Kagi vs Perplexity AI

Perplexity AI has a disclosed valuation of $24B, while Kagi's valuation is not publicly available, making a direct size comparison difficult. Perplexity AI employs 100 people.

Perplexity AI has raised more in total funding at $1.5B, compared to Kagi's $7M — a gap of $1.5B. Combined, the two companies have completed 6 known funding rounds.

Perplexity AI leads with an Awaira Score of 86/100, while Kagi sits at 55/100. That 31-point gap reflects real differences in funding, scale, and traction — it's not a vanity metric.

Kagi was founded by Vladimir Prelovac in 2018. Perplexity AI was founded by Aravind Srinivas in 2022. Visit each company's profile on Awaira for a full founder biography.

Kagi: Kagi is a privacy-focused search engine founded in 2018 and headquartered in the United States. The company operates as a bootstrapped venture with $7M in total funding and has not disclosed its valuation. Kagi positions itself as an alternative to Google and other ad-supported search engines by offering a subscription-based model that prioritizes user privacy and data protection. The platform uses its own search index alongside licensed results from multiple sources, reducing dependence on any single provider. Core features include customizable search results, the ability to block or prioritize specific websites, and tools designed for productivity and research workflows. Kagi targets users concerned about privacy, data harvesting, and algorithmic bias inherent in advertising-driven search models. The company emphasizes transparent business practices where revenue comes directly from users rather than advertisers tracking search behavior. Its competitive positioning centers on privacy guarantees, result quality, and user control over search experience customization. Kagi has attracted a growing community of privacy-conscious users and technology professionals. The company operates independently without venture capital backing, allowing autonomous decision-making regarding product direction. Growth trajectory reflects increasing demand for privacy-respecting alternatives to mainstream search engines, though market penetration remains limited compared to dominant competitors. Kagi's subscription-based model with privacy-first design directly challenges the ad-supported search framework by eliminating tracking and user data monetization. Perplexity AI: Perplexity AI is an AI search engine founded in 2022 that uses large language models to provide conversational answers to user queries. The platform combines retrieval-augmented generation with real-time web search capabilities, enabling users to ask complex questions and receive cited, sourced responses. Unlike traditional search engines, Perplexity generates natural language summaries with inline citations rather than returning ranked links. The company offers both free and premium subscription tiers, with the premium service providing additional features and faster response times. Perplexity competes directly with OpenAI's ChatGPT, Google's AI Overviews, and other generative search solutions. The company has raised $1.5 billion in total funding across multiple rounds, reaching a $21 billion valuation at Series E stage. Key technological differentiators include its focus on source attribution and real-time information retrieval, addressing transparency concerns in AI-generated responses. The platform serves individual users and enterprise clients seeking alternative search interfaces. Perplexity has gained significant traction in the AI search category, establishing itself as a notable competitor in the evolving landscape of AI-powered information retrieval. The company continues expanding its capabilities and market presence within the rapidly developing generative AI sector. Perplexity distinguishes itself through its emphasis on cited, verifiable sources in AI-generated search responses, directly addressing hallucination and attribution concerns.

Kagi got there first, launching in 2018 — that's 4 years of extra runway. Perplexity AI didn't arrive until 2022. In AI, that kind of head start means more training data, deeper customer relationships, and a bigger talent moat.

Kagi has about 45 employees; Perplexity AI has about 100. A bigger team usually means more revenue or heavier VC backing, but in AI, small teams can build at massive scale.

Yes — they're direct rivals. Both Kagi and Perplexity AI compete in AI Search, targeting many of the same buyers. If you're evaluating one, you should be looking at the other.