Perplexity
Conversational search that cites its sources and offers deep research modes.
Full Perplexity record →Head to head
Perplexity vs Exa
Perplexity (Perplexity) and Exa (Exa) both sit in Search & Research. Exa is the cheaper entry point at Free tier includes $10/mo in credits. Pay-as-you-go thereafter (e.g. Search at $7/1k requests, Contents at $1/1k pages).. Every value below comes from the latest crawl of the vendors' own pages.
| Attribute | Perplexity Perplexity | Exa Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Segment | Search & Research | Search & Research |
| Version | Sonar API | Exa Agent |
| Entry cost | from $20/mo | Free tier includes $10/mo in credits. Pay-as-you-go thereafter (e.g. Search at $7/1k requests, Contents at $1/1k pages). |
| Pricing tiers | Free free · Pro $20 · Max $200 · Enterprise Pro $40 | Starter free · Developer free |
| Model stack | Claude Opus 4.5 · Frontier Models · Gemini 3 Pro · GPT-5.2 · Sonar | agentic models · embedding · Exa Agent API · Exa Auto · Exa Custom Search Models · Exa Search API · Exa Search Embedding Model · Exa Search Model · Exa Search Models · Exa Search Neural Model |
| Context window | Varies by model | n/a |
| Public API | ||
| Routes models | ||
| Changes / 30d | 2 | 2 |
| Origin | Global | Global |
| Capabilities | Cited answers, Deep research, Comet browser, Spaces, Shopping, Focus modes, Gateway API, Agent API | Neural search, Contents retrieval, Websets, Answer endpoint, Research API, Web Search API, Deep Research, Structured JSON Extraction |
Exa
Embeddings-based web search designed to feed retrieval pipelines and agents.
Full Exa record →