# Onto vs Exa · Search first, then read
> Exa finds pages for a query and returns their contents; Onto reads a URL you already have and scores it for free. Many agents use both.

**Source:** /compare/exa
**Extracted:** 2026-09-24T18:14:20.559Z

---
Compared · Onto vs Exa

## Exa finds the pages. _Onto reads and scores the ones you have._

Exa is a search API for agents: a natural-language query in, relevant pages and their contents out, plus answers and deep search. Onto starts from a URL you already have: clean Markdown, a free 0–100 score, and a hallucination-risk label. They sit at different steps, and plenty of agents use both.

[Try the scanner free](/scanner) [All comparisons](/compare)

90

exa.ai AIO score

80

buildonto.dev, ours

24 Sep 2026

both scanned

Shared ground

### What Exa and Onto both do.

Starting anywhere else would be dishonest. For a lot of jobs either one is a reasonable answer.

Contents

#### Page text for an agent

Both hand an agent a page's text instead of its HTML.

MCP

#### A hosted MCP server

Both connect to Claude Code and other clients over MCP.

Free

#### Free to start

Exa gives $10 of credit a month; Onto gives 1,000 credits a month.

Line by line

### Where the two differ.

A dot marks who comes out ahead on the row, when anyone does. A dash means the product doesn't do it. Their side is from Exa's own site, 24 Sep 2026.

CapabilityOntoExa

Find pages for a query—Search · $7 per 1,000

A page's contentsYes · 1 credit a URL, cached an hour, failures refunded$1 per 1,000 pages, per content type

Answers and research— · no model insideAnswer, Deep Search, Agent

A 0–100 score for the page0–100, every penalty named · /v1/score is free—

Hallucination-risk labellow, medium or high, per page—

Watch for changes—Monitors

MCP serverYes · six tools, OAuth or npxYes · hosted

Serve agents from your own site@ontosdk/next, for Next.js 14+—

Free1,000 credits a month$10 of credit, reset monthly

Which to pick

### When to choose Exa instead.

Both columns are real. If the right-hand one describes you, use them.

#### Pick Onto if…

*   Your agent already has the URLs and needs them read, and scored.
*   You want to know which of the pages it found are safe to ground on.
*   You run a Next.js site and want agents served Markdown from it.

#### Pick Exa if…

*   Your agent starts from a question, not a URL.
*   You want a model to research and answer across sources.
*   Either way: search with Exa, then read and score with Onto.

Common questions

### Details worth knowing.

01Should I use Exa or Onto?

Often both. Exa answers “which pages?”; Onto answers “what does this page say, and can I trust how it says it?”. Search with one, read and score with the other.

02Does Onto render JavaScript?

No. It reads the HTML the server sends. A page that only fills in after scripts run comes back with a warning in `warnings`, so you know the Markdown may be thin.

03Is the score in every read?

`/v1/read` returns the Markdown with its metadata and stats. `/v1/score` returns the score alone and costs nothing; `/v1/read-and-score` returns both for 1 credit. [How the score works](/scoring).

About Exa, from its own pages on 24 Sep 2026: [Exa pricing](https://exa.ai/pricing) . About Onto: [the Read API docs](https://docs.buildonto.dev/api/read) and [pricing](/pricing). Prices on both sides change; check before you decide.

Decide for yourself

### Run the same URL through both.

The scanner is free and needs no account. Compare the actual output rather than the marketing.

[Open the scanner](/scanner) [All comparisons](/compare)

---
## Structured Data (JSON-LD)
```json
{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@graph": [
    {
      "@type": "Organization",
      "@id": "https://buildonto.dev/#org",
      "name": "Onto",
      "url": "https://buildonto.dev",
      "logo": "https://buildonto.dev/icon.png",
      "sameAs": [
        "https://x.com/buildonto",
        "https://github.com/ravixalgorithm/ontosdk"
      ]
    },
    {
      "@type": "WebSite",
      "@id": "https://buildonto.dev/#site",
      "url": "https://buildonto.dev",
      "name": "Onto",
      "publisher": {
        "@id": "https://buildonto.dev/#org"
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "SoftwareApplication",
      "name": "Onto",
      "applicationCategory": "DeveloperApplication",
      "operatingSystem": "Web",
      "url": "https://buildonto.dev",
      "description": "Onto serves AI agents clean Markdown from your own site, at the same URL, and shows you which agents came. Plus the AIO score, a Read API and an MCP server.",
      "publisher": {
        "@id": "https://buildonto.dev/#org"
      },
      "offers": {
        "@type": "Offer",
        "price": "0",
        "priceCurrency": "USD",
        "description": "Free tier: 1,000 credits / month"
      }
    }
  ]
}
```