people if not for it being a requirement to be showcased. There are so mamy people using default everything on anything they have ever bought
I will be honest, say there’s a new law that says on every device, users have the initial choice to select between any search engine, they’ll probably choose google anyways because most of these people have grown up that way.
Make a better alternative and people will come. Ddg is ok but it still is basically a reskinned Bing and Bing itself isn’t that good. Other search engines aren’t as polished yet either
I’m happy with Kagi. I feel like it is equal to Google in it’s prime.
Not many people want to (or can) shell out 10 $/month for a search engine. I’m not saying it’s pointless, I’m simply saying that few people would do it.
Those same people probably have no problem paying more than that for YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. Truth is, ad-supported search will always go to shit because it’s in direct competition with its own product. It’s the same reason YouTube with ads keeps getting worse.
Because according to their perception “search” has less value than “watch”, which may make sense if one seldom really uses a search engine (i.e., they just use the same 3-4 websites).
I don’t know why you’re being downvoted, you’re right. The value prop is different for different people. But I use search a lot more than I use YouTube, so I pay for the former and not the latter. I think that over time, people will get more used to the idea of paying for search. Not everyone, but plenty of people who want the premium experience it offers. I know I could never go back.
People here loves to downvote for every little shit they disagree with… And they say Reddit is toxic… Anyway, I don’t care. I just disable “show score” in settings and let the kids play.
Back to the topic, I don’t use youtube at all, I don’t like watching videos. I think Kagi is a great idea, but honestly 10 €/month is a lot of money for me at the moment, so I’m just self-hosting SearXNG and call it a day.
That’s why I self-host SearXNG. And have enabled several other “underdog” search engines like Mojeek and Marginalia. On my devices I’m using Redirect Web for Safari to send any search request to Ecosia (configured in my Safaris) to my SearXNG instance. Works great for me!
Luckily Google is working tirelessly on making their own search product worse every year.
It honestly might already be worse
You think it is bad now? Just wait for the new and enshittified Google Search 2026.
I switched from DuckDuckGo to Startpage and it has been much better. Problem is, Startpage is just a reskin of google without the AI crap and fewer ads so there is no real escape.
It has been proven to work, and the idea is not to make people choose others it is to encourage competition. How would you get your better product in front of most people if not for it being a requirement to be showcased. There are so mamy people using default everything on anything they have ever bought
Some people are just starting to get their first iPhones and Macs TODAY. We’re not all old farts on the internet as much as we’d like to think so.