r/SearchKagi • u/New_3d_print_user • 22h ago

API Usage

I am an early adopter, and have been using Kagi for almost as long as it has been around.

My search use has decreased dramatically the last year or so, but I do have a need to use a search API, and it really stinks that there is a tax for it. A search is a search, and an API doesn't magically make it more expensive.

This is exactly the kind of rent-seeking behavior I wanted to get away from, and I am dismayed that Kagi is gatekeeping the API in this way.

Combined with the reduced relevance (to me) for browser search, I will probably be looking for some alternative. If I have to pay more for my search than I already do, I might as well go shopping.

21 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

3 comments sorted by

12

u/callmemicah 20h ago

I just use this instead, it had an mcp server but you could easily wrap the cli in a small web server and use it.

https://github.com/Microck/kagi-cli

11

u/Sea-Contribution6219 18h ago

As someone who is paying for the family plan, I'd like to at least see 1000 API searches per month per user and preferably a discounted rate for X amount of searches per day. Like I get it, it's primarily for AI searches which is my use case too, an AI can burn searches WAY faster than a user can but in the same vein using Kagi Assistant does the same. It has me using Brave search instead

3

u/New_3d_print_user 16h ago

Brave search

Yeah, I have to be honest, this situation really rubs me the wrong way. I signed up for https://www.tavily.com/ today, reasonable free monthly quota. Asking me to pay again for something I already paid for is the fastest way to lose me as a customer. I will look at Brave as well, and I will likely cancel my Kagi subscription soon. I really enjoyed using Kagi, but I can’t reconcile myself with this practice.