Exa vs Brave Search API: cost per 1,000 agent searches
Published prices compared, with the arithmetic shown. Last checked . Prices only: we have not tested reliability, speed or output quality.
At a glance
| Exa | Brave Search API | |
|---|---|---|
| Category | search and serp apis | search and serp apis |
| Free tier | $10 of credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method. | $5 in free credits each month (about 1,000 searches); card required for verification. |
| Entry paid price | usage-based / pay as you go | usage-based / pay as you go |
| MCP / agent support | Yes | Yes |
| Verification | full verification | full verification |
| Official pricing page | Pricing (opens official site in a new tab) | Pricing (opens official site in a new tab) |
Analysis
Both are pay-as-you-go search APIs for agents with no required monthly plan. Exa sells three search types (instant, fast/auto, deep) and separately priced page contents; Brave Search API sells one search request price with a monthly free credit. Cheapest published search request: Exa $4.00 per 1,000 (its Instant search), Brave $5.00 per 1,000. Exa's other search types cost more (see the ladder below), and the two return different result formats, so compare quality on your own queries.
Estimated monthly cost at three volumes
Computed with the same model as the cost calculator: the cheapest published plan that covers the volume, including published overage rates. Plans that require annual billing are included and labelled (monthly equivalent). Free tiers are not subtracted. Prices only; neither number says anything about success rate.
| Requests / month | Exa | Brave Search API | Difference |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $40.00 Instant search | $50.00 Search | Exa cheaper by $10.00 (1.2x) |
| 100,000 | $400 Instant search | $500 Search | Exa cheaper by $100 (1.2x) |
| 1,000,000 | $4,000 Instant search | $5,000 Search | Exa cheaper by $1,000 (1.2x) |
Where the cheaper option changes (AI/agent search query). On our volume grid (1,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month), at 1,000 to 10,000,000 requests per month Exa is cheaper.
Try your own volume in the calculator to see all vendors side by side.
Free tiers and how units are counted
- Exa: $10 of credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method. Units: Per 1k requests (up to 10 results): Instant $4, Fast/Auto $7, Deep $12, Deep-Reasoning $15. Extra results above 10: $1/1k requests (Instant and Deep). Contents $1/1k pages per content type. AI page summaries $1/1k pages. Monitors $15/1k. Answer $5/1k. Agent $0.012-$1.00/run.
- Brave Search API: $5 in free credits each month (about 1,000 searches); card required for verification. Units: Search: $5 / 1,000 requests, 50 QPS. Answers: $4 / 1,000 requests + $5 per million input/output tokens, 2 QPS. A credit card is required even on the free plan (anti-fraud, per FAQ).
Exa tends to fit
- Semantic/neural search for agents and coding assistants
- People/company search and enrichment
Watch-outs
- Contents and summaries bill separately from search.
- Deep tiers are 3-4x the Fast price.
Brave Search API tends to fit
- Agent grounding with an independent index
- Higher-throughput search (50 QPS)
Watch-outs
- Card required for the free plan.
- Single flat price; no volume discounts published.
Budget view
| Use case | Monthly spend | Exa | Brave Search API |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI/agent search query | no monthly minimum | $4.00 Instant search | $5.00 Search |
| AI/agent search query | up to $50/mo | $4.00 Instant search | $5.00 Search |
| AI/agent search query | up to $100/mo | $4.00 Instant search | $5.00 Search |
| AI/agent search query | up to $500/mo | $4.00 Instant search | $5.00 Search |
| AI/agent search query | any budget | $4.00 Instant search | $5.00 Search |
Also see: alternatives to Exa and alternatives to Brave Search API. Run a small trial on your own target sites before committing: published price says nothing about success rate on hard sites.
Price ladders from the data
Effective price per unit at each published plan (monthly spend shown). Overage and assumption-based rows are excluded here; see each vendor page.
AI/agent search query
Exa
- $4.00 Instant search · pay as you go
- $7.00 Fast / Auto search · pay as you go
- $12.00 Deep search · pay as you go
Brave Search API
- $5.00 Search · pay as you go
What we could not verify
- Exa: Not stated whether text contents are bundled in the search price; contents are priced separately, so no combined figure computed.
- Brave Search API: Token component depends on the query; not computed.