COMPARISON · FOR AI DEVELOPERS
Tako vs. Exa, API by API
Tako pairs the same class of neural web search Exa is known for with what a search engine doesn't return: the answer already resolved as structured, chart-ready, cited data, including licensed proprietary sources, in one call. Here's how the two line up, product by product.
Which is better, Tako or Exa?
It depends on what your agent needs back. If the job ends in a number, a chart, or a cited fact, such as financials, market metrics, or benchmarking, Tako is the better choice: one call returns web search results plus a structured, cited answer, including licensed data the open web doesn't have. If the job is open-web discovery, such as semantic search across many pages, subpage crawling, and fine control over latency and quality, Exa is a strong choice, and your model does the synthesis.
Web search in the same class as any neural engine, plus the resolved answer on top: a structured, chart-ready knowledge card with a source on every fact, from the live web plus licensed proprietary data. You get the search and the structured answer in one call.
A neural search engine over the open web, with a family of endpoints (Search, Contents, Answer, Find Similar) and six speed/quality modes. Built to find and extract the right web pages so your model can read and synthesize them.
PRODUCT FOR PRODUCT
The same building blocks, resolved into data
Same-class web search over the open web, plus a resolved, structured, cited answer.
Neural + keyword search over the open web, returning ranked URLs with token-efficient highlights.
Multi-step research grounded in web search and licensed structured data, returning hard numbers and charts.
Agentic multi-step research synthesized from crawled pages, with an output_schema option.
The content behind any result: page contents for a web result, and a knowledge card's data where the source's license allows export.
Clean text, highlights, and summaries from any URL for your model to read.
SEARCH
What a query returns
Finds the right pages with the same class of neural web search, and returns the resolved answer alongside them: a structured knowledge card and chart in under 500ms, with a source on every fact. You never trade coverage for structure; you get both.
Neural and keyword search across the open web returns ranked URLs with token-efficient highlights, across six modes from instant (~200ms) to deep-reasoning (up to 60s). Category filters target company, people, research-paper, news, and financial-report indexes.
AGENT
Multi-step research
Agentic research grounded in the same broad web search plus Tako's licensed, pre-structured data, so multi-step answers come back with hard numbers, charts, and citations, not just synthesized prose to check.
Agentic, multi-step research over the open web synthesizes an answer from crawled pages with citations, with an output_schema for structured JSON. Runs from a few seconds up to 60s depending on depth.
CONTENTS
Getting the underlying material
Retrieve the content backing any result: clean web-page contents when Tako surfaces a web result, and a knowledge card's structured data and series where the source's license allows export, from one endpoint, ready to drop straight into your application.
Returns clean text, highlights, and LLM summaries from any URL. Handles JS-rendered pages and PDFs, with subpage crawling, freshness control, and section-level filtering, returning prose your model then reads.
Exa product details — endpoints, modes, and latency figures — sourced from Exa's published product docs and third-party comparison articles, July 2026.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Same-class web search, plus everything after it
Tako starts from the same class of web search: the open web, searched semantically. It then layers licensed, pre-structured data and a resolved, cited answer on top. Your agent gets the search results and the numbers in a single call.
Exa finds and extracts the open web extremely well, but the response stops at pages and highlights. Turning that into a structured, chartable answer is work your model still has to do, without any proprietary data underneath it.
Why it's a safe swap: because Tako includes the same class of web search and adds licensed structured data and a resolved answer, a given query comes back at least as well-sourced as a pure search engine. For data-heavy work like financials, market metrics, and benchmarking, it's materially more complete and actionable.
WHEN TO USE EACH
Choose Tako when you want web search and a structured, chart-ready, cited answer from the same call; when you need licensed proprietary data alongside the live web; and whenever the job ends in a number or a chart, not a reading list.
Choose Exa when the job is pure open-web discovery: semantic search across the index, fine latency/quality control, subpage crawling, and reading across many sources your agent synthesizes itself.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
Does Tako do web search like Exa?
Yes. Tako includes the same class of neural web search over the open web. The difference is what comes back with it: a resolved, structured, cited answer, not only ranked links to read.
So what does Tako add on top?
Licensed, pre-structured proprietary data and a chart-ready knowledge card returned synchronously. Every fact carries a source, and you can pull the underlying series and values through the Content API.
Doesn't Exa also do structured output?
It does, via its deep and deep-reasoning modes, where you pass an output_schema and Exa synthesizes JSON from crawled pages (5–60s). Tako returns structured data on every query, synchronously, with the web search included.
How do Exa and Parallel compare?
Both search the open web for agents, but they're built differently. Exa is a neural search engine with Search, Contents, Answer, and Find Similar endpoints and six speed and quality modes; its deep modes return JSON that matches an output_schema in 5–60s. Parallel is a suite of tools you compose (Search, Extract, and Task), and its structured output comes from an asynchronous Task API run. Tako returns a structured, cited answer on every search, synchronously, alongside the web results.
Why is Tako a safe swap for Exa?
Because it doesn't remove anything: you keep the same class of web search and add structured, licensed data plus a resolved answer. For a given query the response is at least as well-sourced, and usually more complete and actionable.
Does Tako have an MCP server?
Yes. The hosted Tako MCP server connects Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and any MCP-enabled agent to the same live web search plus licensed, cited data as the API. Setup takes about a minute at tako.com/mcp, with no integration code.
Can I use both together?
Yes. Both ship MCP servers and Python / TypeScript SDKs. Teams often keep Exa for broad open-web discovery and use Tako where the answer needs to be structured, cited, and backed by proprietary data.
The search and the answer.
Web search plus licensed structured data, returned as a resolved, cited answer in one call.