Its good and they deserve credit for it. Let me be clear on that.
Now, wouldnt it be even better to implement usage based pricing with a maximum that's equal to the current subscription?
I dont know the Kagi details. Say you pay 10/month and each search is $0.02. You pay max(search_count * 0.02, 10).
I guess the logic is much simpler for their current system. It's 10/month, period. Then if you didnt search anything you get a refund. Instead of tracking and calculating usage.
However, usage pricing should be more enticing for casual users. With the statement refund for 0 use, there is now an incentive for infrequent users to NOT to use the product.
I think metered pricing makes sense for a service that's $10/mo (which the base Kagi w/ AI features is).
However, Kagi search unlimited is $5/mo. And, especially because of the whole "payment providers taking their cut" thing, I'd argue for services that are $5/mo or under, metered pricing doesn't really make sense.
Finally, I'd argue that this approach has other advantages over metering, even for higher-cost services:
* It's easier for devs to implement. Just one search needs to be recorded a month for an audit trail, rather than all search history.
* Keeping a search history for users is not needed at all, really (or, again, at most, one search per month). It's much better for user privacy.
* Most countries/states would have much more luck passing legislation forcing companies to implement this than metering, as well as enforcing it.
Now, wouldnt it be even better to implement usage based pricing with a maximum that's equal to the current subscription?
I dont know the Kagi details. Say you pay 10/month and each search is $0.02. You pay max(search_count * 0.02, 10).
I guess the logic is much simpler for their current system. It's 10/month, period. Then if you didnt search anything you get a refund. Instead of tracking and calculating usage.
However, usage pricing should be more enticing for casual users. With the statement refund for 0 use, there is now an incentive for infrequent users to NOT to use the product.