Kagi Search vs Liner vs Perplexity AI vs Scira
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
Kagi Search
Member-funded search with no ads, domain controls and a built-in AI as...
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Perplexity AI
Answer engine that cites its sources, now with a browser and an agent
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| RECATOOLS Score | 7.8 / 10 | 6.7 / 10 | 8.4 / 10 | 6.5 / 10 |
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| Value for money | ||||
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| ASEAN readiness | ||||
| API quality | ||||
| Pricing | Subscription | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free tier | One-off trial only: 100 searches and 100 Kagi Assistant interactions | Free plan: unlimited Advanced Search, 1 file upload a day (25MB), answers with ads, no agent credits | Free plan: answers with citations and basic AI models, for limited daily usage | 3 searches a day with basic models and 13 search modes, no card; or self-host the AGPL-3.0 repo with your own API keys |
| Paid from | $5/month (Starter, 300 searches), or $54/year; plus sales tax | Pro $14.99/mo billed annually; $17.99 billed monthly | $20/month or $200/year (Pro); Max $200/month or $2,000/year | Pro $15/mo ($9 students); Max $60/mo; India ₹1,390/₹5,990 |
| Has API | ✓ | ✗ | ✓ | ✗ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ | ✗ | ✓ |
| Free to use | ✗ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Users | — | — | 30M+ standalone monthly active users (100M+ across all products, 2026) | — |
| Founded | 2022 | 2015 | 2022 | — |
| Maker | — | Independent (Liner Corp.) | Aravind Srinivas, Denis Yarats, Johnny Ho, Andy Konwinski | — |
| Verdict | Kagi delivers what it promises: clean, ad-free results you can shape by blocking, boosting and scoping domains, plus a cited Quick Answer and an AI assistant on every paid plan. Professional at $10 a month is the plan mo... |
Liner is a capable research assistant whose line-level citations and academic search make it easier to check what the AI says, and one plan now covers search, scholarship and writing. Its scale figures and benchmark are... |
Perplexity is still the quickest way to get a sourced answer: each reply links to the pages behind it, so verification takes seconds. Pro at $20 a month adds Deep Research, model choice and Computer credits; Max at $200... |
Scira remains one of the cleanest open-source takes on cited AI search, and a useful reference for anyone studying how a Perplexity-style answer engine is built — though the public repository has not seen a code change s... |
| Directory listing → | Directory listing → | Full review → | Full review → |
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.