Most accurate web search API for company search
Ranked on the multi-hop search task of the web search benchmark. Each question combines three or four constraints. Rankings do not transfer from factual lookup or hard retrieval.
Exa deep (exa-deep) leads F1 at 45.4% on this run.
Most accurate for multi-hop company discovery. Read F1, then precision versus recall.
Most accurate · Fastest · Cheapest · Full benchmark
Ranking, sorted by f1
| Provider | Endpoint & configuration | F1 | Precision | Recall | Exact set | Median time | Mean turns | Cost / agent run | Measured on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exa | POST /search type=deepexa-deep | 45.4 ± 2.0 | 83.2 ± 3.0 | 33.7 ± 1.4 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 89.5 s | 7.4 | $0.656 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Exa | POST /search type=instantexa-instant | 43.3 ± 1.0 | 82.6 ± 3.8 | 32.2 ± 0.5 | 3.0 ± 1.3 | 49.8 s | 7.3 | $0.601 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=basicparallel-basic | 41.4 ± 3.0 | 84.7 ± 6.1 | 29.9 ± 2.6 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 69.1 s | 7.3 | $1.008 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Linkup | POST /v1/search depth=fastlinkup-fast | 41.1 ± 1.7 | 82.8 ± 1.0 | 30.3 ± 1.5 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 64.2 s | 7.4 | $0.837 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Tavily | POST /search search_depth=advancedtavily-advanced | 41.1 ± 2.3 | 83.7 ± 4.2 | 29.8 ± 1.7 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 92.2 s | 7.4 | $0.910 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=advancedparallel-advanced | 40.8 ± 1.1 | 86.7 ± 2.0 | 29.2 ± 1.3 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 87.4 s | 7.3 | $0.614 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Linkup | POST /v1/search depth=standardlinkup-standard | 40.6 ± 0.9 | 84.0 ± 7.9 | 29.7 ± 1.4 | 1.5 ± 2.6 | 72.3 s | 7.3 | $0.837 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Firecrawl | POST /v2/searchfirecrawl | 30.4 ± 1.1 | 77.3 ± 4.4 | 20.7 ± 0.7 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 75.0 s | 7.9 | $0.278 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Brave Search | GET /res/v1/web/searchbrave | 28.0 ± 1.7 | 66.9 ± 8.5 | 19.3 ± 0.5 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 43.5 s | 8.0 | $0.269 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Seltz | POST /v1/search scope=companiesseltz-companies | 14.5 ± 0.9 | 40.0 ± 3.1 | 9.4 ± 0.7 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 55.2 s | 7.3 | $1.508 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| SERP (RapidAPI) | GET google-search74.p.rapidapi.comserp | 0.4 ± 0.6 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 0.3 ± 0.4 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 31.4 s | 7.8 | $0.103 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
F1, precision, recall, and exact-set accuracy are percentages reported as mean ± sample SD across three independent runs; each run aggregates all 45 questions. SD is measured in percentage points. Median time is the median end-to-end time across all runs for each vendor.
Search plus fetch, same sort
| Provider | Endpoint & configuration | F1 | Precision | Recall | Exact set | Median time | Mean turns | Cost / agent run | Measured on |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Exa | POST /search type=deepexa-deep | 48.2 ± 2.1 | 89.4 ± 1.2 | 36.0 ± 2.2 | 2.2 ± 2.2 | 95.8 s | 7.5 | $0.639 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Exa | POST /search type=instantexa-instant | 44.9 ± 0.9 | 85.9 ± 2.5 | 33.5 ± 0.9 | 5.2 ± 1.3 | 52.5 s | 7.5 | $0.606 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=advancedparallel-advanced | 42.4 ± 1.1 | 89.2 ± 2.1 | 30.0 ± 1.3 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 83.9 s | 7.4 | $0.599 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Linkup | POST /v1/search depth=standardlinkup-standard | 42.0 ± 1.8 | 90.7 ± 2.0 | 30.5 ± 2.0 | 3.0 ± 3.4 | 81.0 s | 7.5 | $0.846 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=basicparallel-basic | 42.0 ± 4.0 | 87.0 ± 7.6 | 30.2 ± 3.2 | 3.0 ± 1.3 | 71.7 s | 7.2 | $0.949 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Tavily | POST /search search_depth=advancedtavily-advanced | 41.0 ± 1.3 | 89.4 ± 6.0 | 29.1 ± 0.7 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 92.6 s | 7.3 | $0.813 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Linkup | POST /v1/search depth=fastlinkup-fast | 39.9 ± 1.3 | 85.3 ± 3.6 | 28.6 ± 1.3 | 0.7 ± 1.3 | 68.0 s | 7.3 | $0.822 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Firecrawl | POST /v2/searchfirecrawl | 33.2 ± 2.1 | 83.3 ± 0.8 | 22.7 ± 1.8 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 82.1 s | 7.9 | $0.294 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Brave Search | GET /res/v1/web/searchbrave | 29.4 ± 1.6 | 73.5 ± 5.8 | 20.4 ± 0.9 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 45.1 s | 8.0 | $0.273 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| Seltz | POST /v1/search scope=companiesseltz-companies | 16.3 ± 1.5 | 49.5 ± 2.4 | 10.2 ± 1.2 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 60.1 s | 7.5 | $1.530 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
| SERP (RapidAPI) | GET google-search74.p.rapidapi.comserp | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 33.4 s | 7.8 | $0.103 | 45 questions135 agent runs |
F1, precision, recall, and exact-set accuracy are percentages reported as mean ± sample SD across three independent runs; each run aggregates all 45 questions. SD is measured in percentage points. Median time is the median end-to-end time across all runs for each vendor.
Common questions
What is the most accurate web search API for company search?
Exa deep (exa-deep) leads F1 at 45.4% on 45 multi-constraint questions (search-only). Search+fetch is a separate ranking. This is multi-hop company discovery, not a one-shot lookup.