Just last week, we celebrated three years since Kagi was launched. We shared our vision and roadmap with you and this week, we are already at the next milestone - Kagi reaching 50,000 members!

We reached this milestone faster than the previous one, more than doubling our members since January 2024. We’re proud and grateful for your growing support. It helps us deliver on our shared mission.

Here’s a small sample of the countless supportive messages from our social media and community channels:

50k may seem small to some, but to us, each of you represents a conscious choice to reject the ad-tech and surveillance business model. Together, we’re exploring a different path to how the web should be experienced, one that resists a web controlled by advertising, SEO slop and manipulative algorithms. Our true measure isn’t in user statistics but in creating meaningful change that may benefit those who come after us.

The impact of our growth since the last milestone is visible in many ways:

• Our community now includes 50,000 members, including over 5,000 families and nearly 200 teams
• We’re approaching 1 million daily search queries
• Orion browser has surpassed 1 million downloads
• Our Discord community has grown to over 7,400 members
• Thanks to your support, our team has expanded to about 40 people, enabling us to deliver more: improvements to Kagi Search, Wolfram Alpha integration, the launch of Kagi Assistant, our Android app and upcoming iOS app, Kagi Translate, progress towards Kagi Mail, upgrades to Kagi Maps and the development of Orion for Linux.

In keeping with our tradition of celebrating member milestones, we have several exciting announcements to share!

1. Announcing the free Kagi Search portal

We’re introducing several new products and initiatives designed to make Kagi more accessible, including a free Kagi Search portal.

In the coming days, we’ll roll out free access to Kagi Search for everyone. This means anyone can experience Kagi Search without signing up, with 50 free searches directly from our homepage and 100 more after creating an account.

This will make it incredibly easy for anyone to try Kagi. You’ll be able to quickly share Kagi with a single link and instantly show others why you’re such a fan.

As an added bonus, you’ll also be able to share your Kagi search result pages freely with anyone. Just copy the URL from your browser and share. The free search portal ensures everyone can view your shared results, whether they’re Kagi members or not.

Note: the Kagi Search portal will be rolled out in phases, per region. We expect the full rollout to be completed within two weeks from now.

2. Announcing Kagi for Libraries

We often get inquiries from students and people who cannot afford Kagi about making Kagi more accessible. This was a difficult problem to solve and one we cared about a lot. At the heart of Kagi is public benefit and when libraries all over the world started contacting us about access to Kagi, we had an idea.

With Kagi for Libraries program, we will offer free access to Kagi for public library patrons world-wide.

You will be able to simply visit a local library and enjoy free access to Kagi for all participating libraries.

Kagi for Libraries is a program designed to support public and academic libraries by offering a web search experience that upholds patron privacy and emphasizes reliable, verifiable information.

Libraries are pillars of knowledge, serving as equalizers, cultural preservers, and gateways to opportunity, particularly in communities where access to information, technology, and education is limited. By offering Kagi Search for free, we aim to strengthen libraries as gateways to opportunity and knowledge.

Search engines have become the foundation of modern learning and discovery, much like libraries have been for centuries. We believe private, high-quality search is essential digital infrastructure, ensuring fair and open access to knowledge in today’s world. Kagi Search will be offered to libraries for free for an initial 12 months, with the idea of extending access for a discounted, fixed fee.

If your library is interested or you know a local public library that could benefit, encourage them to apply and help us expand this opportunity.

Go to Kagi for Libraries.

3. Wag like a doggo - in Kagi socks!

New Kagi-branded socks + stickers will hit our swag store during the summer. We’ll get them in batches and give them away for free (just pay for the shipment) on a first-come, first-served basis. At this point, we are looking to have 20,000 pairs made. Since we created an entire supply chain last time, we thought we should make the most of it.

This is just a representation; the final design might vary.

Want a bit more of Kagi to brighten up your screens? Grab these fun wallpapers we’ve created just for you: kagi.com/assets

We also have Kagi stickers for our Discord Community, and iOS, Android and Signal stickers will be avaliable soon.

We’ll let you know once the swag store is stocked and share the 100% discount codes for Kagi socks.

4. Special surprise for early Kagi pioneers

Where we are taking you, you might need those Kagi socks.

Once a year, we embark on a voyage to meet with fellow Kagians.

We are a small but tightly knit team who work remotely from almost every corner of the world. Every year, we meet for a week to contemplate on our mission of humanizing the web. This year, we are meeting in early October somewhere in Europe. But in recognition of this milestone, this year will be very, very special.

In the coming weeks, we’ll contact all members who joined us on our first day and have stayed with us since - 121 of you. You’ll see an invitation to register for a Pioneer ticket, a very unique opportunity to connect with fellow Kagians for a week-long event.

From all applicants, we’ll randomly select just 3 winners to receive Pioneer tickets. Each ticket includes a guest pass, allowing you to bring someone along. The Kagi team will cover all travel costs and accommodations. We’re planning several special activities where you’ll interact with fellow Kagians, including meetings with our CEO, Vlad, and core team members.

Where will we meet?

5. A promise is a promise

Just as Kagi launched, Vlad (our CEO) made a public promise that if we ever reach 50,000 customers, he will color his hair turquoise.

Back then, it sounded like a safe bet to make. Why would anyone pay for search after all? This was a question we heared all too often while building Kagi.

Well, 50,000 of you later, here we are! Time to fulfill that promise:

Wherever we might be meeting, we know that our vision for the future is clearer and looks bright with your growing support.

Since we depend entirely on word-of-mouth marketing and community recommendations to grow, please keep sharing Kagi with others. We genuinely couldn’t have reached this milestone without you. And we can’t wait to prepare another surprise for you, at the 100,000 members mark!

Let’s continue the conversation on Kagi Discord (we’ll have a live AMA this Thursday!) or follow and tag us on the social media platform of your choice.

Keep fetching,
The Kagi team