Kagi lets anyone search without an account, 50 free queries
In its changelog entry dated Nov 5th, 2026, titled "Your friends and family can finally try Kagi", the search company Kagi announced that its search is now open to everyone. Anyone, anywhere, can visit kagi.com and search the web. No account is required for the first 50 searches, and 100 more become available upon registration.
Kagi frames the change as a word-of-mouth fix. The company says it does not run ads anywhere and instead stays active on social media and online communities, builds the product with its users and relies on word of mouth. It says it has heard that it is hard to recommend a search engine when friends cannot try it without creating an account. It closes the announcement by saying it counts on users to spread the word to friends and family. The entry shows a new landing page for new users.
The same entry carries Kagi's "take on the latest Search industry news". Kagi says Google announced that, starting in early 2027, AI tools will be turned off by default for school accounts. Kagi writes that this sounds like a win for schools until you read that Google Search will be switched off along with them. Its stated position: education should not be taken hostage by an advertising company, and corporate profits should not come before the imperative to educate students. Kagi tells schools facing this choice that they do not have to accept it, that there are alternatives to mandatory AI, and that Kagi is one of them. It also points to an open letter to the tech industry titled "Education Shouldn't Be Held for Ransom".
The rest of the changelog is routine product work. The Kagi Search Android app gets a redesigned home screen that shows how many free searches remain when you try Kagi without an account, a short first-launch tour, rebuilt voice search with a language choice and a Quick Settings tile, home screen widgets, a Default Search Setup guide, image paste for search by image, and a Quick Answer button next to suggestions. Assistant gets native-app opening for shared threads, redone voice input, pasting of images or files into prompts, and clearer icons for temporary versus permanent threads. Kagi News was featured on Google Play and now avoids repeating stories that cover the same event in different categories. Kagi Translate improves Proofread, Sorani, Kurmanji and Latin translations, PDF tables and Hebrew text. The Small Web apps add topics (Design & UX, Work & Business, Sports) and remember the selected topic. A long list of user-reported bugs was also fixed.
Key facts
- Kagi now lets anyone, anywhere, search kagi.com with no account for the first 50 searches; 100 more are available upon registration.
- Kagi says it does not run ads anywhere and relies on word of mouth, and that friends could not easily try it without creating an account.
- Kagi's account of Google's announcement: from early 2027 AI tools will be off by default for school accounts, and Google Search will be switched off along with them.
- Kagi argues education should not be taken hostage by an advertising company and names itself as an alternative for schools.
- The Android app home screen now shows how many free searches are left for users without an account; the changelog also covers Assistant, News, Translate and Small Web updates.
Why it matters
Search engines that charge or require sign-up have a trial problem: people cannot judge them before committing. Kagi, which says it runs no ads, is removing the sign-up step for a first taste of 50 searches, and it explicitly ties the move to word-of-mouth recommendations. The changelog also shows Kagi positioning itself against Google in schools, where, by Kagi's reading, Google's early-2027 change would take Search away together with AI tools on school accounts.
Who it affects
Anyone who wants to try Kagi without registering, and the friends and family of existing users who were asked to recommend it. Schools facing Google's school-account change are addressed directly: Kagi tells them they do not have to accept it. Android users get a home screen that shows remaining free searches.
How to use it
Visit kagi.com and start searching; no account is needed for the first 50 searches, and registering adds 100 more. On Android, the redesigned Kagi Search app home screen shows how many free searches you have left, and a new Default Search Setup guide helps make Kagi the search engine in your browser.
How solid is it
This is a first-party announcement from Kagi's own changelog, so the search offer is stated by the company itself. The account of Google's school-account decision is Kagi's, and the source does not link to or quote Google's announcement. The source does not say which Google school products are affected. The open letter is only named; its contents and signatories are not given.
Risks and caveats
The source does not say whether the 50 free searches are counted per device, per IP address, per session or per day, or whether they ever reset. It does not say how the 100 extra searches after registration are counted, or whether registration is free or paid, and it does not say what happens once the searches are used up. No pricing, search volume or user numbers are given. Kagi describes its new explore flow as a discovery version with a degraded experience compared to a paid plan. The Google comparison and the 'hostage' framing are Kagi's own opinion, labelled 'Our take'.
“Education shouldn't be taken hostage by an advertising company.”
— Kagi, changelog entry of Nov 5th, 2026