As someone who also brought up the pricing situation[0], I also currently make use of a free search engine (DuckDuckGo). In these circumstances, it seems that socioeconomic disadvantage and privacy do not go hand-in-hand.
A superior solution that's 2/mo or 20/yr would be something I would go for, given my income. I would not expect anyone I know to go for a search engine that charges 10/mo.
