> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://exa.ai/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Pricing

> Pay-as-you-go rates for Exa Search, Contents, Answer, Monitors, and the Agent API

***

Exa is pay-as-you-go. There is no subscription and no minimum spend: you load credits and are charged per request, at the rates below.

<Check>
  **Start for free.** New accounts get \$20 in free credits (around 2,800 searches) and the Free Tier adds \$10 in credits every month. [Get an API key](https://dashboard.exa.ai/api-keys) and start building.

  **Scaling up?** For high volume, custom indexes, higher rate limits, SLAs, or Zero Data Retention, [talk to us](https://exa.ai/contact/sales) about an [Enterprise plan](#enterprise) with volume discounts.
</Check>

## Products

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Search" icon="magnifying-glass" href="/docs/reference/search-api-guide">
    **\$7** / 1k requests

    Real-time search with token-efficient page contents.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Deep Search" icon="microscope" href="/docs/reference/search-api-guide">
    **\$12–15** / 1k requests

    Multi-step research with structured outputs and citations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Contents" icon="file-lines" href="/docs/reference/contents-api-guide">
    **\$1** / 1k pages

    Full page text, highlights, and summaries for known URLs.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Answer" icon="comment" href="/docs/reference/answer">
    **\$5** / 1k requests

    An LLM answer to a question, with citations.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Monitors" icon="bell" href="/docs/reference/monitors-api-guide">
    **\$15** / 1k requests

    Scheduled searches that surface new events on the web.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Agent" icon="robot" href="/docs/reference/agent-api-guide">
    **\$0.012–\$1.00** / run

    Async deep research, list building, and enrichment.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Search, Contents, Answer, and Monitors

Each endpoint has a base price per request that includes up to 10 results. Additional results and Exa-generated page summaries are billed on top.

| Endpoint    | Base price<br />(up to 10 results) | Each result above 10 | AI page summaries |
| ----------- | ---------------------------------- | -------------------- | ----------------- |
| `/search`   | \$7 / 1k requests                  | \$1 / 1k results     | \$1 / 1k pages    |
| `/answer`   | \$5 / 1k requests                  | —                    | —                 |
| `/monitors` | \$15 / 1k requests                 | \$1 / 1k results     | \$1 / 1k pages    |
| `/contents` | \$1 / 1k pages, per content type   | —                    | \$1 / 1k pages    |

## Agent

Set a fixed `effort` on [Agent](/docs/reference/agent-api-guide) for a predictable per-request price:

| Effort    | Price             |
| --------- | ----------------- |
| `minimal` | \$0.012 / request |
| `low`     | \$0.025 / request |
| `medium`  | \$0.10 / request  |
| `high`    | \$0.50 / request  |
| `xhigh`   | \$1.00 / request  |

With the default `effort: "auto"` the run is metered instead, billing what it actually uses up to \$5 per run:

| Usage component          | Price                 |
| ------------------------ | --------------------- |
| Agent Compute Units      | \$0.10 / ACU          |
| Search tool calls        | \$0.005 / search      |
| Email contact enrichment | \$0.02 / email        |
| Phone contact enrichment | \$0.07 / phone number |

## Deep Search

Set with `type` on [`/search`](/docs/reference/search-api-guide). Additional results and AI page summaries cost the same as standard search.

| Type             | Base price<br />(up to 10 results) | Latency       | Best for                                     |
| ---------------- | ---------------------------------- | ------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| `deep-lite`      | \$12 / 1k requests                 | \~4 seconds   | Lightweight synthesis                        |
| `deep`           | \$12 / 1k requests                 | 4–15 seconds  | Multi-step reasoning with structured outputs |
| `deep-reasoning` | \$15 / 1k requests                 | 12–40 seconds | Harder research tasks                        |

## Enterprise

For high volume, custom datasets, and stricter security requirements.

<CardGroup cols={3}>
  <Card title="Powerful search" icon="gauge-high">
    Up to 1,000 results per search, requests above 25 results, custom rate limits (QPS), tailored moderation, and custom indexes.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Enterprise support" icon="headset">
    SLAs and MSAs, 1:1 onboarding and support, and [Zero Data Retention](/docs/reference/security).
  </Card>

  <Card title="Custom pricing" icon="tag">
    Volume discounts and postpaid invoice billing.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

<Card title="Talk to us" icon="envelope" horizontal href="https://exa.ai/contact/sales">
  Get a quote for enterprise volume and terms
</Card>

## Cost glossary

<AccordionGroup>
  <Accordion title="Request">
    One API call to an endpoint. Prices are quoted per 1,000 requests, so a \$7 / 1k rate is \$0.007 per call.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Result">
    One search result returned in a response. The base price covers the first 10 results in a request; every result above 10 adds \$1 / 1k results. Requesting `numResults: 20` therefore costs the base price plus 10 additional results.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Page and content type">
    A page is one URL that Exa returns content for. A content type is one view of that page: `text`, `highlights`, or `summary`. `/contents` bills each content type separately, so one page with `text` and `highlights` counts as two.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="AI page summary">
    An Exa-generated summary of a page, produced by an extra LLM call on our side. Billed at \$1 / 1k pages on any endpoint that returns one.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Agent Compute Unit (ACU)">
    The unit of model computation an Agent run consumes, reported as `usage.agentComputeUnits`. Longer runs, larger `input.data`, and more reasoning steps consume more ACUs.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Effort">
    The Agent parameter that trades cost and latency against thoroughness. `auto` bills by consumption (ACUs plus tool calls); a fixed value bills a flat price per request. See [Agent effort modes](/docs/reference/agent-api-guide#effort).
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Contact enrichment">
    An Agent lookup that returns an email address or phone number for a person or company. Billed per contact found, on top of the run's other costs.
  </Accordion>

  <Accordion title="Credits">
    Prepaid dollar balance on your account. Usage draws down credits at the rates above.
  </Accordion>
</AccordionGroup>

<Card title="Billing" icon="credit-card" horizontal href="/docs/reference/billing">
  Add credits, set up auto recharge, and find your invoices
</Card>