Exa vs Perplexity
Exa and Perplexity are both AI assistants tools. Exa is aimed at developers and enterprise, while Perplexity is aimed at small businesses and creators. Both have a free plan.
Web search and content API built for AI agents and LLM apps
AI answer engine with citations
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium · $20 |
| Starting price | Not published | $20/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes |
| Free trial | — | — |
| Built for | Developers, Enterprise, Small businesses | Small businesses, Creators |
| Platforms | web | web, ios, android, macos |
| Country | US · 2021 | US · 2022 |
| Rating | — | — |
Choose Exa if
Developers and AI teams who need a fast, controllable web search and content layer for agents, RAG or research products.
- Free $10 monthly credit grant with no card required
- Lite search at $4 per 1,000 requests suits high-volume agents
- Highlights cut token usage and LLM costs compared with full pages
Look elsewhere if: Non-technical users who want a finished answer engine or chat app rather than an API (Perplexity, You.com).
Choose Perplexity if
Researchers, analysts and anyone who wants answers with sources rather than a chat.
- Fast, sourced answers beat ten blue links
- Model choice and Deep Research on Pro
- Clean, focused product
Look elsewhere if: Long creative writing or agentic coding (Claude, ChatGPT).
Exa vs Perplexity pricing
Exa
- Free$0$10 in credits every month plus a one-time $10 onboarding bonus
- Search Lite$4/1,000 requestsUp to 10 results per request; $1 per 1k extra results
- Search Auto$7/1,000 requestsUp to 10 results per request; AI summaries $1 per 1k pages
- Deep Search$12/1,000 requestsdeep-lite (about 4 seconds) and deep (4 to 15 seconds) types
- Contents$1/1,000 pagesPer content type; prepaid credits, no subscription or minimum
Perplexity
- Free$0Limited daily usage, basic models
- Pro$20/mo$17/mo billed annually; Deep Research, model choice
- Max$200/mo$167/mo billed annually; 10,000 credits/mo, top models
- Enterprise Pro$40/seat/mo$400/seat/yr; admin, SSO
- Enterprise Max$325/seat/mo$3,250/seat/yr
Exa · Key features
- Search API with lite, auto, deep-lite and deep types on one independent index
- Dynamic Highlights that pass only the most relevant tokens to the model
- Contents API for full page text, highlights and AI summaries
- Agent API for cited research, list building and enrichment with structured output
- Coverage of people, companies, code, papers, ecommerce listings and local businesses
- Monitors for recurring searches and Websets for verified datasets
Cons
- No flat monthly plan, so spend rises directly with traffic
- Websets API needs a separate paid Websets plan and credits
- Benchmark leadership is reported by Exa itself
Perplexity · Key features
- Cited answers from live web search with follow-ups
- Deep Research for multi-step reports
- Choice of models (GPT, Claude, Gemini, Sonar) on Pro
- Spaces for collections and file uploads
- Labs for generated dashboards, apps and spreadsheets
- Shopping, finance and travel verticals; Comet browser
Cons
- Daily limits on Pro searches
- Occasional citation or synthesis errors
- Less creative and coding depth than ChatGPT/Claude
Exa vs Perplexity: FAQ
Do Exa and Perplexity have a free plan?
Yes, both Exa and Perplexity have a free plan; paid plans add more usage and features.