4 ms·

Kagi just happens to be pretty popular here, it's how I found out about it.

sdo72 3y ago
I have tried Kagi and I don't find anything magical. And I see a lot of testaments saying how good Kagi is, and most of them aren't in any specific comparison.
- dotnet00 3y ago
  For me just the ability to filter/downrank certain domains and the ability to rewrite urls (universally, without having a separate plugin setup on mobile devices) is a very specific example of what I like. Makes it easy to ensure that I'm always on old reddit and wikipedia with the better (older :p) layout. Also allowed me to clean up a lot of the results that I knew were from low quality domains, such as getting rid of pinterest since results from it almost never led to anything useful. I also enjoy the lenses, I hated how the Google results for recipes tended to only make already frustrating recipe sites even more frustrating to dig through. The small web lens is also very nice for when I'm already searching for a niche topic. Besides that, I also reflect the vague description of the search results seeming to be better. And of course on top of that, there's the lack of tracking and putting my money where my mouth is regarding preferring to pay for a good privacy preserving service.
- lolinder 3y ago
  What exactly are you looking for in a testimonial? Do you want a side-by-side comparison of results or something? My experience has been that Kagi's customizations are the key selling point, allowing you to block and bump domains to meet your needs: * I have Wikipedia pinned, so if there's a Wikipedia article it's always the top result, whereas Google has lately started downweighting Wikipedia much of the time (as a simple example see COVID-19). * I have Pinterest blocked entirely, so I never see results from them. As an example, try "living room refurbishment ideas". * I have MDN upweighted, so it tends to rank higher than random people's blog posts for web dev queries.
  - sdo72 3y ago
    If you need specific domains, you can always search within that domain. With Chrome, you can even setup shortcut to search certain places like Wiki. Most features I can do within Google or Chrome, and many things are still better within Google search and sometimes being paired with Chrome browser.
    - lolinder 3y ago
      > If you need specific domains, you can always search within that domain. With Chrome, you can even setup shortcut to search certain places like Wiki. That's not the same thing as a pinned domain, though: just because I want Wikipedia or MDN to always surface if present doesn't mean that I'm not interested in what comes further down the page. Doing a domain filter requires me to do two searches to see the same content I'd get from a single Kagi search. > Most features I can do within Google or Chrome, and many things are still better within Google search and sometimes being paired with Chrome browser. If Google is satisfactory for you, that's great! I'm just sharing my own perspective, everyone's search habits are different.
ziddoap 3y ago
>Kagi just happens to be pretty popular here _Pretty_ popular? Outside of Rust, Kagi might have the most fanatic following of any topic on HN. Which, while I'm sure Kagi is very happy with, is really rather annoying as a someone who doesn't care for it. Every conversation search-adjacent is just comments of "I pay for Kagi and it was the best dollars I've ever spent".
- dotnet00 3y ago
  Yeah that's fair, I can see how the gushing might be annoying to someone who isn't interested. I tend to just ignore or hide the posts I find very annoying, but I understand that isn't necessarily how everyone is.
- mistercheph 3y ago
  Is every other search tool's complete failure to come close to Kagi in being useful, and marginalia in being interesting, a particular pain point for you for some reason?
  - ziddoap 3y ago
    >Is every other search tool's complete failure to come close to Kagi in being useful This is exactly the fanaticism I was referring to.

I have tried Kagi and I don't find anything magical. And I see a lot of testaments saying how good Kagi is, and most of them aren't in any specific comparison.

dotnet00 3y ago
For me just the ability to filter/downrank certain domains and the ability to rewrite urls (universally, without having a separate plugin setup on mobile devices) is a very specific example of what I like. Makes it easy to ensure that I'm always on old reddit and wikipedia with the better (older :p) layout. Also allowed me to clean up a lot of the results that I knew were from low quality domains, such as getting rid of pinterest since results from it almost never led to anything useful. I also enjoy the lenses, I hated how the Google results for recipes tended to only make already frustrating recipe sites even more frustrating to dig through. The small web lens is also very nice for when I'm already searching for a niche topic. Besides that, I also reflect the vague description of the search results seeming to be better. And of course on top of that, there's the lack of tracking and putting my money where my mouth is regarding preferring to pay for a good privacy preserving service.
lolinder 3y ago
What exactly are you looking for in a testimonial? Do you want a side-by-side comparison of results or something? My experience has been that Kagi's customizations are the key selling point, allowing you to block and bump domains to meet your needs: * I have Wikipedia pinned, so if there's a Wikipedia article it's always the top result, whereas Google has lately started downweighting Wikipedia much of the time (as a simple example see COVID-19). * I have Pinterest blocked entirely, so I never see results from them. As an example, try "living room refurbishment ideas". * I have MDN upweighted, so it tends to rank higher than random people's blog posts for web dev queries.
- sdo72 3y ago
  If you need specific domains, you can always search within that domain. With Chrome, you can even setup shortcut to search certain places like Wiki. Most features I can do within Google or Chrome, and many things are still better within Google search and sometimes being paired with Chrome browser.
  - lolinder 3y ago
    > If you need specific domains, you can always search within that domain. With Chrome, you can even setup shortcut to search certain places like Wiki. That's not the same thing as a pinned domain, though: just because I want Wikipedia or MDN to always surface if present doesn't mean that I'm not interested in what comes further down the page. Doing a domain filter requires me to do two searches to see the same content I'd get from a single Kagi search. > Most features I can do within Google or Chrome, and many things are still better within Google search and sometimes being paired with Chrome browser. If Google is satisfactory for you, that's great! I'm just sharing my own perspective, everyone's search habits are different.

ziddoap 3y ago

>Kagi just happens to be pretty popular here _Pretty_ popular? Outside of Rust, Kagi might have the most fanatic following of any topic on HN. Which, while I'm sure Kagi is very happy with, is really rather annoying as a someone who doesn't care for it. Every conversation search-adjacent is just comments of "I pay for Kagi and it was the best dollars I've ever spent".

dotnet00 3y ago
Yeah that's fair, I can see how the gushing might be annoying to someone who isn't interested. I tend to just ignore or hide the posts I find very annoying, but I understand that isn't necessarily how everyone is.
mistercheph 3y ago
Is every other search tool's complete failure to come close to Kagi in being useful, and marginalia in being interesting, a particular pain point for you for some reason?
- ziddoap 3y ago
  >Is every other search tool's complete failure to come close to Kagi in being useful This is exactly the fanaticism I was referring to.