# Exa API + MCP vs SerpKite (slim)

> Exa API + MCP scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against SerpKite's 64.8 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SerpKite leads on transparency & trust. Both do web search. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. SerpKite doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by…

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpkite.md (~2,400 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpkite.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpkite
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-06

Exa API + MCP scores 66.1 (B) on agent readiness against SerpKite's 64.8 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SerpKite leads on transparency & trust. Both do web search. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. SerpKite doesn't.

- Exa API + MCP: B 66.1, rank #163 of 460 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/exa-mcp.min.md
- SerpKite: B 64.8, rank #179 of 460 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/serpkite.min.md
- 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 Security & auth, 43 against 37; Payments & pricing, 90 against 40; Maintenance & community, 88 against 80. Also An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account; Runs on your own machine; Open source; Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 4.5 against 3.5 out of 5.
- SerpKite, good for Agents that want Google results and the top pages as Markdown in one call at a low per-1,000 price, with spend caps per key. Ahead on Transparency & trust, 77 against 65.

| Category | Exa API + MCP | SerpKite |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 67 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 86 | 90 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 96 | 92 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 43 | 37 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 90 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 88 | 80 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 65 | 77 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Exa API + MCP | SerpKite |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Exa | SerpKite (Anastasia Klimova, trading as SerpKite) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` | `https://api.serpkite.com/v1/search` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Price for web search | $4 per 1,000 requests | not published |
| x402 | yes, from $0.007/call | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under SerpKite's terms of service. The SDKs (TypeScript, Python, Go, LangChain, Vercel AI SDK) and the MCP connection repository on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 14 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `ai.exa/exa` | `io.github.SerpKite/serpkite` |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-10-04 |
| Popularity | 4.9k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wk | 809 npm/wk, 376 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |