DDG was certainly privacy oriented, but for various reasons in recent years I was not able to maintain conviction on the alignment of revenue sources / financial incentives with that mission. (It's still the one I set any time I help someone with their machine, unless they're willing to pay, then it's been kagi.)

The latest all-in-one privacy subscription may be a course correction to have more revenue directly from those who care about their own privacy, to better align the incentives.