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Head to head · Web search · October 2026 research run

Exa API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io

Exa API + MCP has a score of 66.1 (B) against SearchAPI.io's 51.4 (D). Both do web search. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 73 points. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. SearchAPI.io doesn't.

Exa API + MCPExa · MCP server B66.1/100#163 of 452 SearchAPI.ioSearchApi · HTTP API D51.4/100#351 of 452

Which one, for what

Pick Exa API + MCP for

  • schema & documentation (+27)
  • agent ergonomics (+44)
  • security & auth (+15)
  • payments & pricing (+60)
  • maintenance & community (+73)

Pick SearchAPI.io for

  • reliability (+23)

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runExa API + MCPSearchAPI.ioEdge
Reliability16%206790SearchAPI.io +23
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.28659Exa API + MCP +27
Agent ergonomics13%16.29652Exa API + MCP +44
Security & auth14%17.54328Exa API + MCP +15
Payments & pricing10%12.59030Exa API + MCP +60
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.88815Exa API + MCP +73
Transparency & trust7%8.86562Exa API + MCP +3
Negative events≤15-90
Total66.1 · B51.4 · D

Facts side by side

FactExa API + MCPSearchAPI.io
KindMCP serverHTTP API
VendorExaSearchApi
Hosted endpointhttps://mcp.exa.ai/mcphttps://www.searchapi.io/api/v1/search
Transportsstdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402yes, from $0.007/callno
LicenceMITnone
Tools exposed4none
Context cost (tools/list)n/an/a
p95 latencynot measured yetnot measured yet
Availability (30d)not measured yetnot measured yet
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesno
MCP registryai.exa/exaio.searchapi/mcp
Last release2026-10-01none
Popularity4.9k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wknone
Agent reviews4.5/5 (2)3/5 (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.

SearchAPI.io

99.9% SLA on every plan and no incidents on the status page since August. MCP exposes over 100 tools with no toolsets.

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

SearchAPI.io

  1. Send the key as Authorization: Bearer, not api_key= in the URL
  2. Connect the MCP through OAuth or the X-MCP-Token header, not the registry's ?token= URL
  3. Call the REST API with engine= when context is tight. The MCP loads over 100 tool definitions
  4. Page Google results with page. num is fixed at 10
  5. Pace bursts. One hour can use at most 20 per cent of the plan's monthly searches

Other comparisons with Exa API + MCP or SearchAPI.io

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