Exa

Exa is a search API that retrieves real-time web data and structured content for AI agents.

Exa is a search API built for AI agents that require real-time web data, deep research, and structured content from a single endpoint. It indexes public web and private information to retrieve accurate data across search verticals like company search, people search, and code. The platform features token-efficient highlights, low-latency search results under 180ms, and structured outputs with grounded citations. It is designed for developers building AI applications, coding agents, and automated workflows. Exa includes enterprise-grade security controls, SOC 2 Type II compliance, GDPR and CCPA support, and zero data retention options.

Exa at a glance

Best for: Software engineer, Researcher, Founder
Runs on: Web, API
Pricing: Free plan with $10 credits monthly; pay-as-you-go tier; custom enterprise pricing available.
Released: November 2022
Category: AI search engine
Website: exa.ai

Key features

Real-time web search API
Token-efficient highlights
Deep research runs
Structured outputs with citations
Company and people indexes
Configurable livecrawl policies
Zero data retention

Use it for

Powering coding agents with real-time documentation
Retrieving structured data on companies and people
Conducting deep research via API endpoints

Companions

Tools that articles about Exa recommend using with it, each with its job.

n8n — Self-hostable automation with code allowed in any step
Claude Code — Terminal-first agent that handles multi-hour refactors and migrations
Cursor — Same MCP server, registered with one command.
Pinecone — Official template ingests scraped pages into Pinecone.
Qdrant — Self-hostable index for crawled docs.

Alternatives to Exa

Firecrawl — Provides direct web data access for AI agents with open source flexibility.
Tavily — It delivers fast, secure web data retrieval designed specifically for AI agents.
XERJ — It answers agent questions from an index instead of wasting tokens on context windows.
Parallel — It gives AI agents real-time access to fresh, cited web context through a single API.
Composio — Equips AI agents with tools, managed user auth, and sandboxes across 1,500+ apps
FastGPT — It uses hybrid retrieval and auto-cleansed data to prevent hallucinations.
Linkup — Industry-leading factual accuracy and deployment flexibility.
SearchCLI — Provides a stable, reviewable CLI for managing Volcengine AI search workflows.
Jina — It provides reliable reader and search APIs optimized for LLMs and RAG systems.
Search2o — Builds model-neutral agents with strict spend limits and role-based access.
Nimble — Delivers expert-level web search for AI agents with auditable search plans and a proprietary index.
Knowhere — It preserves page-native structures and source links for accurate agent retrieval.

All Exa alternatives