# Exa: what AI models say (September 2026)

Source: Memetik Index, https://www.memetik.ai/vendors/exa
Website: https://exa.ai

Exa was named in 47 of 50 AI answers across 1 category. Best position: Web search and scraping APIs for AI, 94% answer share, ranked #1, named first in 8%.

## What Exa is

Exa provides a search API for developers building AI agents. It gives those agents access to public web and private information, helping them retrieve relevant material for their tasks.

The API searches an index of public web and private information and returns relevant excerpts through highlights. It can provide structured outputs and grounded citations. Developers can use the same API for fast results or deeper research.

(From Exa's own website, read 2026-09-02.)

## By category

| Category | Rank | Answer share | Named first | Models |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Web search and scraping APIs for AI (https://www.memetik.ai/index/ai-search-apis) | #1 of 17 | 94% | 8% | GPT-5.6 Sol, ChatGPT, GPT-5.6 Luna, Claude Opus 5, Claude, Claude Fable 5, Gemini, Gemini 3.5 Flash, Perplexity, Sonar Reasoning Pro |

## What the models said

> "Building a research/copilot agent: choose Tavily for simplicity, or Exa if retrieval quality and semantic discovery are the priority."
> — ChatGPT, Web search and scraping APIs for AI

> "If you are building a specialized deep-research agent that needs conceptual understanding, go with Exa."
> — Gemini, Web search and scraping APIs for AI

> "Choose Exa if you’re doing semantic research and want cleaner extracted content from relevant pages."
> — Perplexity, Web search and scraping APIs for AI

> "If you want the best flexible system, use Exa for discovery + Firecrawl for extraction, with browser automation added only for genuinely interactive sites."
> — GPT-5.6 Luna, Web search and scraping APIs for AI