# Exa API + MCP vs Linkup

> Linkup has a score of 69.1 (B) against Exa API + MCP's 66.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 20 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-linkup.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-linkup.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-04

Linkup has a score of 69.1 (B) against Exa API + MCP's 66.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 20 points.

- Exa API + MCP: grade B, 66.1/100, rank #163 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/exa-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/exa-mcp.json
- Linkup: grade B, 69.1/100, rank #116 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linkup.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linkup.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Exa API + MCP for agent ergonomics (+20), security & auth (+11), payments & pricing (+10), maintenance & community (+5).

Pick Linkup for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Exa API + MCP | Linkup | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 70 | Linkup +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 88 | Linkup +2 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 96 | 76 | Exa API + MCP +20 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 32 | Exa API + MCP +11 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 80 | Exa API + MCP +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 88 | 83 | Exa API + MCP +5 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 64 | Exa API + MCP +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -9 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.1 · B** | **69.1 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Exa API + MCP | Linkup |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Exa | Linkup |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` | `https://api.linkup.so/v1/search` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.007/call | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | MIT | none |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 4 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `ai.exa/exa` | `so.linkup.mcp/linkup-mcp-server` |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-30 |
| Popularity | 4.9k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wk | 29 stars, 54k npm/wk, 84k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4.5/5 (2) | 4/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Exa API + MCP.** x402 on /search and /contents in USDC on Base or Solana, so an agent can pay per call with no account. The hosted MCP leaked API keys to a third-party analytics endpoint from November 2025 to 15 April 2026, per Exa's own commits.

**Linkup.** Per-call prices from $0.005, and no credit taken for errors, missing parameters or empty results. 429 covers both exhausted credit and rate limiting, with no `Retry-After`.

## Before you call either

### Exa API + MCP

1. Send the key as `x-api-key` or a Bearer header, never `?exaApiKey=` in the MCP URL
2. Ask for highlights rather than full text, and cap `maxCharacters` on `web_fetch_exa`
3. Request only the results you'll read. More than 10 costs extra, and x402 calls stop at 10
4. On 429, honour `Retry-After`. The QPS limit is shared by every key on the team
5. Add `?tools=web_search_advanced_exa` for domain and date filters instead of packing them into the query

### Linkup

1. On 429, check the credit balance before backing off. The same code means out of credit
2. Pass `reasoningDepth: "S"` to research unless you need more. The MCP default is L at $1.50
3. Start with `depth=fast` and `outputType=searchResults`. Deep costs $0.05, ten times as much
4. Send the key as an `Authorization: Bearer` header, not `?apiKey=` or a command-line argument
5. Poll `linkup-get-research` with the task id. Research runs take minutes

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