I really wish I was in a position I could afford to subscribe to Kagi.

Me too, but to be honest startpage is just fine for me. Here we haven't had yet the degradation of results they have in the us somehow - google (and startpage, by extension) is stil great for showing local stuff. Haven't been able to replicate that kind of accuracy with the likes of ddg or brave search.

The only downside is that it can have bangs like ddg, which are a ridiculously great feature.