bkobren

I wouldn't be so sure, agree that there is an enormous challenge to convince people to pay for something they think they are getting for free, even when it's really not free ie paying for it with time, attention, privacy.

But create enough value, provide truly differentiated and unique experiences that ad-supported models can't, include privacy etc and there is a case to be made that over time a sizable enough segment will pay for that value that you can have a sustainable business.

That is certainly our bet at Neeva, and so far we have seen a lot of growth, interest and folks opting for the premium (paid version) over the basic. Even without a full push to encouraging the premium.

We have been working on exactly that at Neeva and the response has been very positive in terms of growth and adoption. Neeva offers a freemium model (free basic and premium for $5/Month which includes paid versions of VPN and a password manager), you can connect third party apps like dropbox and email putting all your personal docs in one search along with websearch, both versions are ad-free and private, it's available to anyone in U.S. and we are building our own independent stack to make the search experience unique and better.

Hi there, you should give Neeva a try. Disclosure, I work for them, but we were the first to introduce a subscription, interest/growth has been really strong so far. Neeva offers a freemium model (free basic and premium for $5/Month which includes paid versions of VPN and a password manager), you can connect third party apps like dropbox and email putting all your personal docs in one search along with websearch, both versions are ad-free and private, it's available to anyone in U.S. and we are building our own independent stack to make the search experience unique and better.

Give Neeva a try (disclosure I work with them). We offer a freemium model (free basic and premium version for $5/month that includes paid versions of VPN and password manager), it's ad-free and private, it's available to anyone in U.S. and we are building our own independent stack to make the search experience unique and better.

(Disclaimer, work for Neeva), but sounds like we might offer a lot of what you are looking for. We are an ad-free, private search engine. Which means no ads, no affiliate links and you data is not sold or shared. We give users control letting you customize your search result preferences for sources including news, shopping and more. Want more of X? That's your choice. want to see less of Y? That's your choice. We also block third party trackers, let you search across personal apps like dropbox and email all from the same search bar. See for yourself neeva.com

re: programing/code comment...(disclaimer, I work for Neeva) we are actually an ad-free, private search engine. Comprehensive search which includes user friendly code query results and no ads and no affiliate links. We also block third party trackers, give you agency over preferred sources, and lots of unique features that no other traditional search engine that relies on ad revenue can offer. If your curious, check us out at neeva.co