Exa (formerly Metaphor) was one of the first neural web search APIs, and it delivers genuinely good semantic search results. But at $3.00 per 1,000 queries, it's one of the most expensive options on the market. If you're processing more than a few thousand queries per month, the bill adds up fast.
Here are five alternatives worth considering — ranked by how well they replace Exa for AI applications.
Why Developers Switch from Exa
- Cost — $3/1K queries means 100K queries/month costs $300. The same volume on Keiro costs $50.
- Limited endpoints — Exa has 3 endpoints. Most alternatives offer more specialization.
- No batch processing — For dataset generation, you need to make individual requests.
- No content chunking — Exa returns raw content. You still need to chunk it for RAG.
1. Keiro — Best Exa Alternative Overall
Keiro is the most direct Exa replacement. It's 6x cheaper, has more endpoints, and includes features Exa doesn't — like RAG-ready content chunking and async batch processing.
| Feature | Exa | Keiro |
|---|---|---|
| Price per 1K queries | $3.00 | $0.50 |
| Endpoints | 3 | 5 |
| Fastest latency | ~1s | 100ms (indexed) |
| Content extraction | Basic | 3 modes (light/medium/deep) |
| RAG chunking | No | Yes (medium mode) |
| Batch | No | Yes (10K queries/job) |
| GDPR | Yes | Yes |
Migrating from Exa to Keiro
The migration is straightforward. Here's a before/after:
# BEFORE: Exa
from exa_py import Exa
exa = Exa(api_key="EXA_KEY")
results = exa.search("RAG pipeline optimization", num_results=10)
# AFTER: Keiro (drop-in replacement)
import requests
response = requests.post(
"https://kierolabs.space/api/v2/keiro",
headers={"Authorization": "Bearer KEIRO_KEY"},
json={"query": "RAG pipeline optimization", "maxResults": 10}
)
results = response.json()["results"]
Both return title, URL, and snippet. Keiro additionally returns creditsCharged and creditsRemaining in every response so you can track usage without extra API calls.
2. Tavily — Best If You're Already Using LangChain
Tavily is the default search tool in LangChain. If your entire stack is LangChain-based, the zero-config integration is convenient. But at $4.00 per 1K queries, it's actually more expensive than Exa.
Switch if: You want LangChain's built-in tool and don't care about cost.
3. SerpAPI — Best for Raw SERP Data
SerpAPI gives you structured Google/Bing results including knowledge panels, ads, and featured snippets. It's a different product category — less AI-optimized, more SEO-tooling.
Switch if: You need raw SERP features, not semantic search.
4. Brave Search API — Best Free Tier
Brave offers a generous free tier and privacy-first approach. Quality is decent but not as refined for AI-specific queries as Exa or Keiro.
Switch if: You need a free/cheap option for a side project.
5. You.com — Best for Pre-Summarized Answers
You.com's Research API returns AI-generated summaries with citations. Less flexible than raw search but useful for simple Q&A bots.
Switch if: You want summaries, not raw search results.
Cost Comparison at Scale
| Monthly Queries | Exa | Keiro | Savings |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10,000 | $30 | $5 | 83% |
| 100,000 | $300 | $50 | 83% |
| 1,000,000 | $3,000 | $500 | 83% |
Bottom Line
If you're leaving Exa because of price, Keiro is the closest feature-match at 6x lower cost. If you're leaving because of limited endpoints, Keiro's five specialized endpoints (indexed, fast, flash, content, batch) give you more flexibility than any other option on this list. Plans start at $15/month (Essential, 5K credits) with a free 300-credit trial — no credit card required.