77

we all know Google's usefulness has diminished if you're searching for something the algorithm doesn't have it's nose on, personally i don't feel searxng (i used the nicfab.eu one) gives the best or most useful results either, what's out there?

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[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 22 points 1 year ago
[-] PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I use Perplexity.ai. It was so good, I ended up buying the Pro version. Google ain't got shit on Perplexity. On the other hand, Perplexity is most useful for information that requires some sort of synthesis. It's less useful for a basic search like definitions or where to find something nearby.

[-] MusketeerX@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Thanks for the suggestion I hadn't heard of this.

I just tried it to find some simple info that I struggled finding last night because I had to shovel through so much crap with Google. It definitely did a better job than Google did.

It's sad how far the Goog had fallen.

[-] xektor17@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

How did you buy a “Pro” version of Perplexity? I have the app installed and there’s no option to purchase anything.

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

Desktop version. :)

[-] PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com 1 points 1 year ago

In a browser, there's an option on the left hand bottom corner if you sign in.

[-] xektor17@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Found it! Thanks!

[-] MusketeerX@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

What is different about the pro version?

[-] PeepinGoodArgs@reddthat.com 2 points 1 year ago

You get a hilarious 600 prompts per day for copilot, which uses GPT-4.

[-] MusketeerX@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Lol, sounds like a downgrade 😅

[-] sneezelord@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Woah perplexity is awesome! They even have an iOS app. Thanks for the recommendation

[-] fossilesque@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago

It's a good 'un.

[-] zahel@lemmy.world 14 points 1 year ago

Been using duckduckgo for years and generally gets the job done. If I want more local specific results then I'll just add !g to my search which'll do a Google search

[-] lagomorphlecture@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

Duck Duck Go is literally just Bing without the personal data. If it works for you then it works for you, but it's good to know what you're really using.

[-] WagnasT@iusearchlinux.fyi 12 points 1 year ago

from wikipedia: DuckDuckGo's results are a compilation of "over 400" sources according to itself, including Bing, Yahoo! Search BOSS, Wolfram Alpha, Yandex, and its own web crawler (the DuckDuckBot); but none from Google.[62][3][63][64][53] It also uses data from crowdsourced sites such as Wikipedia, to populate knowledge panel boxes to the right of the search results.[64][65]

[-] zahel@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I'm quite aware of that fact. Not sure where I gave the impression otherwise. When it comes down to it, pretty much all the options are just proxies/aggregators for other search engines - that introduce privacy.

[-] djsaskdja@reddthat.com 10 points 1 year ago

I know DuckDuckGo has its own issues, but surely it’s better than Google at least?

[-] ribboo@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago

Results wise it’s just a bing wrapper. Which is not all that good in all honesty.

[-] Arisusanchez@lemmy.fmhy.ml 2 points 1 year ago

Ever since Microsoft nuked it a couple years back (because results included csam) search has been heavily restricted and most definitely was shot in the ankle, used to use bing a lot to find older resources for stuff I needed, now I cannot use it for that any longer

[-] Carl@lemmy.thegoodoldinternet.com 10 points 1 year ago
[-] angrytoadnoises@lemmygrad.ml 4 points 1 year ago

Seconding Kagi. The pricing model is a little rough, but if you're serious about getting the most out of a search engine, Kagi is the way to go.

Imo, paying is worth it to be completely free of Google's services.

[-] MildManneredPate@lemmy.world 4 points 1 year ago

Kagi is great but I feel they’ll struggle with their current pricing. I have a discounted rate for their pro tier, $10 for 1500 queries, and I think even that is expensive.

[-] solidsnake2085@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

Never heard of it but they have a free trial I am testing out for now.

[-] solidsnake2085@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

Never heard of it but they have a free trial I am testing out for now.

[-] imrichyouknow@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 year ago
[-] ggnoredo@lemm.ee 2 points 1 year ago
[-] Jackhammer_Joe@lemmy.world 6 points 1 year ago

DuckDuckGo works in 98% of the time for me. If I can't find something on DDG, I'll switch to Google. But that's only rarely needed.

[-] Smokeydope@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

I like the paulgo.io searxng instance for most queries its fine. As for truly novel search engines that dont just scrape google, theres search.marginalia.nu and yacy.net

[-] DARbarian@lemmy.world 5 points 1 year ago

searx.be is my favorite by far. You can get results from DDG, Brave, Startpage, etc. all in one place and it's self-hostable

[-] Monologue@lemmy.zip 5 points 1 year ago

duckduckgo is the most useful and straightforward to use, brave isn't bad either although it struggles with non english searches from my experience. searx is powerful but a bit overkill and it is not the most intuitive

[-] MusketeerX@lemmy.world 3 points 1 year ago

Great discussion.

Because it's happened gradually I've just gotten used to Google being less and less useful.

It's good to try something else.

This thread made me try Perplexity, Kagi and SearXNG. I'll give them all a run over the next week or so and see how they go.

[-] brihuang95@sopuli.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

eh, i've been doing a mix of duckduckgo or brave's search engine. tbh it works for basic things but i've yet to find a better search engine for more niche or specific queries

I use Yandex when I suspect Google isn’t telling me everything.

[-] lincoln@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 1 year ago
[-] Jeff@lemm.ee 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Ah found url. Primo!

Dang. Another subscription model. I will stick with the less great but free brave and DuckDuckGo.

[-] app_priori@lemmy.world 2 points 1 year ago

I use Bing for Microsoft Rewards. You can get the equivalent of $10 a month in gift cards for your searches.

[-] WildlyCanadian@lemmy.ca 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I like Ecosia.

It does run on Bing, but I like seeing the lil tree planting counter (⁠•⁠‿⁠•⁠)

[-] manitcor@lemmy.intai.tech 1 points 1 year ago

i always hear duckduck in these threads. though im still trapped in google land.

[-] rm_dash_r_star@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

I miss the days of Alta Vista that could do searches with Boolean logic. DuckDuckGo is probably the most popular alternative.

[-] cousinofjah@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago

swurl.com is a fun take on search aggregators

[-] yak@feddit.it 1 points 1 year ago
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this post was submitted on 03 Jul 2023
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