Kagi added a setting for removing paywalled links from search results
A paid search engine, Kagi, has introduced an option to hide paywalled sites from results, sparking debate over whether this improves usability or further undermines already fragile business models for journalism. Many users welcome the ability to avoid links they can’t read or don’t intend to subscribe to, while others worry it will push people toward ad-heavy or AI‑generated content and accelerate the decline of professional reporting. The thread also touches on related themes such as micropayments for news, privacy-preserving subscriptions, alternatives to Google’s increasingly ad‑driven search, and Kagi’s AI-powered assistant features.
Feature: Filtering Paywalled Results
- New Kagi setting hides paywalled domains entirely from search results.
- Many welcome it as removing “wasted clicks” when they’re in task mode and unwilling to subscribe for a single article.
- Others prefer seeing paywalled links (often high‑quality journalism) and say they’ll keep the filter off.
- Several want finer controls: whitelists for sites they subscribe to, ability to toggle on the results page, or simply label paywalled results instead of hiding them.
Journalism, Paywalls, and Business Models
- Strong disagreement over whether paywalled results are “ads” or a legitimate way to fund journalism.
- Some users say they won’t subscribe to many outlets and would gladly pay small per‑article fees; others argue micropayments have been tried and failed (transaction costs, mental friction, publisher incentives).
- Alternatives discussed: bundles like Apple News, public funding (CPB‑style), local newspapers, and libraries’ digital access.
- Some claim modern corporate journalism is low‑quality or partisan; others counter that serious reporting still exists and is underpaid.
Bypassing Paywalls and UX Preferences
- Many already use workarounds: archive sites, browser extensions (e.g., Bypass Paywalls Clean), Kagi bangs/redirects, or regex rules to swap domains.
- Some consider paywalls worse than ads because ads can be ad‑blocked but paywalls fully block content.
- Users want to know paywall status before clicking, dislike mid‑article popups, and see paywalls as search‑result “cloaking” when ranking uses full content.
Broader View of Kagi
- Numerous subscribers praise Kagi’s overall quality: better results than Google for many queries, ability to downrank/ban “slop” or specific domains, lenses, and redirects (e.g., to Reddit front‑ends).
- Others find it too expensive or dislike that it’s a paid meta‑search relying on external indexes.
- Kagi’s AI Assistant is widely praised as fast, source‑citing, and search‑first; some now use it as their primary way to query the web, while others remain wary of AI summaries.
Privacy, Payments, and Russian Data
- Some users want “private payments” (crypto, blind tokens) and decoupling billing identity from search usage; Kagi’s Bitcoin + Privacy Pass setup is discussed but seen as partial.
- A subset refuses to use Kagi because it licenses data from a Russian engine; they see this as funding an aggressor state.
- Kagi’s founder defends using global vendors as non‑political and prioritizing product quality; critics remain dissatisfied and request the option to exclude that index.