I despise subscriptions a lot, I also believe that the use of a search engine shouldn't be something that is run for profit, see where it got us with Google? I also dislike Kagi (and other sites) who refuse to comply with the rules and regulations we have in Europe surrounding prices on sites. They are American iirc which doesn't help for that and that also means they barely have to make any financial figures public.

I prefer Ecosia (or Qwant), which are making their own search engine together and while they are still funded by ads, it wouldn't surprise me if in the future (if not already) they get money from the governments. I also prefer actual non-profits (not those American non-profit statuses that can be bough) compared to for profit businesses.