I love SearXNG, but lately my heart belongs to Kagi. It's so good. Definitely give it a try if you haven't already.
Apparently I'm not the only one annoyed by ads AI-generated content, SEO spam, and intrusive tracking on search engines. I just want to say that in 2025, a well-configured instance of SearXNG is a lifesaver. You can start by experimenting with a public instance like https://searx.bndkt.io/ and later run your own for ultimate customisability and privacy (docs at: https://docs.searxng.org/ ).
#OpenSource #MetaSearchEngines #SearXNG #AdFree #TechPrivacy #AIOverload #SEOspam #SelfHosting
Discussion
Kagi is pretty nice as well. Unfortunately, unemployment means I don't have $10 a month to pay for it at the moment 🤣. SearXNG, with the right underlying engines and weights, gets me close to Kagi's experience. It even finds some things Kagi can't. Plus, it scratches my DIY itch with all the customisation and self-hosting aspects. Hence the free advertising 😎.
I went with the $5 plan, but I get your point. It's definitely the choice for hackers given its self-hosting capabilities, and customizations. I've just been blown away by Kagi's search results, integrated AI, and extensive shortcut bangs. And honestly, I'm happy to pay the $5/mo. My opinion may be different if I had to spend more than that, but $5/mo is a value sweet-spot from my perspective. I still love SearXNG due to the reasons I listed above, but day-to-day, Kagi has won me over.
I think that I'm "search-obsessive". Kagi claims that only top 1% of users exceed 300 searches a month. I can easily exaust it in a couple of weeks. But I agree with you, even $10 is a good value for what you get when you have the means to fund it 🤣.
I was ititiall) initially worried about the 300 queries thing, but I'm going on month 3 and I haven't exceeded it yet. And I haven't altered my search behavior either.