Two Upstart Search Engines Are Teaming Up to Take on Google

Re:Two Upstart Search Engines Are Teaming Up to Take on Google by rurp on Tuesday November 12, 2024 @04:16PM (#42119791)

They are highly dependent on outside search engines. Someone from Kagi gave an explanation on HN of their search costs and why they can't go lower, and calling the Google API on many (most?) search queries was a major driver of their costs.

It's great that they are developing their own index, but I'm skeptical that it makes up more than a tiny fraction of what they can get from Google/Bing. DDG has been making similar claims for years but are still heavily reliant on Bing.

This isn't to knock on upstart search engines. I think that Google Search has declined massively over the past 5-10 years and I rarely use it. More competition is sorely needed, but we should be be clear eyed about the landscape.

[ Parent | on HN ]

Re:Two Upstart Search Engines Are Teaming Up to Take on Google by w10-1 on Wednesday November 13, 2024 @12:35AM (#42123214)

Being dependent as a fall-back seems like that's the right solution: Provide your own index, but vector in the default if you don't get it right.

That way users get tailored search without losing scale.

[ Parent | on HN ]