3w ago

Bing Search and Bing Custom Search APIs will be retired on 11th August 2025.

learn.microsoft.com Bing Search Services developer documentation

Official developer documentation for Bing Search Services. Learn how to build web-connected apps and services that find webpages, images, news, videos, and more without advertisements.

This is a very low-information announcement here but if this is taken to the extreme, it means that DuckDuckGo, Qwant, and many other so-called "alternative" search engines are going to either have to look for a new provider of results, or die.

53 comments

Wonder what their reason for this is.
- Something something AI
  
  Something something money.
  AI is just the latest hype train they're hopping in the hopes of making more money.

Unpopular opinion: Bing is better than Google in recommending Edge browser
- I use Opera on a Mac for all my Bing-based Edge-recommending needs.
  
  https://www.spacebar.news/stop-using-opera-browser/
- Edge: when getting molested by sundar the creep ain't enough

https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/updates?id=492574
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bing/apis/pricing
So all tiers are getting discontinued.. Unless there is an unlisted custom tier? It's hard to imagine duckducgo only processing 250 requests per second. But then maybe that is enough and didn't they make their own index anyways? Maybe that was to ease the load
Oh and they suggest using ai instead
- DuckDuckGo, Startpage, Qwant, Ecosia... the last two have been working together to make their own index, hopefully it's going to be usable by then.
  
  I hope so, I don't trust MAGA owned Brave.

Shiiit, I really don't want to go back to Google and all their sponsored/AI/tracking bullshit. Any other privacy-focused search engines out there that don't rely on this?
- Kagi
  
  American company though. Not supporting that
  
  Yeah I'm far too used to getting my search for free to pay for it. I'll fuckin' use chatgpt before I pay a subscription fee for that shit, even if it is a substantially better option.
- Shiiit, I really don't want to go back to Google and all their sponsored/AI/tracking bullshit.
  I can tell you with confidence that I simply just won't.
  
  What's the alternative? I guess you can use chatgpt or whatever as a sort of search engine? shrug
- Try using Startpage.
  
  That anonymizes Google results. It's Google, all the way down.
- You think Microsoft gives you privacy?
  They make billions on targeted ad revenue.
  
  No, I use duckduckgo which is powered by Bing's API. Hence why I said other privacy-focused search engine.
- Mullvad Leta is at least google minus the tracking.
- Brave Search has its own index
  
  Is that something built into the browser? i dropped Brave when I heard Google was forcing the adblock-gimping shit in Manifest V3 into Chomium. Also I was never entirely keen on their crypto-hawking bullshit.

Thurott's article on this implies that "big customers like DDG will be unaffected". Though he also says information is scarce.

So..... let's see what we can work with→
Swisscows
Mojeek
Gibiru
PriEco
Wiby
I have no clue TBH, but there needs to be a community-funded initiative to have a (De)Centralized repository of search-indices
- Swisscows I don't believe has an index, Mojeek does.
  
  I've heard that Swisscows does, although you won't find any 18+ stuff.

Bing? People use Bing?
- If you use DuckDuckGo, you're essentially using Bing.
  
  I did not know this. I find duckduckgo to be more useful than Google most times now. It's crazy how bad Google has become.
- (some) alternative search engines use Bing because building an index is hard and the only project I know of doing this work from base is Mojeek: https://www.mojeek.com/
  
  brave search, ecosia and qwant are all in various stages of having their own index
- You don't? It is by far the best search engine for porn in existence, especially Bing Video.
  
  This is true. Omg. I forgot! I haven't searched for porn in so long! I just to live shows now.

53 comments