Kagi 繼續提供老用戶 $120/y 的方案?

收到 Kagi 的信,因為我是 unlimited searches 年繳用戶:

You are receiving this email because you have a Kagi legacy annual subscription with unlimited searches.

聽起來是這個方案會持續讓我們用舊價錢 renew?

This is to inform you that you will be able to keep this plan upon renewal. There is no action needed on your end, and your subscription will automatically renew as normal.

不過就他列出來的理由來說有點怪就是了,想要看看 unlimited search 在財務上是否可行?但成本不是算一算就知道了嗎...

We have recently changed the pricing plans [1], adding more searches to our plans. Ultimately in the future, we want to go be able to offer unlimited searches on our Professional plan to the broader public again, when economics allow.

Previously your subscription was set to renew into Early-adopter Professional plan [2]. By allowing a subset of our users (like you) to keep unlimited searches, we can get insights if this will be indeed economically viable. So we have decided to prolong the renewal of the unlimited annual legacy plan for customers who already have them.

[1] https://blog.kagi.com/plan-changes
[2] https://blog.kagi.com/update-kagi-search-pricing#existing

現在的 unlimited search plan 是 US$25/mo,年繳是 85 折,換算是 US$21.25/mo。

然後看了一下用量,最近幾個月用的量愈用愈多啊:

既然是 prolong,聽起來隨時有機會收回去?

Kagi 再次漲價

Kagi 在 2022 年九月的時候漲過一次:「Kagi 公佈了收費三個月後的進展」,當時的漲法是把本來不限次數搜尋的方案從 $10/mo 漲到 $19/mo,並且取名叫做 Kagi Unlimited。

這次則是宣佈要在 3/15 把無限搜尋的方案漲到 $25/mo:

We are also introducing the Ultimate plan with unlimited searches for $25/month.

而且本來的用戶 (應該是包括最早期的 $10/mo 與後來的 $19/mo 方案) 都會被強制改到 $25/mo:

Every existing subscriber will have their current subscription honored until expiration. That means if you are a subscriber at the time of the new plan rollout, you will still get unlimited searches as a part of your original plan until your existing subscription expires or is set to renew.

Hacker News 上的討論「Update to Kagi Search Pricing (kagi.com)」可以看到很多人都注意到 Kagi 想要投入 AI 的問題:

This is so incredibly disappointing and basically confirms that we're (at least in part) paying for their AI experiments - something that I personally am not at all interested in.

這次漲價然後把錢拿去投入 AI?而且看起來整個 Kagi 不是自己掌握 machine learning 技術,是用其他人的 API (應該就是 OpenAI)。這鐵定是一堆人不買單...

月底要 renew 的時候再來看看吧...

Kagi 開發的 Universal Summarizer

在「Universal Summarizer (kagi.com)」這邊看到的新服務,可以給出某個網址的 summary。服務的本體則是在「Kagi - Universal Summarizer」這邊,從網址可以猜測是 Kagi 的實驗項目。

像是 CNN 的「Biden’s dramatic warning to China」這篇,他抓出對應的 summary 看起來沒什麼問題:

President Joe Biden delivered a dramatic warning to China in his State of the Union address, vowing to protect America's sovereignty if China threatens it. He specifically named President Xi Jinping, saying "Name me a world leader who'd change places with Xi Jinping. Name me one!" This marked a stark escalation in the US-Chinese relationship, which has been strained by a balloon surveillance program and other issues. Biden also addressed Russia, calling their invasion of Ukraine a test for America and the world. His speech highlighted the unified opposition to China in US politics, with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy having convened a bipartisan House committee to examine the perceived threat from the Chinese Communist Party. Biden's comments also served as an important milestone in the increasingly tumultuous competition between the US and China, as the US shifts to talking about establishing guardrails for the relationship and protecting the Western-led rules-based international system.

這個功能可以用 GPT-3.5 或是 ChatGPT 串,但不確定 Kagi 是串上去還自己搞?我猜有蠻大的機會是串的...

然後他的網址設計因為是 url 傳遞的方式,可以包裝成 bookmarklet 形式放在快速列上面用:「Kagi Universal Summarizer」。

另外在 HN 的討論裡面看到很厲害的用法,把 https://bellard.org/quickjs/pi_bigdecimal.js 這段 javascript code 的 url 丟進去,然後居然出現了程式碼的說明,居然還正確判斷出是 Chudnovsky algorithm

This code uses the QuickJS bigdecimal type to calculate the value of pi to a given precision. It does this by using the Chudnovsky algorithm, which is a series of calculations that can be used to approximate pi. The code is written in Javascript and uses BigInt and BigDecimal to perform the calculations. It is interesting to note that the code also takes into account the possibility of bad rounding for the last digits, and adds extra digits to reduce the probability of this happening.

既然包了一個 bookmarklet,最近應該會常常拿出來用...

Kagi 可以分享搜尋結果了

先前 Kagi 限制只有註冊的使用者可以搜尋,但這次更新可以分享結果了 (在 Changelog 上可以看到):

Enable sharing of search results pages with people who lack a Kagi account #23 @ivan

這邊連結的是「Enable sharing of search results pages with people who lack a Kagi account」這個功能,看起來也算是個推銷其他人用 Kagi 的功能,所以就被做出來了。

我用無痕模式模擬沒有登入的情況,測了「Kalafina」這個關鍵字,確認可以看到這頁的結果了。

Kagi 的 url rewrite

Kagi 在上個禮拜推出了 url rewrite 的功能,可以把搜尋結果裡面的網址換掉:(在「Changelog」這邊可以看到)

Rewrite rules for domains - ability to e.g. translate "reddit.com" into "old.reddit.com" #158 @TeMPOraL

這個功能其實也可以在瀏覽器上用 extension 或是 userscript 處理掉 (跨機器可以透過瀏覽器的 cloud sync 來做),但目前應該還沒有這樣的東西,得自己寫一個出來。

範例提到把 reddit.com 換成 old.reddit.com 這種用法算是社群蠻常用的 (大家都不愛新版界面),不過我自己是把 *.m.wikipedia.org 轉成 *.wikipedia.org,這邊有多做一些事情,下面一條會提到:

^https://([a-z]+)\.m\.wikipedia\.org/[-a-z]*/(.*)|https://$1.wikipedia.org/wiki/$2

不難看出來是吃 regular expression,只是官方好像沒有特別說支援到哪種類型?(POSIX 系列或是 PCRE 類的,可以加減參考 Wikibooks 上「Regular Expressions」這邊的分類)

我另外一個 rule 是把維基百科有語言代碼的 https://zh.wikipedia.org/zh-*/ 轉成 https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/

^https://zh\.wikipedia\.org/zh-([a-z]*)/(.*)|https://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/$2

這樣做的缺點是會出現兩個,可以看到第一個被轉了以後會出現一個小 icon,移上去可以看到是被哪個 rule 轉的:

Kagi 公佈了收費三個月後的進展

Kagi 公佈了收費三個月後的進展 (可以參考「Kagi 開始收費了」這篇):「Kagi status update: First three months」。

搜尋的部份 (Kagi 這個產品線),目前有 2600 個付費使用者,以 US$10/mo 的費用來算大概是 US$26K/mo 的收入:

Kagi search is currently serving ~2,600 paid customers. We have seen steady growth since the launch 3 months ago. Note, this is with zero marketing and fully relying on word of mouth. We prefer to keep things this way for now, as we are still developing the product towards our vision of a user-centric web search experience.

後面在講財務狀況也是類似的數字 (幾乎都是 Kagi 的付費收入):

Between Kagi and Orion, we are currently generating around $26,500 USD in monthly recurring revenue, which incidentally about exactly covers our current API and infrastructure costs.

這個收入差不多 cover 目前的 infrastructure 部份,但還有薪資與其他的 operating cost 大約在 US$100K/mo 這個數量級,看起來還有很大的距離:

Between Kagi and Orion, we are currently generating around $26,500 USD in monthly recurring revenue, which incidentally about exactly covers our current API and infrastructure costs.

That means that salaries and all other operating costs (order of magnitude of $100K USD/month) remain a challenge and are still paid out of the founders’ pocket (Kagi remains completely bootstrapped).

然後要大概是目前十倍的付費數量才會打平 (25K 個使用者):

We are planning to reach sustainability at around 25,000 users mark, by further improving the product, introducing new offerings and pricing changes. With the product metrics being as good as they are, we should be able to reach this as our visibility increases.

比較好一點的消息是 churn rate 很低:

Product stickiness is also very high, with churn being lower than 3%.

然後提到每個使用者大約 27 次查詢 (包括 free tier),有些 user 大約在 100 次,peak 是 400 次:

We are currently serving around 70,000 queries a day or around ~27 queries/day/user (this includes free users which are about 10% of total users). There is a lot of variance in use though, with some users regularly searching >100 times a day. Every time we see a search count go >400 times in day we are happy to be an important part of someone’s search experience.

我看了一下自己的用量,看起來偏高一些,但沒到他說的每天平均 100 次:

然後提到了推出新方案的計畫,包括 Teams Plan & Family Plan,而目前在跑的方案會被分類到 Individual Plans。

另外比較重要的是 Individual Plans 有漲價的計畫。新的方案預定分成三個層級,主要是增加了一個 Kagi Starter 的版本:

  • Kagi Unlimited - $19/mo or $180/year ($15/mo) or $288/biennial ($12/mo) - Original Kagi experience, with unlimited searches
  • Kagi Starter ($5/mo; 200 searches) - For casual users who make less than 200 searches per month
  • Free basic - 50 free searches that reset every month

漲不少,雖然有提到在漲價前既有的付費使用者將會維持原價:

If such change to Individual plans is to occur, we plan to grandfather-in all early adopters (meaning all current and future paid customers, up until this change) allowing them to keep their existing subscription price as long as they don’t cancel it.

繼續觀察看看...

Kagi 開始收費了

在「Kagi search and Orion browser enter public beta」這邊可以看到 public beta 與收費的消息:

We decided to start charging for Kagi search while in beta status because the cost of beta usage has gone up dramatically and we are not able to sustain it. Also, we want to get some kind of a financial “airworthiness” signal and see how we stand with our positioning and outlook for sustainability.

收費的費用是 US$10/mo,剛剛先把信用卡掛上去了...

Kagi 的搜尋引擎開放註冊,以及公佈付費方案

先前提過 Kagi 這個搜尋引擎 (「來測試 Kagi 這個搜尋引擎」與「用兩個禮拜 Kagi 的心得」),剛剛翻信箱時看到他們的信件,看起來現在任何人都可以註冊了:

If by any chance you do not have a Kagi account yet, you can make one at https://kagi.com/signup?invite_code=humaneweb (feel free to share with your friends)

另外有提到目前規劃的收費計畫是 US$10/mo:

Kagi will come as a free version with limited use; and an unlimited use, paid option at $10 a month, both versions having great search results with less spam and completely ad-free, tracking free, and with none of your search data being retained.

Kagi 已經是我目前預設的 search engine,而且品質其實相當滿意 (偶而會切到 DuckDuckGo 以及 Google 比較),之後就等付費機制上線...

Kagi 的宗教戰爭:Emacs 與 Vi

目前都是用 Kagi 當作預設的搜尋引擎,然後 Kagi 習慣每個禮拜會給一個 Changelog... 而這個禮拜的 Changelog 是這樣:

我好像看到了什麼不得了的東西:

Searching for emacs redirects to vi #327 @yjp20

然後 bug report 裡面提到了他會在搜尋 Emacs 時提示 Vi

然後搜尋 Vi 時提示 Emacs:

這是想要掀起什麼宗教戰爭嗎 XDDD

用兩個禮拜 Kagi 的心得

先前有提到去申請了 Kagi 的 beta 邀請碼,過了幾個月拿到後就把預設的 search engine 換過去測:「來測試 Kagi 這個搜尋引擎」,現在也已經用了兩個多禮拜了,我的感覺是品質比 DuckDuckGo 還好不少,而且有早年 Google 那種搜起來很準的感覺...

其中一個我覺得很不錯的功能是 Personalized Results,可以設定 domain 讓把權重拉高或是擋掉,像是我就設了一些拉高的:

另外我自己寫了一個「Press "d" to DuckDuckGo from Kagi」可以在 Kagi 上面按 d 跳到 DuckDuckGo,但用過幾次後發現沒有差太多。

後續如果有推出方案應該會訂起來吧...