If you belong to a certain generation, you’ll remember what the web used to be like: sites created and developed by individuals.

You could explore directories such as AltaVista or Yahoo and browse categories like Home & Family, Science, and Computers. Within these directories, you would discover pages made by hobbyists, academics, and technology aficionados.

Individuals gathered around forums and bulletin boards, and web developers typically shunned images on websites to ensure quicker loading times. The idea of streaming a video online appeared almost unimaginable.

In the time since, the web has transformed significantly. Nearly everything, from search results and forums to social media and news sources, is monetized heavily. Powerful applications and tools now function within browsers, while AI is gradually working to eliminate the need for the open web entirely.

Many companies now seek to restore the essence of the early web, including Kagi. For several years, Kagi has operated a search engine focused on privacy and security. Now, Kagi expands its mission beyond its Google-alternative search tool to curate a “small web” powered by human-created sites.

### The Kagi Search Engine

Kagi’s main offering is its search engine, so let’s start there. Utilizing Kagi for searches requires a nominal fee (starting at $5 a month, plus tax) for 300 searches. This fee includes a standard-level AI assistant to help analyze your results. Unlimited searches and additional AI assistant tokens can be obtained for $10 a month. A free trial that provides 100 searches is available for those wanting to experience Kagi prior to subscribing.

Kagi presents a strong case for paid searching. As they point out, web searching involves costs, whether paying money directly, compromising data privacy, or dealing with an ever-increasing number of ads and sponsored links.

In addition to enhancing privacy in searches, Kagi strives to boost quality by delivering results free from the influence of paid promotions or Google’s changing business priorities. Kagi maintains its own web and news indexes, designed to yield “relevant, high-quality results” and non-commercial sites.

To get started with Kagi, you only need an email address and password to manage your account. You can commence with your 100 complementary searches, refining options to narrow results to images, videos, podcasts, maps, or news, or filter by time or language.

For me, utilizing Kagi feels like a nostalgic trip down memory lane. Searching for a band reveals its official site, Wikipedia page, social media profiles, and YouTube channel—all absent of promoted results, related searches, or sponsored content.

### Kagi’s Small Web Project

Kagi now provides more than just search functionality. The company offers access to various AI models and is actively advancing its Small Web project to highlight the finest of the human-curated and created internet. Kagi has recently unveiled apps for Android and iOS as part of this initiative.

The objective is to avoid a web “controlled by algorithms, ads, and AI-generated clutter,” according to Kagi. It closely resembles the former StumbleUpon, if you remember it. A **Next Post** button enables you to randomly explore something different, with options to favorite or search for specific content. Naturally, there’s a **Share** button as well.