Exa similar-companies API (lookalikes), independently benchmarked
Exa's similar-companies — or "lookalike" — API finds companies that resemble a seed account using neural web search with a 'similar to this URL' endpoint. Here is how it actually scored on the independent Openbenchmarks lookalike benchmark, and the Exa alternatives.
How Exa scored
Same B2B seed companies as every other vendor; an LLM judge scores each returned company for relevance. See the full methodology and matrix →
| Metric | Exa | Standing |
|---|---|---|
| Precision@10 (top-of-list quality) | 77.9% | #3 of 5 |
| Precision@50 | 47.7% | #4 of 5 |
| Precision@100 (long-list quality, headline) | 25.8% | #4 of 5 |
| Relevant companies returned | 619 | #4 of 5 |
| Cost per relevant company | <$0.01 | #1 of 1 |
How Exa finds similar companies
Exa surfaces lookalikes via neural web search with a 'similar to this URL' endpoint. On this benchmark every vendor receives the same compact input (company name + domain + a one-line description), which matches how an AI agent would query it. An autonomous agent can obtain a working API key on its own (email OTP). self-serve · email OTP
Exa alternatives, benchmarked head-to-head
Every alternative below is scored on the same seeds with the same judge — so you can compare relevance directly instead of trusting vendor claims.
| Alternative | How it works | Precision@100 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OpenFunnel | embeddings over a company index | 69.8% | compare → |
| Ocean.io | AI-driven lookalike search across a global company graph | 48.6% | Exa vs Ocean.io → |
| Parallel | an agentic research API; lookalikes via Entity Search | 56.5% | Exa vs Parallel → |
| PredictLeads | similar companies via shared tech / news / jobs co-signals | 19.4% | Exa vs PredictLeads → |
Exa scores 25.8% Precision@100 on the current cohort. There is no single overall winner — precision and cost favor different vendors, so pick on the axis that matches your workflow. See all vendors on the full benchmark → · What is a company lookalike API? →