Parallel vs Exa: web search API comparison
Parallel and Exa measured on the same three jobs: factual lookup, hard retrieval for coding agents, and multi-hop company search. Winner per task is in the table below.
Parallel or Exa — winner per task
Best measured endpoint per vendor on each task. Modes stay separate rows in the tables below.
| Task | Parallel | Exa | Measured winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Factual lookup (accuracy) | 93.3% | 99.3% | Exa |
| Hard retrieval (task completion, search+fetch) | 77.0% | 83.0% | Exa |
| Multi-hop (F1, search-only) | 46.5% | 45.4% | Parallel |
Parallel and Exa on company-news lookup
One query, one verifiable fact. 300 questions, max 10 results. Full factual lookup board →
| Axis | Parallel | Exa | Measured winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| Accuracy (extracted-answer) | 93.3% | 99.3% | Exa |
| Answer recall (AR@5) | 92.0% | 99.3% | Exa |
| Speed (mean latency) | 348ms | 398ms | Parallel |
| Cost per 1,000 queries (list price) | $1.00 | $7.00 | Parallel |
| Rank | Vendor | Endpoint & configuration | $ / 1k correct | Accuracy | AR@1 | AR@5 | Latency | Snippet tokens | Total $ | Official docs | Cost per 1,000 queries |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=fast | $1.16 | 86.0% | 44.3% | 79.0% | 942ms | 1,839 | $0.30 | Official docs | $1 / 1kmode=fast · 10 results |
| 2 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=turbo | $1.40 | 71.3% | 45.3% | 66.0% | 348ms | 1,853 | $0.30 | Official docs | $1 / 1kmode=turbo · 10 results |
| 3 | Parallelweb search | POST /v1/searchmode=basic | $5.36 | 93.3% | 55.0% | 92.0% | 1.68s | 2,330 | $1.50 | Official docs | $5 / 1kmode=basic · 10 results |
| 4 | Exaweb search | POST /searchtype=fast | $7.05 | 99.3% | 95.0% | 99.3% | 652ms | 1,987 | $2.10 | Official docs | $7 / 1ktype=fast · up to 10 results |
| 5 | Exaweb search | POST /searchtype=instant | $7.17 | 97.7% | 80.0% | 97.3% | 398ms | 2,128 | $2.10 | Official docs | $7 / 1ktype=instant · up to 10 results |
$ / 1k correct is $ / 1k queries divided by extracted-answer accuracy. Ranked by $ / 1k correct. Cost per 1,000 queries is the published PAYG list price, linked to the vendor pricing page. Not promotional packs or volume discounts. TinyFish Search is free with a 30 requests/min cap — $0 is not unlimited throughput.
Parallel and Exa on coding-agent docs
Grounded task completion on 100 documentation tickets. A pass needs a # source: URL from that run. Full coding-agent board →
Exa leads at 83.0%. Median task time: Parallel 30s vs Exa 23s.
| Rank | Vendor | Endpoint & configuration | Task completion | Median task time | Median task cost | Avg search time | Median task tokens | API list price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parallel advanced | POST /v1/search mode=advancedPOST /v1/extract | 77.0 ± 1.0 | 33s | $0.096$0.019 search+fetch$0.077 token cost | 3.11s | 27,092 | $0.005 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| 2 | Parallel basic | POST /v1/search mode=basicPOST /v1/extract | 76.0 ± 0.0 | 30s | $0.107$0.023 search+fetch$0.084 token cost | 1.59s | 32,809 | $0.005 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| 3 | Exa deep | POST /search type=deepPOST /contents | 83.0 ± 1.0 | 37s | $0.127$0.057 search+fetch$0.070 token cost | 3.97s | 23,660 | $0.012 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| 4 | Exa auto | POST /search type=autoPOST /contents | 81.7 ± 1.1 | 23s | $0.107$0.032 search+fetch$0.074 token cost | 1.19s | 27,433 | $0.007 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| Rank | Vendor | Endpoint & configuration | Task completion | Median task time | Median task cost | Avg search time | Median task tokens | API list price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parallel fast | POST /v1/search mode=fast | 66.7 ± 1.5 | 22s | $0.054$0.005 search$0.049 token cost | 953ms | 12,460 | $0.001 / search |
| 2 | Parallel turbo | POST /v1/search mode=turbo | 64.7 ± 2.1 | 19s | $0.059$0.005 search$0.054 token cost | 333ms | 14,130 | $0.001 / search |
| 3 | Exa fast | POST /search type=fast | 66.3 ± 1.5 | 20s | $0.103$0.035 search$0.068 token cost | 626ms | 22,344 | $0.007 / search |
| 4 | Exa instant | POST /search type=instant | 61.3 ± 2.9 | 21s | $0.105$0.035 search$0.070 token cost | 447ms | 22,423 | $0.007 / search |
Parallel and Exa on multi-turn company search
45 questions, each with three or four constraints. Scored on precision, recall, F1, and exact-set. Full multi-turn board →
Parallel leads F1 at 46.5%. Median agent time: Parallel 46.40s vs Exa 49.83s. Median task cost: Parallel $0.419 vs Exa $0.652.
| Provider | Endpoint & configuration | F1 | Precision | Recall | Exact set | Median time | Mean turns | Median task cost | API list price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=basicparallel-basic | 46.5 ± 1.9 | 88.7 ± 0.9 | 34.4 ± 2.0 | 3.7 ± 2.6 | 67.6 s | 7.4 | $1.120$0.070 search$1.050 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=advancedparallel-advanced | 44.2 ± 1.4 | 87.6 ± 3.4 | 32.0 ± 1.6 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 83.4 s | 7.3 | $0.625$0.070 search$0.565 token cost | $0.005 / search |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=fastparallel-fast | 38.0 ± 2.0 | 79.9 ± 4.6 | 27.5 ± 1.4 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 53.9 s | 7.6 | $0.460$0.014 search$0.447 token cost | $0.001 / search |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=turboparallel-turbo | 34.7 ± 2.4 | 80.0 ± 5.2 | 24.8 ± 2.4 | 1.5 ± 1.3 | 46.4 s | 7.6 | $0.419$0.014 search$0.405 token cost | $0.001 / search |
| 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 | $0.717$0.156 search$0.556 token cost | $0.012 / search |
| 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 | $0.652$0.091 search$0.559 token cost | $0.007 / search |
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. Median task cost is the median of LLM $ plus search/fetch API $ per agent run. API list price is the PAYG unit rate of the search (and fetch) endpoint the harness calls.
| Provider | Endpoint & configuration | F1 | Precision | Recall | Exact set | Median time | Mean turns | Median task cost | API list price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=basicparallel-basic | 42.3 ± 1.1 | 81.3 ± 2.8 | 31.3 ± 1.1 | 3.0 ± 1.3 | 68.6 s | 7.5 | $1.089$0.061 search+fetch$1.033 token cost | $0.005 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=advancedparallel-advanced | 42.2 ± 1.1 | 87.6 ± 0.3 | 30.1 ± 1.1 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 80.9 s | 7.4 | $0.599$0.061 search+fetch$0.538 token cost | $0.005 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=fastparallel-fast | 39.3 ± 3.3 | 82.3 ± 6.6 | 28.2 ± 2.0 | 2.2 ± 0.0 | 55.1 s | 7.6 | $0.441$0.014 search+fetch$0.427 token cost | $0.001 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| Parallel | POST /v1/search mode=turboparallel-turbo | 36.0 ± 3.5 | 83.6 ± 4.0 | 25.0 ± 2.6 | 0.0 ± 0.0 | 48.1 s | 7.7 | $0.414$0.013 search+fetch$0.400 token cost | $0.001 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| 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 | $0.683$0.156 search+fetch$0.526 token cost | $0.012 / search$0.001 / fetch |
| 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 | $0.653$0.091 search+fetch$0.557 token cost | $0.007 / search$0.001 / fetch |
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. Median task cost is the median of LLM $ plus search/fetch API $ per agent run. API list price is the PAYG unit rate of the search (and fetch) endpoint the harness calls.
Parallel vs Exa — common questions
Parallel vs Exa: which web search API is better?
Factual lookup: Exa leads accuracy (Parallel 93.3% vs Exa 99.3%). Hard retrieval: Exa leads task completion (Parallel 77.0% vs Exa 83.0%). Multi-hop: Parallel leads F1 (Parallel 46.5% vs Exa 45.4%).
Is Parallel or Exa cheaper?
On factual lookup list price: Parallel $1.00 per 1,000 queries vs Exa $7.00 — Parallel is cheaper. Coding token efficiency is median task tokens; multi-hop cheapest is cost per agent run. Free tiers and volume discounts excluded.