I was just getting interested in Neeva as a paid search engine with some cool AI tools where you’re not an advertising target because you pay. This explains the sudden refund from Neeva - they apparently got bought out and are no longer being a search engine. I don’t really know what to make of it all.

I suppose it makes my decision between it and Kagi easier - I don’t really have a choice. Kagi is a lot more expensive, but I get work to pay for it. Though that does make it harder to potentially recommend to other people I know.

Not that I ever thought paid search would massively take off, but unlike many tasks, search can be centralized enough on a per user basis that something other than ads is worth exploring.

    • pkulak@beehaw.org
      3·
      2 years ago

      Same. I was about to cancel because I was going over the search query limit every month, but then they upped it by 50% and I’m all good.

    • strudel6242@beehaw.org
      2·
      2 years ago

      Another Kagi subscriber here. I do it mainly to support the little guy rather than some big tech giant like Google or Microsoft, but I’m quite enjoying the new features they’ve been adding over time.

      • seirim@lemmy.ml
        2·
        2 years ago

        Yeah exactly. I hope they’re trustworthy and real and not just really data mining on the backend anyway, kind of a leap of faith involved here for me with them.

  • EmasXP@beehaw.org
    8·
    2 years ago

    I am using Brave Search, and have done so for a good while. I actually found the results better on Brave Search than on Neeva. My only concern is the shady past of Brave.

    Neeva will be missed. I’m sad that it’s gone.

    • beefcat@beehaw.org
      26·
      2 years ago

      Brave’s CEO opposes same-sex marriage in the US and donated money to anti-LGBT groups. It’s why he was ousted at Mozilla. As a result I cannot in good conscience use anything from Brave.

      • Pigeon@beehaw.org
        15·
        2 years ago

        Ditto. Brave also promotes their own crypto-coin ponzi nonsense. And at one point I believe they made a far-right website a default link on their homepage, before outcry compelled them to remove it.

        Duckduckgo search engine works as well as google’s, though. Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)

        Edit: I won’t scold anyone for using a free browser though. It’s not like you give them $$$. But they do get your data, and while they claim to be about privacy I don’t exactly trust them as far as I can throw them.

        • russjr08@outpost.zeuslink.net
          6·
          2 years ago

          Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)

          It is actually the exact same syntax/formatting as Google’s! So Dolphins site:wikipedia.org should show you only search results from Wikipedia.

        • davido@beehaw.org
          5·
          2 years ago

          Brave also promotes their own crypto-coin ponzi nonsense.

          This kinda pained me as well as its a centralized coin that requires you to verify with a passport to even get access to the earned rewards. Literally the opposite of having a private browser. Still happy with it as browser for mobile though, others dont really compare (Firefox had a bunch of bad design decisions I didnt like).

          • cavemeat@beehaw.org
            3·
            2 years ago

            This and the CEO’s shenanigans made me move to startpage, although I’ve heard that it isn’t great for privacy either.

        • Smoke@beehaw.org
          4·
          2 years ago

          Duckduckgo search engine works as well as google’s, though. Except that I haven’t yet figured out what the equivalent formatting for “site:reddit.com” is for it, if site specific search is even a supported function (surely?)

          The bang for reddit is !r, so you can type !r Apples to learn what reddit thinks about the fruit-cum-trendy computer company.

      • EmasXP@beehaw.org
        8·
        2 years ago

        Ouch. I did not know that. I was considering paying for it in order to support them. Now, maybe not

      • luckless@beehaw.org
        8·
        2 years ago

        Didn’t know this, thanks for the heads up. Though I stick to duckduckgo regardless, I know not to recommend brave.

    • ch1cken@discuss.tchncs.de
      4·
      2 years ago

      I actually found the results better on Brave Search than on Neeva

      same, i’ve actually found brave’s results to be of very high quality, especially ever since they brought the ai tools, actually works well rather than being a gimmick. Website descriptions are also utilising it, and should be specific to the search term (which is indicated by bold text)

      The only issue i have with it though, is that they removed the images section and now redirect to bing/google, and not even something like duckduckgo/startpage at least. Hopefully they add it back soon

    • Lionir [he/him]@beehaw.org
      2·
      2 years ago

      Does Brave have webmaster tools nowadays? It’s one the things that so little new search engines do, it’s annoying.

  • Wolfram@beehaw.org
    6·
    2 years ago

    I was a paid Neeva user as well and signed up a few months before it shut down. I’m pretty dissappointed because search results felt almost as usable as Google’s. Other solutions like SearX have been hit or miss from my experience, so I’m giving a selfhosted instance of LibreX a try.

    • jmp242OP
      9·
      2 years ago

      While it costs more, I would suggest also trying Kagi. I especially find the forum lens useful for my work / tech related searches, where usually the actual answer, if it can be found, was on a forum site.