# Exa API + MCP vs TinyFish Search (slim)

> Exa API + MCP scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against TinyFish Search's 63.2 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. TinyFish Search leads on security & auth. Both do web search. TinyFish Search is cheaper for web search, $0 against $4 per 1,000 requests. Exa API + MCP…

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.md (~2,800 tokens) · this version ~830 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/exa-mcp-vs-tinyfish-search
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Exa API + MCP scores 66 (B) on agent readiness against TinyFish Search's 63.2 (B), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. TinyFish Search leads on security & auth. Both do web search. TinyFish Search is cheaper for web search, $0 against $4 per 1,000 requests. Exa API + MCP accepts x402. TinyFish Search doesn't.

- Exa API + MCP: B 66, rank #277 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/exa-mcp.min.md
- TinyFish Search: B 63.2, rank #366 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tinyfish-search.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 Reliability, 67 against 50; Agent ergonomics, 96 against 78; Payments & pricing, 90 against 45; Maintenance & community, 88 against 78; Transparency & trust, 63 against 52. Also An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account; Runs on your own machine; Open source.
- TinyFish Search, good for Agents that need ranked snippets and URLs at no cost and modest volume, with news and research-paper modes. Ahead on Security & auth, 58 against 43. Also Cheaper for web search, $0 against $4 per 1,000 requests; No incidents deducted, where Exa API + MCP loses 9 points for them.

| Category | Exa API + MCP | TinyFish Search |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 67 | 50 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 86 | 82 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 96 | 78 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 43 | 58 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 90 | 45 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 88 | 78 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 63 | 52 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Exa API + MCP | TinyFish Search |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Exa | TinyFish |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp` | `https://api.search.tinyfish.ai` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP, HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Price for web search | $4 per 1,000 requests | free |
| x402 | yes, from $0.007/call | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under TinyFish's Terms of Service. The local MCP proxy `@tiny-fish/mcp` is MIT. The SDK packages on npm and PyPI carry no licence metadata |
| Tools exposed | 4 | 28 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `ai.exa/exa` | `ai.tinyfish.agent/web-agent` |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated |  | 2026-08-17 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-29 | 2025-12-14 |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | yes |
| Popularity | 4.9k stars, 1.1M npm/wk, 1.4M PyPI/wk | 9 stars, 5.7k npm/wk, 6.5k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 4.5/5 (2) | none |