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Correct. The list price for the Bing web search API is $30/10,000 searches. I wouldn't be surprised if DDG was also able to negotiate a volume discount. In a
by chris_f 6y ago
Correct. The list price for the Bing web search API is $30/10,000 searches. I wouldn't be surprised if DDG was also able to negotiate a volume discount.
In addition, DDG serves ads from the Microsoft ad network, so they will also make money there.
Also, worth noting that Google provides the same type of service through API. I built a search engine [0] where Google web results are one of many sources used.
[0] https://www.runnaroo.com https://www.runnaroo.com
- lgats 6y agoFor those curious, "[Google] Custom Search JSON API provides 100 search queries per day for free. ...Additional requests cost $5 per 1000 queries, up to 10k queries per day." It seems runnaroo would therefore be limited to 10k searches/day?
- x32n23nr 6y agoNot necessarily. Startpage uses Google for all of its results. > You can’t beat Google when it comes to online search. So we’re paying them to use their brilliant search results in order to remove all trackers and logs. - https://startpage.com https://startpage.com Does anyone know how one can get whatever deal Startpage has?
- mintplant 6y agoStartpage is descended from Ixquick (launched 1998). I believe they have an old, uniquely favorable contract with Google as a result.
- abdullahkhalids 6y agoIf I am willing to write a wrapper for this API, I can avoid all the ads (but not tracking)? Does this API still return paid results near the top?
- deleted 6y ago[deleted]
- luckylion 6y agoThat sentence could also mean "$5/1000 applies up to 10k queries per day (and you get to talk to a sales rep if you do more than 10k queries per day)".
- fenesiistvan 6y agoLike your search engine!
- glitchc 6y agoIf DDG gains sufficient marketshare, MS may just buy them out, for a steal perhaps since they have the ability to tighten the screws. So DDG is little more than an MS proxy aimed at Google’s search business. It’s not really an underdog, just two behemoths fighting for control of the search business. Sounds more like “Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.”
- ISL 6y agoThis is only true if DDG isn't investing into its own backend as it grows. If all the users go to DDG.com, it won't matter if Bing has a great backend or not. I've recently lived this experience in another context. We built a great backend for a partner that was good at publicity. When they redirected users to their internal backend, we were dead in the water. It didn't matter that the partner struggled with their backend and ours was better. We hadn't invested resources in independent publicity, so users couldn't find us. It was a hard lesson to learn.
- yellowapple 6y agoAnd to that point, DDG does have its own crawler, and I believe leverages other third-parties as well (I know Yandex was historically in the mix, for example). So if Microsoft did try to strongarm DuckDuckGo, DDG would have other options, even if less-than-ideal.
- skinnymuch 6y agoThere’s no one close to Google in the US. After a big drop, there’s no one REMOTELY close to Bing for 2nd best results. Bing dropping DDG in 2020 or 2021 would be a death kneel for them for US search results. Probably many other countries too. Yandex is too far off right now to be a replacement. I haven’t checked Yandex in a bit of time though. Perhaps they drastically improved. People in tech circles always say DDG has a crawler. I know they do. No one ever says how big it is. I have a hard time believing it’s crawling more than a couple percent what Bing is crawling.
- 6y ago
- ulfw 6y agoSo Bing results plus Bing ads. Why does no one use Bing then? Just the branding? Microsoft uncool?
- fenwick67 6y agoDDG doesn't collect personal info, and the ads aren't based on your ad profile, they're based on just the search terms. This is DDG's differentiator.
- wolco 6y agoPlus hashbangs and the results are not exactly bing for every term.
- skinnymuch 6y agoSome people do. I do. On places with vocal minority (or in general sometimes) like HN, reddit, Twitter, you’ll see many more people tout the trendy/cool DDG. As you said Bing/Microsoft aren’t cool. I’m talking about the majority of these people who outside of basic ad/tracker blocking and using DDG, don’t stick to caring about privacy above most other things. A lot of what I’m saying doesn’t count for HN’s crowd as much as other bigger sites. I don’t have any backing for this statement. Just what i believe from common sense looking around.
- Quaranqi 6y agohttps://www.dogpile.com/ https://www.dogpile.com/
- cglace 6y agoI remember that being my favorite search engine over 20 years ago. . . Crazy it's still around.
- kempbellt 6y ago$30/10,000 Bing searches seems like a lot of money for DDG to pay, and from what I read below, Google is even more so. Would ad revenue for 10,000 interactions actually offset this cost for DDG?
- rbritton 6y agoCan't answer that question, but it's worth mentioning they also add their affiliate tag to Amazon product links and possibly others to get some revenue.
- dirkc 6y agoNow I'm curious, how many search queries does the average person make per month? I've been more and more dissatisfied with results I'm getting and would happily pay $10-20 per month for search. Especially if that means I'm not getting tracked and not seeing ads. Or maybe just seeing ads that aren't being in-lined.
- sizzle 6y agoThat's news to me, wouldn't Microsoft's hacky JavaScript ads be able to snoop on DDG users browsing habits?
- ab_testing 6y agoJust wondering, are you a one man show running a search engine. That is extremely impressive. I did some relevant local searches and was able to find what I was looking for in the first page.
- chris_f 6y agoRight now, it is just me. Thank you. For the local search it is pulling from Yelp.