GNews vs Exa: full comparison for 2026
Quick verdict
GNews (4.1/5) edges ahead of Exa (4.0/5) overall. GNews is the better choice for indie developers needing affordable commercial news access. Exa is the stronger option for RAG and agent builders needing semantic news retrieval. The right pick depends on your budget, how much history you need and whether you need full text.
GNews vs Exa: head-to-head summary
| Criterion | GNews | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Founded | Not disclosed | 2021 |
| HQ | Not publicly disclosed | San Francisco, USA |
| Team size | Not publicly disclosed | 51–200 |
| Rating | 4.1 / 5 | 4.0 / 5 |
| Primary differentiator | Two simple endpoints with commercial rights from €49.99 a month | Meaning-based search finds relevant pages even when the keywords differ |
| Pricing model | Monthly or yearly plans in euros | Pay per request; free monthly credit |
| Entry price | €49.99/mo | $7 per 1,000 searches |
| Formats & SDKs | REST API, JSON | REST API, JSON, Python SDK |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, AI & LLM apps, Marketing & PR | AI & LLM apps, Research & academia |
GNews vs Exa: overview
GNews
GNews is a compact API with a search endpoint and a top-headlines endpoint, filtered by country, language and category. The site does not name its operator. It credits a studio called Gigathink and lists only a contact email, so company size and founding year are not public. Plans are priced in euros. The free tier allows 100 requests a day for non-commercial use with 30 days of history, Essential (€49.99 a month) adds commercial rights, 1,000 requests a day and articles back to 2020, and Business and Enterprise raise the daily quota to 5,000 and 25,000.
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.
Features: GNews vs Exa
| Capability | GNews | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Full article text | ✓ | ✓ |
| Historical archive | ✓ | ✗ |
| NLP enrichment | ✗ | ✗ |
| Story/event clustering | ✗ | ✗ |
| Licensed publisher content | ✗ | ✗ |
| Streaming or webhooks | ✗ | ✗ |
| Free access | ✓ | ✓ |
Formats and SDKs: GNews vs Exa
| Format / SDK | GNews | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| 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: GNews vs Exa
| Criterion | GNews | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Entry price | €49.99/mo | $7 per 1,000 searches |
| Pricing model | Monthly or yearly plans in euros | Pay per request; free monthly credit |
| Access models | Free tier, Monthly plans | Free tier, Pay-as-you-go, Enterprise contract |
| Price transparency | Public price | Public price |
| Price tier | Budget | Budget |
Who each API suits: GNews vs Exa
| Dimension | GNews | Exa |
|---|---|---|
| Buyer type | Individuals to enterprise | Individuals to enterprise |
| Typical uses | News & content apps, AI & LLM apps, Marketing & PR | AI & LLM apps, Research & academia |
| Example use cases | A news widget or digest in a consumer app. A small SaaS feature that pulls headlines by country. | Grounding LLM answers with recent news pages. Research agents that need the most relevant articles on a topic. |
| How you get access | Free tier | Free tier |
GNews vs Exa: pros and cons
| GNews | |
|---|---|
| + | Two endpoints and plain parameters, so a working call takes minutes |
| + | Commercial rights start at €49.99 a month, and yearly billing cuts that by about 20% |
| + | Up to 100 articles per request on the top plan |
| + | Paid tiers include full article content |
| - | History only goes back to 2020 |
| - | The operator and its support capacity are opaque |
| - | No entity, sentiment or clustering data |
| 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 |
Who should choose GNews?
A typical fit: a news widget or digest in a consumer app.
Two simple endpoints with commercial rights from €49.99 a month. Paid access starts at €49.99/mo. Typical uses: News & content apps, AI & LLM apps, Marketing & PR.
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.
Decision matrix: GNews vs Exa
| 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 | Both |
| You need years of historical news | GNews |
| 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: GNews vs Exa
| Use case | GNews fit | Exa fit | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| News & content apps | Strong | Limited | GNews |
| AI & LLM apps | Strong | Strong | Both equally |
| Marketing & PR | Strong | Limited | GNews |
| Research & academia | Limited | Strong | Exa |
Verdict: GNews vs Exa
GNews (4.1/5) is the stronger overall choice as a news data source. Two simple endpoints with commercial rights from €49.99 a month.
Exa (4.0/5) is worth a look if you need research agents that need the most relevant articles on a topic. If your situation matches that, Exa is a competitive option.
Related comparisons
GNews vs Exa FAQ
Is GNews better than Exa?
GNews (4.1/5) scores higher overall, but "better" depends on your use case. GNews's strongest advantage: two endpoints and plain parameters, so a working call takes minutes. Exa's strongest advantage: semantic queries surface coverage that keyword APIs miss.
How do GNews and Exa differ in pricing?
GNews: monthly or yearly plans in euros, with paid access from €49.99/mo. Exa: pay per request; free monthly credit, with paid access from $7 per 1,000 searches. Both offer some free access for testing.
Which is better for enterprise: GNews or Exa?
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 GNews and Exa?
What sets GNews apart: two simple endpoints with commercial rights from €49.99 a month. What sets Exa apart: meaning-based search finds relevant pages even when the keywords differ. They also differ on entry price (€49.99/mo vs $7 per 1,000 searches) and typical uses (News & content apps, AI & LLM apps vs AI & LLM apps, Research & academia).
Verify all details directly with each API before making a decision.