Kagi Teams

Original Article ↗ Hacker News Discussion ↗

Search Quality and Overall Experience

  • Many long‑time users report significantly better results than Google, mainly due to fewer ads, less SEO spam, and higher density of useful links.
  • Others find Kagi “no worse” than Google, which is sufficient to justify paying for an ad‑free, user‑funded model.
  • Some users barely notice which engine they’re on, beyond lack of ads.
  • A few say Kagi’s results skew heavily to certain sites (e.g., Reddit) or feel limited, sometimes returning “no results” where Google returns noisy but broader coverage.

Customization and Features

  • Raise/Pin/Lower/Block domain controls are praised; one user found results improved after removing extensive filters.
  • There’s interest in stronger controls to downrank commercial/monetized sites and surface “non‑commercial passion projects.”
  • Universal Summarizer and result customization (favicons, site boosts) get positive mentions.

LLM Integration

  • Kagi offers an AI assistant and direct access to multiple “premium” LLMs (Claude, GPT‑4o, Gemini, Mistral, Llama).
  • Users can define custom “assistant flavors,” toggle web access, and apply search lenses.
  • Some see the LLM bundle alone as worth the subscription; others prefer cheaper pay‑per‑use APIs.

Pricing, Teams, and Adoption

  • Individual “Ultimate” vs “Team Ultimate” are effectively feature‑equivalent; differences center on billing (no annual discount on Teams, per‑active‑user billing, central management).
  • Teams can mix search‑only and LLM‑enabled seats.
  • Some argue $10–25/user/month is trivial if productivity improves; others note that enterprise procurement friction, not price, is the main barrier.

Comparisons to Other Tools

  • Google still wins on fresh news, local/business info, shopping, and Maps.
  • Users combine Kagi with Google via bang shortcuts when needed.
  • Alternatives mentioned: SearXNG, Brave Search, DuckDuckGo, Perplexity (more chatbot‑oriented), and self‑hosted solutions.

Privacy, Tracking, and Anonymity

  • Paid model and lack of ads are valued; some trust Kagi’s leadership with payment‑linked identities.
  • VPN use (e.g., Mullvad) can be blocked at registration/payment, which some accept as fraud‑prevention, others reject on anonymity grounds.

Yandex Integration Controversy

  • Discovery that Kagi pays Yandex (≈2% of subscription cost) for some search/image results sparked strong backlash.
  • Some canceled or won’t subscribe over funding a company now seen as closely tied to the Kremlin and Russian propaganda.
  • Others dismiss this as overblown or engage in “what about” arguments regarding Western companies; several emphasize that degrees of state control matter.