AlphaSense vs Exa (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 12, 2026, Exa grades higher than AlphaSense: 2.2 against 1.8 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 by ToolGPA
AlphaSense grades higher on ease of use. Exa grades higher on the free plan. They get the same grade on value for money, features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
AlphaSense
AI market intelligence search across filings, research and transcripts
Paid
Which one is for you
Pick AlphaSense if
- Fits if you're an analyst who needs filings and broker research searched in one place
- Makes sense if your firm already buys enterprise data and will go through sales
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want to see a price first, as none is published
- Skip it if you're a student or solo researcher, since the pages describe an enterprise platform
- Watch out: the API, MCP and internal content search are on the Enterprise Suite only
- Watch out: expert calls and some data sets, such as Tegus, are sold separately
Pick Exa if
- Fits if you're building an AI agent that needs to search the live web
- Works for developers who want search results returned as page contents
Look elsewhere if
- Not for you if you want an app to read or take notes in, as it's an API
- Tight if you go past $10 of credits a month, when billing is by usage with no fixed price
- Pricey if you need zero data retention, which is Enterprise with a $12,000 annual credit commitment
- Watch out: Starter allows 10 searches per second and 50 agent concurrency
How we grade them
| 1.8GPAAlphaSenseWeak | 2.2GPAExaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | CNo price is published: the pricing page says to contact sales and describes enterprise-wide and per-seat plans with no figures. With nothing to compare against the category's $10 middle, it sits at C. | CNo fixed monthly price: search from $4 per 1,000 requests, contents $1 per 1,000 pages and agent runs $0.012 to $1.00 each. It's a different kind of thing from a reading app, so it sits at C, and the bill depends on usage. |
| Free plan and trial | FNothing free on record. A Get Started for Free button hints at a trial, but its terms are not stated. | BThe Starter plan is $10 of credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, with no payment method needed. A solo developer testing can live on that. |
| Features | CSearch across a large content set with an AI agent, expert transcripts and Office add-ins. The listing says the API, MCP and internal content search are Enterprise Suite only, and expert calls and some data sets such as Tegus are separate. | CSearch, Contents, Agent and Monitors APIs plus agent tooling. A developer building block rather than a research tool, and zero data retention needs a $12,000 annual Enterprise commitment. |
| Ease of use | CNo store rating on record. It's an enterprise platform with content sets and connectors to set up. | DNo store rating on record. You need code, an API key and a client to use it, so it's a D. |
| Platforms and integrations | BWeb, with PowerPoint and Excel add-ins, plus an API and MCP on the Enterprise Suite. | BWeb API with Claude, ChatGPT and MCP hooks. No desktop or mobile apps, as the listing says. |
| Best for | market intelligence search for finance and corporate teams | giving AI agents a web search API |
The GPA is the average of the five grades: an A is 4 points, an F is none. The full reasons are on each tool's page: AlphaSense and Exa. How we grade
Where they differ
- AlphaSense also covers chat assistant.
- Exa also covers AI agents.
In commonWebPublic APIAI searchResearch
At a glance
| AlphaSense | Exa | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Paid | Free plan |
| Starts at | Not published | Not published |
| Free plan | None | Starter: $10 in credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method required. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | AlphaSense | Exa Labs Inc. |
| Price read from | Not confirmed | exa.ai |
| Checked | Nov 12, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
AlphaSense
- No prices are published: the pricing page says to contact sales and describes enterprise-wide and per-seat plans without figures.
- It is sold in two packages, Market Intelligence and Enterprise Suite, and the API, MCP and internal content are listed for Enterprise Suite only.
- The pages read describe an enterprise platform; a free trial is hinted at by a Get Started for Free button but its terms are not stated.
- Expert call services and some data sets, such as the Tegus library, are described as separate offerings.
Exa
- The free Starter allowance is $10 of credits per month; past that, the Developer plan bills by usage with no fixed monthly price.
- Per-request prices: search from $4 per 1,000 requests, contents $1 per 1,000 pages, monitors $2 per 1,000 requests, agent runs $0.012 to $1.00 each.
- Zero data retention is an Enterprise option with a $12,000 annual commitment in API credits.
- It is an API for developers, not a reading or note-taking app; it has no desktop or mobile apps.
Key features
AlphaSense
- SuperAnalyst agent
- An always-on AI agent that turns the platform's sources and a firm's own knowledge into summaries, decision-ready deliverables and repeatable workflows.
- Large curated content set
- The homepage cites 500M+ business documents, including company filings, broker and independent research, news, regulatory material and expert transcripts.
- Expert transcripts
- Includes the Tegus expert interview library, and the vendor also arranges live expert calls as a separate service.
- Office add-ins and connectors
- PowerPoint and Excel add-ins and app connectors bring the platform into Microsoft Office and other tools, and are listed in both packages.
- API and MCP access
- The Enterprise Suite adds an API and an MCP server that let other AI assistants and agents use SuperAnalyst.
- Internal content search
- The Enterprise Suite lists a firm's internal content as searchable alongside the vendor's own sources.
Exa
- Search API
- Returns web results with page text and highlights, with latency settings from about 450 ms to 10 seconds and categories such as news, companies, research papers and people.
- Contents API
- Fetches full page contents or token-efficient highlights for use as model context, with configurable live-crawl policies.
- Agent API
- Runs asynchronous deep-research tasks that return structured output with citations.
- Monitors API
- Runs searches on a schedule and sends updates by webhook.
- Agent tooling
- The Starter plan lists an MCP server, a Claude connector, a ChatGPT plugin and more than 50 integrations.
Plans
AlphaSense
Pricing could not be confirmed. See alpha-sense.com.
Exa
Starter$0
$10 of credits each month, access to all endpoints, 10 search queries per second and 50 agent concurrency.
EnterpriseCustom
Zero data retention, custom MSA and DPA, SSO and SCIM, SLAs and custom indexes, sold through sales.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, AlphaSense or Exa?
As of Nov 12, 2026, AlphaSense has no price we could confirm, and Exa publishes no starting price.
Which has a free plan, AlphaSense or Exa?
As of Nov 12, 2026, only Exa has a free plan. AlphaSense does not.
More comparisons
How this page was made
- The verdict at the top follows a fixed rule. When both tools are in the same category and either is in our top three for it, the verdict follows that ranking: the higher-placed tool is our pick. The top three weigh who each tool suits as well as its grades, so a pick can go against the GPA. Otherwise the page does not pick one and says which grades higher: the higher GPA first; on a tie, the one with a free plan, then the one that starts cheaper in dollars a month, counted the same way for both; if they are still level, what the choice depends on.
- The grades are our own, from each tool’s review or report card. The GPA is their average.
- Prices, plans and platforms come from each tool’s listing. The table above says where each price was read and when.
- The differences and the answers to the questions are worked out from those listings.