Exa vs Mediastack: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
Exa (4.0/5) edges ahead of Mediastack (3.8/5) overall. Exa is the better choice for RAG and agent builders needing semantic news retrieval. Mediastack is the stronger option for hobby projects and low-volume apps on a tight budget. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
Exa vs Mediastack: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | Exa | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | 2021 | 2015 |
| HQ | San Francisco, USA | Vienna, Austria (apilayer); owned by Idera |
| Team size | 51–200 | Part of Idera |
| Rating | 4.0 / 5 | 3.8 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Meaning-based search finds relevant pages even when the keywords differ | Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data |
| Pricing model | Pay per request; free monthly credit | Monthly request plans |
| Entry price | $7 per 1,000 searches | $24.99/mo |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON, Python SDK | REST API, JSON |
| Typical uses | AI & LLM apps, Research & academia | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
Exa vs Mediastack: overview
Exa
Exa Labs was founded in 2021 in San Francisco by Will Bryk and Jeff Wang under the name Metaphor, and raised an $85 million Series B led by Benchmark in September 2025. It runs its own embeddings-based web index. A request can be narrowed to the news category and can return cleaned page contents in the same call. As of 2026 the Search endpoint is listed at $7 per 1,000 requests with contents for the first 10 results included, and new accounts get $20 in credit. Exa is a general web search engine first, so small regional outlets and strict publication-date filters are weaker spots than in dedicated news APIs.
Mediastack
Mediastack is one of the apilayer products, alongside ipstack and weatherstack. apilayer was founded in Vienna in 2015 by Julian and Paul Zehetmayr and acquired by the US software group Idera in January 2021. The API aggregates live and historical news from 7,500+ sources in 13 languages, filtered by country, category, language and keyword. The free plan allows 100 requests a month, and paid plans run from $24.99 for 10,000 requests to $249.99 for 250,000. Its source list is far smaller than the big crawlers here, and it adds no enrichment beyond basic metadata.
Features: Exa vs Mediastack
| Capability | Exa | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✗ |
| Historical archive | ✗ | ✓ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: Exa vs Mediastack
| Format / SDK | Exa | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| REST API | ✓ | ✓ |
| Python SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Node.js SDK | ✓ | N/A |
| Webhooks | N/A | N/A |
| WebSocket | N/A | N/A |
| MCP server | ✓ | N/A |
| S3/bulk delivery | N/A | N/A |
| BigQuery | N/A | N/A |
Pricing comparison: Exa vs Mediastack
| Criterion | Exa | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | $7 per 1,000 searches | $24.99/mo |
| Pricing model | Pay per request; free monthly credit | Monthly request plans |
| Access models | Free tier, Pay-as-you-go, Enterprise contract | Free tier, Monthly plans |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: Exa vs Mediastack
| Dimension | Exa | Mediastack |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | AI & LLM apps, Research & academia | News & content apps, Marketing & PR |
| Example use cases | Grounding LLM answers with recent news pages. Research agents that need the most relevant articles on a topic. | A news ticker or category feed for a small website. A learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
Exa vs Mediastack: pros and cons
| Exa | |
|---|---|
| + | Semantic queries surface coverage that keyword APIs miss |
| + | Search results and page contents come back in one call, which keeps RAG code short |
| + | Official MCP server and SDKs for Python and TypeScript |
| + | No monthly minimum on pay-per-request pricing |
| - | It is a search engine without a source taxonomy, sentiment or story clustering |
| - | Date filters rely on crawl and publish metadata that can be imprecise |
| - | Per-request costs climb fast for high-volume monitoring |
| Mediastack | |
|---|---|
| + | One of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month |
| + | Same conventions as other apilayer APIs, which helps if you already use one |
| + | Historical news included on paid plans |
| + | Short docs with copy-paste examples |
| - | Only 7,500 sources and 13 languages |
| - | The free plan is 100 requests a month, which runs out in a day of testing |
| - | Descriptions only, with no full text, sentiment or entities |
Who should choose Exa?
A typical fit: grounding LLM answers with recent news pages.
Meaning-based search finds relevant pages even when the keywords differ. Paid access starts at $7 per 1,000 searches. Typical uses: AI & LLM apps, Research & academia.
Who should choose Mediastack?
A typical fit: a news ticker or category feed for a small website.
Paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. Paid access starts at $24.99/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, Marketing & PR.
Decision matrix: Exa vs Mediastack
| Your situation | Recommended choice |
|---|---|
| You want to start free before paying | Both |
| Your budget is at the lower end | Exa |
| You need full article text in the response | Exa |
| You need years of historical news | Mediastack |
| You need licensed premium or wire content | Neither; look at Factiva, AP or LexisNexis |
| You are wiring news into an LLM agent | Exa |
Use case fit: Exa vs Mediastack
| Use case | Exa fit | Mediastack fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Limited | Exa |
| Research & academia | Strong | Limited | Exa |
| News & content apps | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
| Marketing & PR | Limited | Strong | Mediastack |
Verdict: Exa vs Mediastack
Exa (4.0/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Meaning-based search finds relevant pages even when the keywords differ.
Mediastack (3.8/5) is worth a look if you need a learning project that needs commercial rights cheaply. If your situation matches that, Mediastack is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
Exa vs Mediastack FAQ
Is Exa better than Mediastack?
Exa (4.0/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. Exa's strongest advantage: semantic queries surface coverage that keyword APIs miss. Mediastack's strongest advantage: one of the cheapest paid entries among general news APIs, at $24.99 a month.
How do Exa and Mediastack differ in pricing?
Exa: pay per request; free monthly credit, with paid access from $7 per 1,000 searches. Mediastack: monthly request plans, with paid access from $24.99/mo. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: Exa or Mediastack?
Exa sells enterprise contracts with negotiated volume and SLA terms. Neither carries licensed publisher content, so check copyright terms before republishing anything.
What are the main differences between Exa and Mediastack?
What sets Exa apart: meaning-based search finds relevant pages even when the keywords differ. What sets Mediastack apart: paid plans from $24.99 with commercial use and historical data. They also differ on entry price ($7 per 1,000 searches vs $24.99/mo) and typical uses (AI & LLM apps, Research & academia vs News & content apps, Marketing & PR).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.