June 4, 2026
Search wars, but make it European
Show HN: Uruky (EU-based Kagi alternative) now has Image Search and URL Rewrites
Privacy search challenger sparks cheers, side-eyes, and a very loud “why not just use SearxNG?”
TLDR: Uruky launched new search features while pitching itself as a private, Europe-based alternative to big search companies. Commenters loved the privacy angle but quickly turned the thread into a showdown over whether it’s truly unique, too hard to try, and why people shouldn’t just use SearxNG instead.
A new Europe-based search engine called Uruky rolled in with a big promise: no ads, no tracking, no creepy data collection, plus shiny new image search and URL rewrite features. It’s pitching itself as a private, paid alternative to bigger names, with an almost spy-movie twist: no names, no emails, just an account number. It even says loyal customers get the source code after a year. On paper, that’s the kind of anti-big-tech energy that gets privacy fans clapping fast.
And clap they did — at first. One of the loudest cheers in the room was basically, “finally, more EU-first services!” That pro-Europe mood was real, with commenters clearly hungry for tools built outside the usual US tech orbit. But the honeymoon lasted about three seconds before the grilling began.
The biggest drama? People immediately started asking whether Uruky is truly its own thing or just remixing other search providers behind the curtain. That sparked the juiciest showdown in the thread: is this a real rival to Kagi, or is it closer to a dressed-up middleman? One skeptical commenter flat-out said the comparison felt misleading and asked the killer question: why pay for this instead of using SearxNG, a do-it-yourself privacy search option? Others piled on with complaints that the trial process feels weirdly hard — having to top up money and solve a captcha just to test it gave off serious “let me in, but make it annoying” vibes. Even so, some critics ended with a surprisingly polite “good luck,” which is basically Hacker News for I’m unconvinced, but I respect the hustle.
Key Points
- •Uruky describes itself as an EU-based private search engine focused on personalization rather than building a broader ecosystem.
- •The service says it has no ads, no tracking, no analytics, and stores no emails or names, only an account number.
- •Uruky offers a 14-day money-back guarantee.
- •After 12 months as a paying customer, users are promised a copy of the source code.
- •Uruky says it currently has no plans to add AI features, citing concerns about implementing them responsibly.