CORE vs Exa (2026): which should you pick?
As of Nov 13, 2026, CORE grades higher than Exa: 3.2 against 2.2 out of 4.0.
Checked Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 · graded Nov 12, 2026 and Nov 13, 2026 by ToolGPA
CORE grades higher on value for money, the free plan and ease of use. They get the same grade on features and platforms.
Price, platforms and features side by side. The table says where each price was read and when.
Which one is for you
Pick CORE if
- Fits if you want free full-text open access papers and no paywalls
- Works for developers who want a free research API
Look elsewhere if
- Skip it if you need paywalled papers, as it covers open access content only
- Tight if you run heavy API use, as free use is rate limited and faster rates are typically paid, with no price published
- Watch out: dataset access for text mining is a benefit of the top Sustaining membership
- Skip it if you want AI summaries or chat, as none are listed
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
| 3.2GPACOREVery good | 2.2GPAExaFair | |
|---|---|---|
| Value for money | AFree search and a free API, from a not-for-profit, with no paid plan for individuals. | 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 | ASearch and the API are free, with no registration, within rate limits that a normal person is unlikely to reach. | 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 | COpen access search, an API, a recommender, datasets and repository tools. It holds open access papers only, and dataset access for text mining is a top membership benefit. | 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 | BNo store rating on record, but you search and read open papers with nothing to set up. The API is for developers. | 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 and an API, with PubMed Central and Iris.ai. No desktop or phone app is listed. | BWeb API with Claude, ChatGPT and MCP hooks. No desktop or mobile apps, as the listing says. |
| Best for | searching open access research with a free API | 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: CORE and Exa. How we grade
Where they differ
- Exa also covers AI agents.
In commonFree planWebPublic APIAI searchResearch
At a glance
| CORE | Exa | |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing | Free | Free plan |
| Starts at | Free | Not published |
| Free plan | Free search and a free API with no registration, within CORE's rate limits. | Starter: $10 in credits every month plus a $10 onboarding bonus, no payment method required. |
| Free trial | None listed | None listed |
| Web | ||
| Made by | Knowledge Media Institute, The Open University | Exa Labs Inc. |
| Price read from | core.ac.uk | exa.ai |
| Checked | Nov 13, 2026 | Nov 12, 2026 |
Worth knowing
CORE
- Free API use is rate limited; faster rates for organizations are typically paid, with no price published.
- Dataset access for text mining is a benefit of the top Sustaining membership level.
- It covers open access content only, so paywalled papers are not available.
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
CORE
- Open access search
- One search across metadata and full texts from repositories and journals, over 400 million records according to the About page.
- API
- Real-time machine access to metadata and full texts, usable for commercial purposes under the terms and documented with examples.
- Recommender and Discovery
- Listed under content discovery services, alongside FreshFinds; the Recommender suggests related papers across the repository network.
- Dataset and FastSync
- Listed under access to raw data: a dataset of the corpus for text and data mining, and a FastSync service, beyond the API.
- Repository tools
- A dashboard, OAI identifier resolver and FAIR certification help repositories manage how their content appears.
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
CORE
Free$0
Search and API access within published rate limits; registering organizations get a faster rate that is typically not free.
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.
Ways to pay less
CORE
- Other savings
30-day free trial for institutions
CORE says it offers a 30-day free trial of the API for Institution and Enterprise users, subject to eligibility checks at registration.
Exa
No public discounts listed.
Common questions
Which is cheaper, CORE or Exa?
As of Nov 13, 2026, CORE is free, and Exa publishes no starting price.
Which has a free plan, CORE or Exa?
As of Nov 13, 2026, both CORE and Exa have a free plan.
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.