> Any plans to revisit the pricing? I've in the Kagi beta for months and it's way better than DDG, but it's hard to justify US$120/year when Google is free.

Everyone has different needs, but I've seen this "I hate google but not enough to spare $10 a month out of my budget" sentiment quite a lot in these comments and it really surprises me.

Folks, there are almost non-stop complaints on HN about "big tech is evil" this and "Mozilla is mismanaged" that. There are endless tirades about "big tech monopolies" and how there is an insurmountable dearth of competition in the browser space. The sheer number of comments I've read where people attack Apple because anything that isn't Safari is more or less a second class citizen on their platforms, where people cry out for more options, for even a single ever-loving service that isn't driven by ad revenue, and about how freeloaders who expect unlimited free tiers are the bane of humanity is bonkers.

I mean, HN has tens of thousands of comments bemoaning these things.

Any of you who're reading this and haven't tried it out yet, give the beta a shot and then ask yourselves: is watching and experiencing the continual decline of free services from huge companies (companies that may as well be monopolies and duopolies) worth saving $170 a year (kagi and Orion+)? Or would you rather support a worthy cause with some real potential?

One of the most oft-repeated sayings I see here is "vote with your wallet" and now's the time to do it.

They've already brought it down a lot, the original plan was to charge $30/mo: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30213110

If it really costs them $1 for 80 searches, I don't see how they can bring it much lower. $10 feels like the sweet spot for me.

Is it really hard to justify? Search is one of the things that I do most on the internet. I use it daily. Google search results are really bad for me: full of SEO spam and github/stackoverflow repeaters, or pinterest crap.

I feel it's like paying for a mattress or an office chair: the time I spend there adds up quickly. $120 a year is a freaking good deal for me.

For certain definitions of “free”

spending time scrolling to try and find where the ad results end and my organic results begin is one thing that feels very un-free

Unfortunately the price is a function of the search cost, not our wishes. Even at $10/mo it is still unclear whether we can make it to sustainability (this is why we launched payments while still in beta, to find out).

Search cost is non-zero. It was hidden from users for 20 years, and it may come as shock, but it is real.

I don't have a sense that Google is free, because I feel mugged by special interests every time I use it.

My marginal resources aren't dollars, they are time & energy.