just learnt about Kagi search engine and, from my limited experimentation, it seems very good! much better results than most other 'alternative' search engines out there. i sadly can't see them lasting though, which is a shame because they're doing some cool stuff. one of their data sources is Marginalia which is another good search engine, so that's cool! they're doing a subscription model and im increasingly of the belief that a subscription-based web is better for privacy than an advertising-based web.. but i feel nobody is going to pay for a SEARCH ENGINE when literally every other option is free. the service is very good but like.. probably not good enough for people to pay for.
i know with every search engine we just need to sort of trust they're not collecting and/or abusing our data but i feel they're more believable when they run a subscription model innit. they don't need to sell your data, they have the income from you anyway. you're not an asset you're a customer
