Kagi brings its ‘small web’ of a human

As AI takes over the internet, Palo Alto-based search engine Kagi is bringing its handpicked collection of non-commercial, human-authored websites to mobile devices through new “Small Web” apps for iOS and Android .

The “ Small Web ,” in Kagi’s definition, includes sites created by individuals, like personal blogs, webcomics, independent videos, and more.

These are the types of properties that formed the basis of the early web, before it became dominated by ad-supported business models and platforms controlled by large corporations.

They’re also increasingly the kind of sites that can be harder to discover on today’s web, where so much content is infused with, if not directly authored by, AI.

The search startup first launched its idea for a “Small Web” initiative in 2023, designed to promote this kind of content in its search results and through a dedicated website.

In March, the company announced it’s expanding these efforts with browser extensions, mobile apps, and a way to filter results by category.

The Small Web website is like a modern-day StumbleUpon as it randomly displays one of the selected sites, then lets you click a “next” button to move to another.

Like StumbleUpon, the goal is to help users discover the parts of the web they might otherwise have missed.

With the addition of categories, users can now limit discovery to just those topics of interest from the more than 30,000 “Small Web” sites in Kagi’s index.

While the initiative to make less-trafficked parts of the indie web more visible is a worthy one — especially at a time when AI-generated content is masquerading as human creation — some Kagi users complain that the Small Web product isn’t going far enough.

Disrupt 2026: The tech ecosystem, all in one room
Still, the concept of a human-curated web of content that’s also written by humans could be something worth building, especially if Kagi’s original concept of becoming a Google alternative by offering a premium, paid search engine doesn’t pan out.

In the meantime, people can suggest new sites for the Small Web via its GitHub page .