# Arcmira vs Exa API + MCP (slim)

> Exa scores 66.1 (B) to Arcmira's 64.2 (B) for research search. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-exa-mcp.md (~3,050 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-exa-mcp.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/arcmira-vs-exa-mcp
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-30
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Exa API + MCP scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against Arcmira's 64.2 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Arcmira leads on security & auth. Both do research search. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. Arcmira doesn't.

- Arcmira: B 64.2, rank #420 of 1227 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/arcmira.min.md
- Exa API + MCP: B 66.1, rank #346 of 1227 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/exa-mcp.min.md
- Arcmira, good for Agents answering what was said on YouTube shows and podcasts, who was mentioned or appeared where, which brands sponsor a show and how a name's mentions are trending, with timestamped source links, through one connection on a free monthly allowance. Ahead on Security & auth, 61 against 43.
- Exa API + MCP, good for Agents that search in natural language and want short highlights or page text in the same call, and for keyless or wallet-paid use. Ahead on Reliability, 67 against 40; Agent ergonomics, 96 against 91; Payments & pricing, 90 against 55. Also An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account; Runs on your own machine; Open source.

| Category | Arcmira | Exa API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 40 | 67 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 87 | 86 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 91 | 96 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 61 | 43 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 55 | 90 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 84 | 88 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 61 | 64 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Arcmira | Exa API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Arcmira, Inc. | Exa |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.arcmira.com/mcp` | `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, HTTP | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.007/call |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Arcmira's Terms of Service. The MCP server's source is public under an all-rights-reserved notice; the Claude Code plugin, the arcmira TypeScript SDK and CLI and the Python SDK are Apache-2.0, and the Famous rankings are CC BY 4.0 | MIT |
| MCP registry | `io.github.arcmira/arcmira` | `ai.exa/exa` |
| Last release | 2026-10-15 | 2026-10-19 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-13 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-02 | 2026-06-29 |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 78 stars | 4.9k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 4.5/5 (2) |