# Exa API + MCP vs Tavily API + MCP

> Tavily API + MCP has a score of 77.2 (BB) against Exa API + MCP's 66.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is reliability, 23 points. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. Tavily API + MCP doesn't. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md (~1,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.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

Tavily API + MCP has a score of 77.2 (BB) against Exa API + MCP's 66.1 (B). Both do web search. The largest gap is reliability, 23 points. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. Tavily API + MCP doesn't.

- 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
- Tavily API + MCP: grade BB, 77.2/100, rank #20 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tavily-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tavily-mcp.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Exa API + MCP for agent ergonomics (+15), payments & pricing (+15).

Pick Tavily API + MCP for reliability (+23), security & auth (+9).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Exa API + MCP | Tavily API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 90 | Tavily API + MCP +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 89 | Tavily API + MCP +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 96 | 81 | Exa API + MCP +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 52 | Tavily API + MCP +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 90 | 75 | Exa API + MCP +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 88 | 85 | Exa API + MCP +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 65 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -9 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.1 · B** | **77.2 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Exa API + MCP | Tavily API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | MCP server |
| Vendor | Exa | Tavily |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` | `https://mcp.tavily.com/mcp/?tavilyApiKey=<key>` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.007/call | payer tooling only |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 6 |
| 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` | `io.github.tavily-ai/tavily-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-18 |
| Popularity | 4.9k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wk | 2.4k stars, 452k npm/wk, 1.6M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4.5/5 (2) | 3.6/5 (8) |

## 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.

**Tavily API + MCP.** Keyless search and extract, plus a free 1,000 credits a month with no card. x402 covers advanced search only, not extract, map, crawl or research.

## 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

### Tavily API + MCP

1. Try `X-Tavily-Access-Mode: keyless` first for search and extract, then switch to a key or x402 when the limit hits
2. Send the key in `Authorization: Bearer`, not `?tavilyApiKey=` in the MCP URL
3. On 429, wait for `Retry-After`. A 432 or 433 means a spend limit, and retrying won't help
4. Run /map before /crawl to bound the crawl, since crawl is billed as map plus extract
5. Research is async and runs 4 to 250 credits. Create the task, then poll /research/{request_id}

## Other comparisons with Exa API + MCP or Tavily API + MCP

- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Exa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-exa-mcp.md)
- [Brave Search API + MCP vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brave-search-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Firecrawl MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-firecrawl-mcp.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Linkup](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-linkup.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Parallel Search and Task APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-parallel-search-api.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs SearchAPI.io](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-searchapi-io.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs SerpApi](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serpapi.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Serper](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-serper.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-valyu.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Firecrawl MCP vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/firecrawl-mcp-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Linkup vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linkup-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Parallel Search and Task APIs vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/parallel-search-api-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SearchAPI.io vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/searchapi-io-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [SerpApi vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serpapi-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Serper vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/serper-vs-tavily-mcp.md)
- [Tavily API + MCP vs Valyu](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-valyu.md)
- [Tavily API + MCP vs You.com APIs](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tavily-mcp-vs-you-com-api.md)
- [Exa API + MCP vs Fetch (MCP reference server)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-fetch-reference-server.md)
- [Fetch (MCP reference server) vs Tavily API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fetch-reference-server-vs-tavily-mcp.md)