# Kagi vs You.com

> Kagi: Ad-free, subscription-funded search engine with built-in AI assistant and summarization tools
> You.com: Real-time web search, research and answer APIs that ground AI agents in live data

- Kagi profile: https://finderatlas.com/tools/kagi
- You.com profile: https://finderatlas.com/tools/you-com
- Comparison page: https://finderatlas.com/compare/kagi-vs-you-com
- Last reviewed: November 2026

## Verdict

Kagi is listed under AI Assistants and You.com under Developer Tools. Both have a free plan or trial.

### Choose Kagi if

- You want a tool built for people who want ad-free, personalizable search results and are willing to pay a subscription to get them.
- No advertising; revenue comes from subscriptions.
- Site-level raise, lower and block controls let users tune results.

### Choose You.com if

- You want a tool built for grounding LLM and agent outputs in live web data, RAG pipelines, cited research reports, adding web search to MCP-enabled coding agents.
- Clear per-call pricing with no seat, minimum or platform fee.
- Keyless free MCP tier (100 queries per day) makes prototyping frictionless.

## Pricing

| | Kagi | You.com |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Pricing model | Free trial | Freemium |
| Free plan or trial | Yes | Yes |
| Starting price | $0 | $0 |

## Features

| Feature | Kagi | You.com |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Ad-free search | Yes | Not listed |
| Site personalization | Yes | Not listed |
| Lenses | Yes | Not listed |
| Kagi Assistant | Yes | Not listed |
| Quick Answer and Summarize Page | Yes | Not listed |
| Developer APIs | Yes | Not listed |
| Orion browser | Yes | Not listed |
| Kagi Translate and Kagi News | Yes | Not listed |
| Web Search API | Not listed | Yes |
| Contents API | Not listed | Yes |
| Answer API | Not listed | Yes |
| Research API | Not listed | Yes |
| Finance Research API | Not listed | Yes |
| Knowledge for Web Search | Not listed | Yes |
| Hosted MCP Server and Agent Skills | Not listed | Yes |
| Enterprise Security | Not listed | Yes |
| Inference Router | Not listed | Yes |

## Platforms

| Platform | Kagi | You.com |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Web | Yes | Yes |
| Windows | No | No |
| macOS | No | No |
| iOS | Yes | Yes |
| Android | Yes | Yes |
| API | Yes | Yes |
| Browser Extension | No | No |

## Kagi strengths

- No advertising; revenue comes from subscriptions.
- Site-level raise, lower and block controls let users tune results.
- Lenses give quick topic-specific filtering such as Academic or Forums.
- Ultimate bundles access to Claude, GPT and Gemini models in Assistant.
- Public APIs and an MCP server support developer use.
- Transparent funding history published by the company.

## Kagi limitations

- No permanent free tier: the trial is limited to 100 searches.
- The $5 Starter plan caps searches at 300 per month, which users report running out of quickly.
- Reviewers report that lens use and loading more results can count as extra searches.
- Full AI model access requires the $25 Ultimate plan.

## You.com strengths

- Clear per-call pricing with no seat, minimum or platform fee.
- Keyless free MCP tier (100 queries per day) makes prototyping frictionless.
- Range of endpoints from raw search to cited multi-step research on one index.
- Documented MCP server, agent skills and plugins for many coding agents.
- Enterprise options include zero data retention and SOC 2.
- Published latency figures per endpoint help with capacity planning.

## You.com limitations

- Per-call billing makes costs harder to predict than a flat subscription, and top Research tiers reach $1,200 per 1,000 calls.
- No consumer plans are published on the website, so anyone looking for the old chat assistant gets no clear pricing.
- The consumer search and chat experience is no longer promoted, so it is a poor fit for casual users.
- Free tier is capped at 100 Web Search queries per day.

## FAQ

**Is Kagi better than You.com?**

It depends on your workflow. Kagi is built for people who want ad-free, personalizable search results and are willing to pay a subscription to get them. You.com is built for grounding LLM and agent outputs in live web data, RAG pipelines, cited research reports, adding web search to MCP-enabled coding agents.

**What are the key feature differences between Kagi and You.com?**

Kagi: Ad-free, subscription-funded search engine with built-in AI assistant and summarization tools. You.com: Real-time web search, research and answer APIs that ground AI agents in live data.

**Does Kagi or You.com have a free plan?**

Yes, both do. Kagi is free trial and You.com is freemium, and each has a free plan or trial.

**Which is cheaper, Kagi or You.com?**

Both can be used for free. Paid plans differ in limits and features, so compare the tiers in the pricing table above.