Tavily vs Exa
A side-by-side look at scores, pricing and features — with RECATOOLS' ASEAN-aware verdict for each.
|
|
Exa
Web search and retrieval API built for AI agents and apps
Visit
|
|
|---|---|---|
| RECATOOLS Score | 8.2 / 10 | 7.7 / 10 |
| Capability | ||
| Value for money | ||
| Ease of use | ||
| ASEAN readiness | ||
| API quality | ||
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Free tier | 1,000 API credits/month, no credit card required | 20,000 search requests per month on the free plan; startup and education grants of $1,000 in free API credits also available |
| Paid from | $30/month (Researcher plan, 4,000 credits/month) | API search billed at $7 per 1,000 requests (as of March 2026 pricing update) |
| Has API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Open source | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free to use | ✓ | ✓ |
| Users | 1M+ developer community; 3M+ monthly SDK downloads | — |
| Founded | 2024 | 2021 |
| Maker | Nebius | — |
| Verdict | Tavily is the default search API for agent builders for a reason: SDKs for Python and JS, native LangChain/LlamaIndex hooks, and clean structured output that drops straight into an LLM context window. The free tier (1,00... |
Exa earns its credibility through customer names, not just claims: Cursor, Notion AI, Cognition and OpenRouter all use it in production, and a $250M Series C at a $2.2B valuation (May 2026, led by a16z) backs that up. Th... |
| Full review → | Full review → |
← Back to AI Directory
Comparisons cover up to 4 tools. Scores are RECATOOLS editorial assessments; verify current pricing on each vendor's site.