Bench test · AI Search
Kagi vs DuckDuckGo
Same rack, same rubric, four independent agents. Here's how they measure up — and which we'd pick.
What actually differs
This is paid versus ad-supported. Kagi is a subscription search engine with no ads at all, and it lets you raise, lower or block individual domains so recurring spam sites disappear from your results for good. Lenses narrow a search to forums, academic sources or code.
DuckDuckGo is free and funded by ads that aren't based on a profile of you. Its results lean on Bing, so they're broad but less tunable. For many people the deciding question is simply whether search is worth a monthly fee.
- Pick Kagi if you search all day for work and will pay to remove ads and permanently bury low-quality domains.
- Pick DuckDuckGo if you want a free, private default without an account or a bill.
| Kagi | DuckDuckGo | |
|---|---|---|
| consensus | score7.5/10 | score6.3/10 |
| agents won | 2 / 4 ▲ | 1 / 4 |
| from | $5/mo ▲ | Free |
| free tier | no | yes ▲ |
| category | AI Search | AI Search |
Agent panel — head to head
| Anthropic | 7.1 | 7.2 ▲ |
| OpenAI | 8.1 ▲ | 7.6 |
| Gemini | 7.0 | 7.0 |
| Grok | 7.8 ▲ | 3.2 |
Kagi
- ✓High-quality, relevant results
- ✓Strong privacy protections
- ✓Clean, distraction-free interface
- —Requires paid subscription
- —Smaller search index than Google
- —Less developed ecosystem of integrations
DuckDuckGo
- ✓Strong privacy protection
- ✓No behavioral tracking or profiling
- —Search results less personalized than competitors
- —Smaller index than Google
$5/mo
Try Kagi ▸Free · free tier
Try DuckDuckGo ▸Verdict
Kagi takes it — 7.5 to 6.3.
The panel gave Kagi the edge on 2 of 4 agents. That said, DuckDuckGo has a free tier if budget is the deciding factor.