Kagi Inc. · Tools

Kagi

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At a glance

Price
from 5 $/mo
Vendor
Kagi Inc.

Specifications & properties

Key decision factors

Pricing model
Paid 1
Citation / source disclosure
Source list 1
Real-time web
Yes 1
Data privacy
No training on user data 1

Pricing

Price from
5 $/mo 1

Integration

API available
Yes 1

Data

Index source
Partner index 1

Model

Underlying model
User-selectable models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Mistral, Amazon, Alibaba, and DeepSeek 1
Report data / suggest a correction

Metrics vs. the category

Hallucination rate (measured)
n/a

Kagi is a paid, privacy-focused search engine whose Quick Answer and Kagi Assistant features generate summarized, referenced answers from live search results across Kagi's own indexes and anonymized third-party search providers.

Profile

Kagi is a paid, privacy-focused search engine whose Quick Answer and Kagi Assistant features generate summarized, referenced answers on top of live search results. It's built for people willing to pay specifically for an ad-free, non-training search experience rather than use a free, ad-supported alternative.

What it is

Kagi is a subscription search engine first, with AI answer features layered on top rather than the other way around. Its Quick Answer feature produces a summary of the results across the pages returned for a query and provides references to the pages used, while Kagi Assistant is a fuller AI chat feature that can be given optional web access, powered by Kagi Search itself, so you control whether the assistant searches live or answers from the model alone.

How it answers and cites sources

Kagi documents that Quick Answer 'quickly produces a summary of the results across the pages returned and provides references to the pages that are used' — so, like Google AI Overviews, it shows a source list rather than only inline footnotes. Kagi's underlying search results also include, per its own documentation, anonymized API calls to all major search result providers worldwide, on top of Kagi's own indexing — meaning answers can be grounded in a blend of Kagi's own results and third-party providers, without those providers seeing who is searching.

Pricing and access

Kagi is paid, not freemium: the sources reviewed for this profile document a Starter plan at $5 per month (plus applicable sales tax) for 300 searches, with no free tier documented in Kagi's own pricing page. Kagi also offers an API, managed through an API Portal where users handle keys, usage monitoring, billing, and API credit top-ups, letting developers build on the same search and AI capability programmatically.

Privacy and data use

Kagi documents that when you use Kagi Assistant, 'your data is never used to train AI models (not by us or by the LLM providers), and no account information is shared with the LLM providers' — a stronger, more specific data-use commitment than several free competing answer engines document. Kagi Assistant also lets users choose from models by OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Mistral, Amazon, Alibaba, and DeepSeek, so the no-training commitment is described as applying across those third-party providers too, not just to Kagi itself.

Who it's for

Kagi fits people who have decided that an ad-free, non-tracking, non-training search product is worth paying for outright — power searchers, privacy-conscious professionals, and anyone frustrated with ad-supported search who wants an AI layer (Quick Answer, Kagi Assistant) that draws on real, referenced results rather than a free but data-hungry alternative. Its $5/month entry point is a genuine cost commitment rather than a free trial of a monetized product, which is the main tradeoff against tools like Google AI Overviews or iAsk.ai's free tier.

Frequently asked questions

What is Kagi and what is it used for?

Kagi is a paid, privacy-focused search engine whose Quick Answer and Kagi Assistant features generate summarized, referenced answers from live search results. People use it as a paid alternative to ad-supported search engines, for both traditional searching and AI-assisted answers that cite their sources, with an emphasis on not having their data used to train AI models.

How much does Kagi cost?

Kagi is a paid search engine, not a freemium one: plans start at $5 per month (plus applicable sales tax) for the Starter plan, which includes 300 searches. There is no free tier documented in Kagi's own pricing information reviewed for this profile.

How does Kagi cite its sources?

Kagi's Quick Answer feature produces a summary of the results across the pages it returns and provides references to the pages used, so answers come with a visible source list rather than an unreferenced summary. Kagi's search results themselves also combine its own indexing with anonymized API calls to all major search result providers worldwide.

How current and accurate are Kagi's answers?

Kagi's AI features are built on top of live search rather than a static index: Kagi Assistant can be given the ability to search the web, powered by Kagi Search, so answers can reflect current results rather than only the underlying language model's training data. Accuracy still depends on the quality of the search results retrieved and the third-party model selected in Kagi Assistant, which range across providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta, Google, Mistral, Amazon, Alibaba, and DeepSeek.

Kagi vs Google AI Overviews — what's the difference?

The core difference is price and data use: Kagi is a paid search engine starting at $5/month (300 searches on the Starter plan) with no documented free tier, while Google AI Overviews and AI Mode are free and built directly into Google Search with no subscription or sign-in required. On data, Kagi states that Kagi Assistant never uses your data to train AI models, by Kagi or the underlying LLM providers, whereas Google documents using your interactions with AI features like Gemini to develop, train, and improve its models. Choose Kagi if avoiding ad-supported, training-based search is worth paying for; choose Google AI Overviews if you want free AI summaries in the search engine you probably already use.

Is Kagi GDPR-compliant, and how is my data used?

Kagi documents a specific no-training commitment: when you use Kagi Assistant, your data is never used to train AI models, whether by Kagi or by the underlying LLM providers, and no account information is shared with those providers. The sources reviewed for this profile don't include a separate, explicit GDPR-certification statement, so if you need formal regulatory documentation, check Kagi's own privacy and terms pages directly before relying on it for regulated data.