Not many people want to (or can) shell out 10 $/month for a search engine. I’m not saying it’s pointless, I’m simply saying that few people would do it.
That’s why I self-host SearXNG. And have enabled several other “underdog” search engines like Mojeek and Marginalia. On my devices I’m using Redirect Web for Safari to send any search request to Ecosia (configured in my Safaris) to my SearXNG instance. Works great for me!
Those same people probably have no problem paying more than that for YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. Truth is, ad-supported search will always go to shit because it’s in direct competition with its own product. It’s the same reason YouTube with ads keeps getting worse.
Because according to their perception “search” has less value than “watch”, which may make sense if one seldom really uses a search engine (i.e., they just use the same 3-4 websites).
Not many people want to (or can) shell out 10 $/month for a search engine. I’m not saying it’s pointless, I’m simply saying that few people would do it.
That’s why I self-host SearXNG. And have enabled several other “underdog” search engines like Mojeek and Marginalia. On my devices I’m using Redirect Web for Safari to send any search request to Ecosia (configured in my Safaris) to my SearXNG instance. Works great for me!
Sam . Mine is hosted on my RPi. Not ideal, I know, but at least it strips out tracking bits from the upstream engines.
Those same people probably have no problem paying more than that for YouTube Premium for an ad-free experience. Truth is, ad-supported search will always go to shit because it’s in direct competition with its own product. It’s the same reason YouTube with ads keeps getting worse.
Because according to their perception “search” has less value than “watch”, which may make sense if one seldom really uses a search engine (i.e., they just use the same 3-4 websites).