Someone (average smartphone user) complained to me the other day that there isn’t a clear solution to navigating the web because it’s either ai slop or the results are poor.

And I kinda agree, nowadays you do have to put in some more effort to get what you’re looking for.

And so I told them I’d compile a list of which search engines are best for what purpose.

So far I have:

Startpage: works, but does a poor job of finding product codes and whatnot.

Duckduckgo: gives more general results afaik

Ecosia: works great but relies on bing

I have tried things like qwant ect but haven’t really settled on those.

Any other suggestions?

I’d tell em to use udm14 but it’s still google so I’d rather keep that as a plan B.

    • Ghoelian@piefed.socialEnglish
      10·
      2 个月前

      Same here. It’s great easily being able to block those shitty github/stackoverflow scrapers like codegrepper, answeroverflow etc.

    • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      83·
      2 个月前

      and you can downrank/ban websites.

      Holy shit, I’ve been wanting that for years. I’ll have to check them out.

      Edit: Aaaand they have a built in AI despite calling themselves “human-focussed”. That’s a turnoff. If I’m paying for a search engine, I’d prefer to have a subscription option with the AI stripped out so I’m not subsidizing it for others.

      Plus, I’m thinking about it I’m not exactly on board with needing an account with a search engine. That makes it super easy to track you. Meanwhile, using noai.duckduckgo anonymously via a VPN is way more private

      • graynk@discuss.tchncs.de
        82·
        2 个月前

        I’m not exactly on board with needing an account with a search engine. That makes it super easy to track you.

        https://help.kagi.com/kagi/privacy/privacy-pass.html

        they have a built in AI despite calling themselves “human-focussed”

        Because it’s a tool that can serve humans. Not strictly search-related, but their AI-based translation tool is genuinely great and very useful to me.

        https://help.kagi.com/kagi/why-kagi/ai-philosophy.html

        You don’t have to use built-in AI, it only triggers when you explicitly ask for it and you can completely disable it in the settings.

        They also have anti-slop filters, BTW: https://help.kagi.com/kagi/features/slopstop.html

        Finally, not sure what models the search summarizer and the translation tool use, but the assistant lets you use open weights model like Kimi, GLM, DeepSeek et. al.

        • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          18·
          2 个月前

          You don’t have to use built-in AI

          I don’t care. It’s bundled in with even the basic plan, which means you’re paying for it, even if you don’t use it. And no, it’s not magically better to use open models.

          I don’t get how this concept is so hard to understand.

            • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
              35·
              2 个月前

              1: I clearly established a boundary and you insisted on pushing it. Learn to take a fucking hint.

              2: You know what’s even better? Not using AI at all.

                • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
                  14·
                  2 个月前

                  I feel bad for anyone you’ve ever had a relationship with. You act like an abuser.

                  Edit: Seriously? You downvoted all of my comments? You just keep getting more petty

      • ApplyingAutomation@lemmy.world
        11·
        2 个月前

        In my experience, Kagi doesn’t force AI down your throat. It only triggers an AI summary if you end your query with a “?”, and it does seem to be summarization of the search results.

        Also, as per Kagi’s pricing page, there is a higher tier for people who want more AI features as you are suggesting.

        All that being said, I use a Searxng instance 😅

        • mnemonicmonkeys@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          27·
          2 个月前

          I don’t even want the fucking AI summaries. I don’t get how that’s so hard to understand.

          The fact the AI is in even the basic plan means you’re paying for it, regardless of whether you use it. I don’t want AI, and I especially don’t want to give money to one.

  • stellargmite@lemmy.world
    221·
    2 个月前

    Kagi. Not cheap but I seriously cant go back. Its really good for what I need - actual results at the top of the first page, based purely on what I searched for. What a concept. My needs are basic to be clear.

    • myrmidex@belgae.social
      12·
      2 个月前

      I love how it allows me to move domains up or down. This allows me to have wikipedia results at the very top and have all X, FB, MS domains blocked from appearing in the results.

    • Chat_mots@jlai.lu
      5·
      2 个月前

      Searxng with custom engine weights and a proper filter of upranks/downranks domains give me as good results as kagi !

        • Chat_mots@jlai.luEnglish
          3·
          2 个月前

          No there is none unfortunately, but i’m in the process of making one! For now my settings are these. And i made a quick tool to compare results from a searxng instance to a list of desired results, you can find it here. If you want help with that, i’d be glad to help !! :)

          EDIT: more details in my settings example

    • buran@lemmy.todayEnglish
      1·
      2 个月前

      They should have turn it into the default and remove AI or make it opt-in.

      • goofsqueakEnglish
        11·
        2 个月前

        yea true, bet atleast you have the option to opt out…? 🥀

  • thingsiplay@lemmy.ml
    11·
    2 个月前

    Self hosting searxng: https://docs.searxng.org/ I use it for everything. It finds results from multiple search engines, and lists every engine name at the bottom of each link to see where this “recommendation” comes from. You can configure which “engines” it should search. So I use it as my default for everything. The results aren’t always the best and there are times when I then open other search engines directly to see if its any better. But admitteley it is only hosted on my main PC. Currently I cannot access it from other computers, but that is something I plan todo in the future.

    If you use Archlinux, then its quite easy as there is a package that always builds from source. Look at my instructions here: https://lemmy.ml/post/45955322

    If self hosting isn’t your thing, then you can just use an instance from someone else who made it available in the public: https://searx.space/ It’s also a good way to see how it works before committing to self hosting, if you plan to.

  • spy@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    10·
    2 个月前

    Duckduckgo for everything.

    At first, after the switch years ago, I’d occasionally fallback to Google to search for solutions or explanations of technical errors but I guess Duckduckgo got better and/or Google got worse and I no longer use any other.

    A few days ago I tried Qwant briefly with the idea to try to change to non-US services, don’t remember what for, and was not satisfied with the results. I did not try it for long enough to say it’s not a good choice though.

    • Bronzor@lemmy.ml
      1·
      2 个月前

      Is your instance public? Wouldn’t it need to be to anonymize or privatize your usage?

  • eremophila@lemmy.zip
    8·
    2 个月前

    I switched to noai.duckduckgo when startpage went ai. It is a lot better than when I tried duckduckgo in previous years, and definitely better than startpage was. I haven’t noticed any issues with search returns.

  • ZeroHora@lemmy.mlEnglish
    92·
    2 个月前

    Yandex for reverse image search or piracy content

    The noai DDG for everything else.

    Unfortunately I have notice for the last couple of months that some simple things I can’t just find the answer and the shit AI suggestion baked in the google search is giving me better results and I don’t think that is the AI that got better.

  • FoundFootFootage78@lemmy.mlEnglish
    6·
    2 个月前

    Ultimately duckduckgo is the best.

    Bing and Google are out for obvious reasons. Startpage kept asking me to prove I’m human. Qwant blocked me whenever I enabled a VPN with an exit in a region they couldn’t run ads to. Ecosia is a non-profit so I’d feel bad blocking ads, but I don’t want to see ads. Mojeek returned garbage results. Kagi is ridiculously overpriced and restrictive. Brave Search often didn’t return the results I was looking for. And SearXNG I don’t remember what the problem was.

  • ShutUpWesley@piefed.zipEnglish
    6·
    2 个月前

    DDG is my goto, I always have a SearXNG instance, but it’s relatively slow and runs into problems too frequently to be my goto

    • TrickDacy@lemmy.world
      5·
      2 个月前

      I never understood the hype about it. I tried it for a while then my trial expired. I cannot say I miss it. It was okay, nothing that blew my mind

        • Steve@communick.newsEnglish
          13·
          2 个月前

          If you only searched without exploring its various options and features, that makes sense. When you start blocking, boosting, and pinning domains; start exploring lenses and everything, it’s benefits become obvious.

          • WizardJr@lemmy.today
            2·
            2 个月前

            That was exactly what I did, but I still found the quality of its searches ultimately no better than a standard Google search with a basic ad blocker purging the sponsors and AI summaries. Not worth half its price, especially when the guy getting the money is as nutty as he is.

  • JWTB@lemmy.today
    5·
    2 个月前

    Ecosia

    Works very well for everyday stuff, been using it for almost 2 years now, though it does take a bit to get used to it because it gives you slightly different results for the same search queries

    It’s not worse, it just interprets your queries slightly differently

    The only time it consistently fails and I switch to google is when I need to look up something via popular references, typically text on memes, for which Ecosia instead tends to return serious/factual results instead of the funny I was looking for

    • sidebro@lemmy.zipEnglish
      3·
      2 个月前

      I wish Ecosia started rolling out EUSP in more countries, currently it’s only available in France.