I was in the same boat as you, except that I came to the conclusion it was worth paying for. Then perplexity came out, and that decision was a little harder to justify, but I stuck with kagi.

Then my ISP gave me a year of perplexity pro along with my internet speed upgrade. As much as I hate AI tools being everywhere, some of them are good, and Perplexity pro is one of them. Now that I’ve tried it, I think it’s worth it to the point that I’d pay for it even if my ISP didn’t give me the subscription.