What does Exa do?
- Searches the live web by meaning through an API, from $4 per 1,000 requests (Instant) to $15 per 1,000 (Deep-Reasoning), with up to 10 results included and $1 per 1,000 for each extra result.
- Fetches full page contents and highlights for LLM context at $1 per 1,000 pages, useful for feeding account research into a prompt.
- Runs asynchronous research through Exa Agent, from $0.012 (minimal effort) to $1.00 (x-high) per request, returning structured, cited fields in your schema.
- Builds lead lists with Websets: describe an ICP, Exa's agents verify each result against your criteria, and you add enrichment columns (10 per Webset on Starter, 50 on Pro).
- Finds contact details through Agent at $0.02 per email and $0.07 per phone number, billed on top of agent usage.
- Watches the web for fresh events with Monitors at $15 per 1,000 requests, delivering updates to webhooks on a schedule you set.
Where does Exa fit in a GTM engineering stack?
Exa is the open-web search and research layer in a GTM engineering stack: it finds accounts that match criteria no database field captures, and feeds current, cited web pages into the AI steps that score and personalise them.
- 1A Webset or Clay's 'Perform a search with Exa' action finds companies matching a plain-English ICP
- 2Exa Contents pulls each account's site pages for a Claude or OpenAI scoring prompt
- 3A contact provider such as Prospeo or FullEnrich finds the buyer's verified email
- 4Monitors watch target accounts for announcements and trigger an n8n webhook into the sequence
See how every layer connects in Clay integrations: how the GTM engineering stack fits together.
How do you use Exa?
Exa's official walkthrough, from the Exa AI Labs YouTube channel.
How much does Exa cost?
Prices as shown on Exa's pricing page on 17 October 2026 (USD). Free plan: Yes. API Starter: $10 of credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method required, access to all endpoints, 10 search QPS. Websets Free caps a Webset at 25 verified results. Free trial: Websets Pro shows a 'Start free trial' option; length not stated.
API Starter
Free ($10 credits/month + $10 onboarding bonus)
Free
MCP server, Claude connector, ChatGPT plugin, 50+ integrations, all endpoints, 10 search QPS, 50 agent concurrency; web, people, company and scholarly indexes.
API Developer
Pay as you go
Usage-based (card or bank account)
Search from $4/1k requests (Instant), $7 (Fast/Auto), $12 (Deep), $15 (Deep-Reasoning); Contents $1/1k pages; Answer $5/1k; Monitors $15/1k; Agent $0.012 to $1.00 per run; email $0.02, phone $0.07. Up to 25 search QPS, SOC 2 Type II.
API Enterprise
Custom
Contact sales, monthly invoicing
Custom MSA and DPA, zero data retention, HIPAA, SSO/SCIM, SLAs, up to 1,000 results per search, custom indexes.
Websets Starter
$49/month
Monthly
8,000 credits/month, 100 results per Webset, 10 enrichments per Webset, 2 seats, 2 concurrent searches, API access, CSV export, import up to 1,000 and exclude up to 500 results, web monitoring.
Websets Pro
$449/month
Monthly
100,000 credits/month, 1,000 results per Webset, 50 enrichments per Webset, 10 seats, 5 concurrent searches, import up to 10,000 and exclude up to 5,000 results.
Websets Enterprise
Custom
Contact sales
5,000 results per Webset, 100 enrichments per Webset, volume credit discounts, exclude up to 50,000 results.
Websets credits are separate from Search API credits and are consumed by verified results, enrichments, contact data, imports and API previews; per-action rates are shown in the Websets billing page after login. Websets prices from https://websets.exa.ai/billing. Exa also offers startup and education grants of up to $1,000 in credits.
Who is Exa best for?
A good fit if you
- ICPs that databases cannot filter, such as 'B2B SaaS companies hiring their first RevOps lead' or 'agencies that publish case studies about Clay'.
- Account research columns in Clay or n8n, where an LLM needs current, cited web pages rather than a static database field.
- GTM engineers building their own agents, since Exa ships an MCP server, a Claude connector and SDKs for LangChain, CrewAI and the Vercel AI SDK.
- Signal monitoring on niche events (launches, hires, announcements) that structured providers do not track.
Look elsewhere if you
- Bulk verified email and mobile finding at scale; Exa offers contact enrichment through Agent, but dedicated providers specialise in it.
- Clay users without their own Exa account, because Clay's Exa action is bring-your-own-account.
- Teams wanting the Websets API on the free tier: Exa's FAQ says the Websets API requires a paid Websets plan and Free caps a Webset at 25 verified results.
- Buyers who need a fixed, predictable unit price per enriched row, since Agent effort levels and Websets credits vary by task.
Does Exa integrate with Clay and your CRM?
- Clay
- Native Clay integration. Clay lists Exa (joined October 2024, category AI) as an HTTP API integration with one action, 'Perform a search with Exa', which finds a list of relevant companies from a prompt-engineered query. It requires your own Exa account and is included from Clay's Launch plan up. (source)
- Integrations
- Exa's integrations directory lists n8n, Make, Zapier, Google Sheets, Gumloop, Lindy and other automation tools; OpenAI, LangChain, LlamaIndex, CrewAI, Mastra and the Vercel AI SDK; plus an MCP server, Claude connector and ChatGPT plugin. Its GTM page names Salesforce enrichment and Clay custom API columns. (source)
- GDPR
- Exa's privacy policy (last updated 29 June 2026) says its services return publicly available data, including names, job titles and company affiliations, and that it may use that information to train models; it does not reference GDPR specifically. Its Trust Center lists SOC 2 Type II and HIPAA, a downloadable DPA and a subprocessor list, and zero data retention is available on request. Contact privacy@exa.ai. (source)
- Data coverage
- Exa says its indexes cover the live web plus 70M+ businesses (firmographics, funding, investors, hiring, tech stack) and 1B+ people records, alongside a scholarly works index. Exa Connect adds third-party providers such as Similarweb and Fiber.ai self-serve, with ZoomInfo and Crunchbase on request. These are vendor claims. (source)
What are the best Exa alternatives?
Other enrichment and orchestration tools that do the same job in a GTM engineering stack, with their own trade-offs.
AI answer engine with cited web search, sold as Pro and Max plans and as a pay-as-you-go API (Sonar, Search and Agent API).
- Pricing
- Pay-as-you-go API; app Pro $17/mo
- Free trial
- None listed
Web scraping and automation platform with 90,000+ ready-made scrapers (Actors), billed by usage or per result.
- Pricing
- Free; paid from $17/mo (annual)
- Free trial
- None listed
Public web data provider selling company, employee and job-posting records through credit-based APIs and bulk datasets.
- Pricing
- $49/mo
- Free trial
- 7-day free trial (2,000 credits).
GTM data platform that combines 150+ data providers, AI research agents and workflow automation in spreadsheet-style tables.
- Pricing
- Free; paid from $167/mo (annual)
- Free trial
- 14-day trial offered on the Free, Launch and Growth plans.
Which GTM stacks use Exa?
Exa FAQs
What is the difference between Exa Search and Websets?
Exa Search is a pay-per-request API that returns relevant web pages for a query, designed for agents and pipelines. Websets is a list-building product: you describe what you want, Exa's agents verify each candidate against your criteria, and you get a table you can enrich and export. Websets uses its own credits, separate from API credits.
How much does an Exa search cost per row in Clay?
Exa search on the API starts at $4 per 1,000 requests for Instant search and $7 per 1,000 for Fast or Auto, with up to 10 results each. In Clay you connect your own Exa account, so the search is billed by Exa rather than in Clay credits. Fetching page contents adds $1 per 1,000 pages.
Can Exa find people as well as companies?
Yes, Exa says it has a people index of 1B+ records alongside 70M+ businesses, and Websets can build lists of people as well as companies. Exa Agent can add emails at $0.02 each and phone numbers at $0.07 each.
Is Exa a replacement for a B2B database like Apollo?
Exa works differently: it searches the web by meaning and verifies matches against your criteria, rather than filtering fixed database fields. That suits niche ICPs, but structured filters such as exact headcount bands remain simpler in a database. Many stacks use Exa for discovery and research and a contact provider for verified emails.
Does Exa have an MCP server?
Yes, Exa offers an MCP server on its free Starter tier, along with an official Claude connector and a ChatGPT plugin. Any MCP-compatible client, including Claude Code, can then call Exa search while you prototype list-building or research workflows. Free-tier usage draws on the $10 of monthly credits.
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Sources
Checked on 17 October 2026.
Pricing, integrations and data policies are checked against Exa's own pages. How we research tools.