| Kagi | |
| Logo Alt: | Kagi logo, a yellow rounded square with a black fancy G in the middle |
| Type: | Web search engine |
| Founded: | 2018 |
| Country Of Origin: | USA |
| Ceo: | Vladimir Prelovac |
| Key People: | Vladimir Prelovac, Raghu Murthi, Dr. Norman Winarsky |
| Url: | https://www.kagi.com/ |
| Advertising: | No |
| Commercial: | Yes |
| Registration: | Required |
| Current Status: | Online |
| Location: | Palo Alto, California |
Kagi ([1]) is a paid ad-free search engine developed by Kagi Inc., a company located in Palo Alto, California.[2] It is based on a monthly subscription and requires users to be logged into an account to search. It functions as a metasearch engine but also has its own indexes for websites and news.[3] The name means "key" in Japanese. (鍵)[4]
The search engine allows results to be filtered by category with a feature called lenses and allows the user to create their own lenses. Some lenses include filtering to find discussions, podcasts, search directly for PDF files, and filtering to focus content from smaller websites like blogs and forums.[5] Websites shown in search results can be upvoted, downvoted, and blocked.[6] Details about websites can be shown in the search results such as when it was created and how many ads and trackers it has. Shortcuts called bangs can be created which allow searches to be redirected to different websites.[7] There is also an AI quick response feature that summarizes a search query and gives sources.
Kagi allows for customization of the user interface, including a custom CSS editor.
Orion Browser is a browser developed by Kagi Inc. that is based on the WebKit engine and is similar to Safari but with different features such as supporting WebExtensions. It is only available on macOS and iOS devices, with Kagi Inc. stating a potential Windows version sometime in the future, and is still in beta. Orion Browser is designed to be used with Kagi but users have the option to use any search engine.[8] [9]
Kagi has been critiqued for not being transparent about their finances. The project received 670k in funding from private investors whose identities have not been disclosed. Most of the funds raised are used to develop AI tools over the betterment of the search results.[10]
The project lead, Vlad,[11] has repeatedly made controversial statements about what counts as biased information or not. According to archived Discord messages, Vlad does not seem to have a solid understanding of what counts as personally identifiable information. After a blog post from internet user "Lori" pointing out the previous fallacies was published, the Kagi founder has reached out to him as an attempt to "clarify things", only to further confirm his claims.[12] [13] [14]
Kagi aggregates search results from other established search engines, like a meta search engine would. They run their own crawler under the brand name Teclis,[15] although this index is only used for small-web searches.[16] Kagi has been critiqued for not providing search results that outperform already established players.
Kagi has no ads or sponsored search results, being based on a subscription service instead.[17] [18] The site claims not to collect user actions such as searches.[19]
Users must have an account to search on Kagi.[20] Kagi allows users 100 free searches before they must subscribe to a monthly subscription plan.[21] There are three tiers available: a $5 tier that allows for 300 searches a month (formerly 500), a $10 tier that allows for unlimited monthly searches, and a $25 tier[22] that allows for unlimited searches and early access to new features.
Kagi had around 20,515 subscribed members as of January 29, 2024, and 347,000 searches were made that day.
Kagi's operational costs include its API access to other search engines.