Kagi is a paid search engine funded entirely by subscriptions. No ads, no third-party tracking, no behavioral profiles. Users can boost, block, or pin domains, and those preferences personalize ranking without training on private data.
Kagi Assistant is the integrated AI chat layer. Quick mode Assistant is now available across all paid tiers, including the $5 Starter plan. Ultimate adds Research mode and the frontier models (Claude, GPT, Gemini top tier) for deep multi-source synthesis.
System Verdict
Pick Kagi if the ad-supported web feels broken and result quality matters more than $10-$25/month. SEO spam drops away on informational queries. Domain blocking and site boosting compound over weeks of use. Assistant gives a cited AI answer layer without leaving the search surface.
Skip it if Google or Perplexity free tier already does the job. Index breadth is narrower than Google on niche and very recent queries. Assistant on Ultimate is capable but trails dedicated Perplexity for depth of cited research.
Who pays which tier: Starter $5/mo for light searchers (300/month cap), Professional $10/mo for most users (unlimited search, basic Assistant), Ultimate $25/mo for power researchers who want premium AI models alongside unlimited search.
Key Facts
| Product type | Paid, ad-free search engine with AI assistant |
| Free tier | None. 100-search trial for new users |
| Starter | $5/mo: 300 searches/mo, Assistant Quick mode |
| Professional | $10/mo: unlimited searches, Assistant Quick mode |
| Ultimate | $25/mo: unlimited + Assistant Research mode + frontier models (Claude, GPT, Gemini) |
| Annual discount | 10% off all tiers |
| Fair pricing | Unused Starter searches auto-credit the next billing cycle |
| Personalization | Domain block, boost, pin, Lenses (community filters) |
| Privacy | No behavioral tracking, no ad profiles, subscription-funded |
| Index | Proprietary crawl + licensed third-party indexes |
Every data point above was verified against vendor documentation on 2026-05-13. See Sources.
What it actually is
One search product with three subscription tiers. Every result is organic. Every user has personal block, boost, and pin controls that persist across sessions.
Kagi Assistant is an AI chat layer with web access. Quick mode ships across all paid tiers (Starter, Professional, Ultimate); Ultimate alone unlocks Research mode and frontier models (Claude, GPT, Gemini top tier) for deeper multi-source synthesis. Universal Summarizer collapses any page or video to a short brief on demand.
The moat: subscription economics. Because Kagi earns no ad revenue, its ranking incentive is user retention, not click maximization. That shows up most clearly on high-commercial-intent queries where Google surfaces shopping carousels and SEO farms.
When to pick Kagi
- SEO spam is killing research productivity. Kagi’s ad-free result list reads cleaner than Google on product reviews, technical queries, and medical lookups.
- Personal ranking control matters. Block domains forever, boost trusted sources, pin favorites. Preferences stay private and do not train models.
- Privacy is non-negotiable. Zero behavioral tracking, no ad profile, no data sold. Subscription model removes the conflict-of-interest.
- Power users want Lenses and Summarizer. Community-curated Lenses filter to academic, developer, or small-web sources. Universal Summarizer handles long pages and video.
- Ultimate subscribers want frontier AI in one tab. Claude (Opus 4.7), GPT-5.5, and Gemini 3.1 Pro inside Kagi Assistant Research mode without a second subscription.
When to pick something else
- Free AI search with strong citations: Perplexity. Free tier is capable; Pro is $20/mo with auto-routed models.
- Developer API for semantic retrieval: Exa. Kagi has no production developer API.
- General-purpose AI assistant with image gen: ChatGPT. Broader feature surface at $20/mo.
- Academic paper search with evidence synthesis: Consensus or Elicit.
- Enterprise research agent: You.com ARI on Max or Enterprise tiers.
Pricing
Pricing via kagi.com/pricing:
| Plan | Monthly | Searches | Assistant | Who’s it for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starter | $5 | 300/mo | Quick mode | Light searchers testing the product |
| Professional | $10 | Unlimited | Quick mode | Most paying users land here |
| Ultimate | $25 | Unlimited | Research mode + frontier models | Power researchers + AI power users |
Annual billing saves 10% across all tiers. Fair pricing policy: unused Starter searches auto-credit the next cycle. Prices verified 2026-05-13 via Kagi pricing and Kagi plan types docs.
No free tier. New users get a 100-search trial before subscribing.
Against the alternatives
| Kagi Ultimate | Perplexity Pro | Google + DuckDuckGo | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $25/mo | $20/mo | Free |
| Ads | None | None | Yes (Google) / limited (DDG) |
| Personalization | Block, boost, pin, Lenses | None | None (private) |
| AI layer | Assistant Research mode + frontier models | Auto-routed models | Separate tools |
| Privacy | Zero tracking | No ad targeting | Google tracks, DDG does not |
| Index breadth | Narrower than Google | Uses web index + AI | Widest |
| Best viewed as | Premium research toolkit | Cited AI research engine | Free baseline |
Failure modes
- No free tier. Every competitor is free. Subscription wall is a hard sell for users who search casually.
- Starter cap bites fast. 300 searches/month at $5 runs out inside a week for heavy users. Most should go straight to Professional.
- Narrower index than Google. Very recent news, obscure domains, and non-English long-tail are patchier. Not a full Google replacement.
- Quick mode Assistant trails Perplexity on depth. Fine for fast synthesis; Research mode on Ultimate closes the gap but still costs $25/mo against Perplexity Pro at $20.
- Small behavioral data pool. Kagi has fewer interactions than Google to train ranking signals with. Personalization is manual, not learned.
- Lens discovery is patchy. Community Lenses live behind a few clicks. New users miss half the power without reading the docs.
Recent changes
- 2026-05-13: Pricing re-verified on the live page. Quick mode Assistant confirmed available on Starter and Professional; Research mode and frontier-model access (Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.1 Pro) remain Ultimate-only.
Methodology
This page was produced by the aipedia.wiki editorial pipeline, an automated system that ingests vendor documentation, verifies pricing and model details against primary sources, and generates the editorial analysis you are reading. No individual human wrote this review. Scoring follows the four-dimension rubric at /about/scoring/ (Utility x Value x Moat x Longevity, unweighted average). Last verified 2026-05-13 against Kagi pricing, Kagi plan types docs, and Kagi Assistant for all.
FAQ
Is Kagi worth $25/month? For users running 20+ searches per day who want frontier AI models and Research mode bundled, yes. For lighter users, Professional at $10/mo with unlimited search and Quick mode Assistant is the sweet spot.
Is there a free trial? Yes. New users get 100 free searches before being asked to subscribe. Enough to evaluate whether result quality justifies paying.
What changed with Kagi Assistant? Quick mode Assistant rolled out to all paid tiers, including the $5 Starter plan. Ultimate at $25/mo still holds Research mode and the frontier models (Claude Opus 4.7, GPT-5.5, Gemini 3.1 Pro).
Kagi vs Perplexity? Kagi is a search engine with an AI layer. Perplexity is an AI answer engine with search underneath. Kagi gives finer control over ranking; Perplexity gives deeper research synthesis. Pick Kagi for daily search replacement, Perplexity for research tasks.
Does Kagi track users? No behavioral tracking, no ad profiles, no data sold to third parties. IP is not logged beyond session. Subscription economics remove the incentive to profile users.
Sources
- Kagi pricing: current tier structure
- Kagi plan types docs: detailed plan features
- Kagi Assistant for all: Assistant tier expansion
- Kagi Ultimate plan docs: premium model access
Related
- Category: AI Search
- Comparisons: ChatGPT vs Kagi | Exa AI vs Kagi | Kagi vs Perplexity | Kagi vs Phind | Kagi vs You.com
