# Exa people and company search: $7 per 1,000, or a row from 5¢ Compared on Nov 12, 2026. The page: https://specstream.ai/exa-people-search-api Exa searches its people and company indexes through the `category` field of `/search`: $7 per 1,000 requests on `auto` and $4 on `lite`, 10 results included. A result is a profile or a company page. Structured fields are an Exa Agent run. SpecStream is the live web data engine for teams and agents. Ask for people or companies in plain words and get one row per match at 5¢, 15¢ or $1, with a source URL and read time on every value. An email adds 5¢. [Get an API key](https://specstream.ai/signup?src=alternatives-exa-people-search-api&utm_source=alternatives-md&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api&returnTo=%2Fworkspace%2Fsearch%3Froute%3Dexa) New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. That is up to 200 rows at 5¢, or 10,000 searches on Exa's own call. ## Exa people and company search next to SpecStream | | SpecStream | Exa | |---|---|---| | How you ask | The people or companies you want in plain words, with the conditions every row must meet and the fields to bring back. Or a list of up to 20,000 to fill in or check | `POST /search` with a `query` and `category` set to `people` or `company`. The same call and the same key as any Exa search | | What comes back | One row per person or company with the fields your request names, facts from many sites joined into one record. Source URL and read time on every value | Ranked results: people profiles and company pages. Structured data across several sources is a separate Exa Agent run with an output schema | | Price of a search | $5 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, and $1 per 1,000 with `speed=fast` or on Exa's own `/search` call at `https://api.specstream.ai/exa` | $7 per 1,000 requests on `auto`, the default, and $4 on `lite`, each with up to 10 results. Each result above 10 costs $1 per 1,000 | | Price of a structured record | A delivered row: 5¢ with up to 5 facts, 15¢ with up to 15 facts and one set of related records, $1 with no limit | An Exa Agent run: $0.012 to $1.00 at a fixed effort, or metered at $0.10 per compute unit and $0.005 per search, up to a $5 cap on `auto` | | Emails and phones | An email adds 5¢ and a phone 15¢ to the row that carries it, on every plan. An email no page printed is labeled likely | $0.02 for an email and $0.07 for a phone number, in an Agent run, billed per contact found on top of the run's other costs | | The data behind it | The live web, read when you ask, beside the public databases SpecStream reads every morning at [specstream.ai/data](https://specstream.ai/data?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api) | 70M companies and 1B+ people profiles, by Exa's GTM page. Fiber.ai's database joins an Agent run through Exa Connect at $0.02 a credit: a search takes 2 credits plus 1 per result | | Filters | Any condition you can write: a role, a company stage, a city, a product, a date. A person or company that fails one condition is not delivered and not billed | With `company` or `people`, `startPublishedDate` and `endPublishedDate` are not supported, and `people` does not support `excludeDomains`. A request that sets one returns a 400 error | | The price before a run | The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts, nothing runs until you approve it, and there are no automatic overages | A search has a fixed price per request. A metered Agent run bills its usage up to the cap: $5 on `auto`, $20 on `ultra` | | Keeping records up to date | A saved request reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate, an unchanged row 1¢ | Exa Monitors rerun a search on a schedule and send the results to a webhook, at $2 per 1,000 requests of up to 10 results | | Free to start | $10 of credit on a new account, no card | $10 in credits on sign-up, no payment method, and the free balance resets to $10 on the first of every month | | Where the data goes | HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive, Attio, Google Sheets, Airtable, Slack, Teams, Zapier, Make, n8n and signed webhooks. MCP server, REST API, Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and A2A | The API response and the SDKs. Exa also runs in Google Sheets and in Slack | ## Why teams that search people and companies choose SpecStream ### A record per person, with the fields you named An Exa search with `category` `people` returns profiles, and with `company` it returns company pages. Your code reads each result and builds the record, or you start an Exa Agent run and pay for it separately. A SpecStream request is the whole job, written once: "Heads of security at Series B healthcare software companies that sell to hospitals, with the company, the city, the last funding round and a work email for each". SpecStream reads the request back as parts you can edit, then searches the live web, reads each page and joins what it finds into one record per person. A person who fails one condition is not delivered and not billed. ### A row costs 5¢, and a miss costs nothing The rates are on [pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api): 5¢ for a row with up to 5 facts, 15¢ for up to 15 facts and one set of related records, and $1 for a deep row with no limit. An email adds 5¢ and a phone 15¢. 1,000 people with 5 facts and a work email cost $100. Duplicates, rows you already own and rows a page contradicts are not charged, and a run that finds nothing costs nothing. The most a run can cost is quoted before it starts, where a metered Exa Agent run bills usage up to a $5 or $20 cap. ### Exa's own search call for $1 per 1,000 A client written for Exa moves by changing its base address and its key. `POST https://api.specstream.ai/exa/search` answers in Exa's shape, `results[].id`, `url`, `title`, `publishedDate` and `text`, at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results. Exa's `auto` search costs $7 per 1,000. ``` from exa_py import Exa exa = Exa(api_key="", base_url="https://api.specstream.ai/exa") results = exa.search("heads of security at Series B healthcare software companies", num_results=10) ``` The steps for each SDK are on [Migrate from Exa](https://specstream.ai/migrate/exa?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api). ### The list you already have, filled in Import a CSV, Excel file, Google Sheet or Airtable base of up to 20,000 people or companies. SpecStream fills in or checks each row and matches it to one identity, with any namesakes shown beside what was found for each, so no namesake is chosen for you. Import is free. A row that matches pays its rate, and a row that does not costs 5¢. ### People and company records that stay up to date Save the request and it reruns hourly to yearly. Each row comes back labeled changed, unchanged or no longer matching. A changed or new row costs half its rate (3¢, 8¢ or 50¢) and an unchanged row costs 1¢, so rechecking 1,000 people who did not change costs $10. New executives, funding rounds and layoffs are at [specstream.ai/signals](https://specstream.ai/signals?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api). ### The most accurate web search API, on the same key The Search API scores 97.9 F-score on all 1,000 official SimpleQA Verified questions (978 correct), and 64.0 item F1 and 43.4 row F1 on all 200 official WideSearch tasks. The Extract API reads pages for $0.80 per 1,000 and scores 0.908 F1 on WCXB. Scores and method are on [benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api). ## Other people and company search APIs next to Exa ### SpecStream The live web data engine for teams and agents. [Deep Search](https://specstream.ai/deep-search?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api) returns each person or company as a row at 5¢, 15¢ or $1, plus 5¢ for an email and 15¢ for a phone, with a source URL and read time on every value. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. ### Parallel Entity Search A synchronous people and company search at $5 per 1,000 requests with 100 results, then $0.05 per 1,000 results. Each entity comes back as a `name`, a `url` and a `description`. A SpecStream row carries the fields you asked for and meets every condition you wrote. ### People Data Labs A people and company database sold in credits: Pro starts at $98 a month for 350 credits, and a search takes 1 credit per profile returned. SpecStream has no plan to size: 1,000 people with 5 facts cost $50, charged as the rows are delivered. ### Crustdata People and company APIs billed in credits, with $20 in credits to start and enterprise plans from four figures a month. A base person profile costs 1 credit, and emails and phones are add-ons. On SpecStream an email adds 5¢ and a phone 15¢ to the row, at the same rate on every plan. ## How to move from Exa people search to SpecStream 1. Sign up and create a key under Agents & API in the workspace. New accounts get $10 of credit, no card. 2. To keep your code, set the Exa SDK's base address to `https://api.specstream.ai/exa` and use the SpecStream key. Each `/search` call is one fast web search at $0.001. 3. To get records in place of pages, write the query as one request with the fields you want. This call spends nothing: the `402` reply shows how SpecStream read the request, the columns and the most it can cost. ``` curl -i https://api.specstream.ai/v1/agent/lists \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{"request": "Heads of security at Series B healthcare software companies that sell to hospitals, with the company, the city, the last funding round and a work email for each", "count": 25}' ``` On an account, your agent runs the same request through the MCP server at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp`, and the rows go to your sheet or your CRM. Setup for each client is in the [MCP docs](https://specstream.ai/docs/mcp?utm_source=alternatives&utm_campaign=exa-people-search-api). ## Frequently asked questions ### How much does Exa people search cost? The price of an Exa search: $7 per 1,000 requests on `auto` and $4 per 1,000 on `lite`, with up to 10 results, and $1 per 1,000 for each result above 10. Read on Exa's pricing docs on Nov 12, 2026. People search is the `category` field of `/search`, with no separate rate. ### How do I use Exa's people or company search? Send `POST https://api.exa.ai/search` with your `query` and `"category": "people"` or `"category": "company"`. With these categories the published date filters are not supported, and `people` does not support `excludeDomains`. ### How many people and companies does Exa index? Exa's GTM page says 70M companies and 1B+ people profiles, and its people search post says the pipeline is built for 50M+ updates per week. SpecStream reads the live web when you ask and returns each match with its source URL and read time. ### Does Exa return emails and phone numbers? Through Exa Agent, at $0.02 for an email and $0.07 for a phone number on top of the run. On SpecStream an email adds 5¢ and a phone 15¢ to a row that already carries the person, the company and the facts you asked for. ### What is the best alternative to Exa people search? SpecStream, when you need records in place of result pages. You write the people or companies you want with every condition, approve the most the run can cost, and get one row per match at 5¢, 15¢ or $1 in your sheet, your CRM or your agent. ### Can I keep my Exa code? Yes. Set the base address to `https://api.specstream.ai/exa` and the key to a SpecStream key. `POST /exa/search` answers in Exa's shape at $1 per 1,000 searches of up to 10 results, and `POST /exa/contents` reads pages at $0.80 per 1,000. ### Does SpecStream have an API and an MCP server? Yes. The Search API is `GET https://api.specstream.ai/v1/web-search` at $5 per 1,000 searches, or $1 with `speed=fast`, and the MCP server is at `https://api.specstream.ai/mcp` over Streamable HTTP, with OAuth or an API key. ## Sources SpecStream wrote this page. Each Exa fact comes from Exa's own docs, API specification, pricing and GTM page, read on Nov 12, 2026. - [SpecStream pricing](https://specstream.ai/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream for agents](https://specstream.ai/agents.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream benchmarks](https://specstream.ai/benchmarks), read Nov 12, 2026 - [SpecStream data](https://specstream.ai/data), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa companies and people docs](https://exa.ai/docs/search/data/companies-people.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa API specification](https://exa.ai/docs/exa-spec.yaml), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/docs/admin/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa GTM page](https://exa.ai/use-cases/gtm), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa people search benchmark](https://exa.ai/blog/people-search-benchmark), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa search quickstart](https://exa.ai/docs/search/quickstart.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Connect: Fiber.ai](https://exa.ai/docs/agent/connect/fiber.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa Monitors](https://exa.ai/docs/monitors/quickstart.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Exa docs index](https://exa.ai/docs/llms.txt), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel pricing docs](https://docs.parallel.ai/getting-started/pricing.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Parallel Entity Search](https://docs.parallel.ai/findall-api/entity-search.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [People Data Labs pricing](https://www.peopledatalabs.com/pricing/person), read Nov 12, 2026 - [People Data Labs credits](https://docs.peopledatalabs.com/support/billing/how-credits-work.md), read Nov 12, 2026 - [Crustdata pricing](https://crustdata.com/pricing), read Nov 12, 2026