AI Plugin IndexObsidian Semantic Search vs exa
Obsidian Semantic Search and exa are both search and web MCP servers. exa scores higher (100 vs 36 out of 100). exa has more GitHub stars (5.1k), and exa was updated more recently (4 days ago). The table compares them side by side.
| Obsidian Semantic Search | exa | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 36 / 100 | 100 / 100 |
| What it does | Read-only semantic search MCP server for Obsidian vaults using local Ollama embeddings. | Connect AI agents to Exa for web search, content fetching, and multi-step research. |
| Publisher | Community: DalecB | Verified: exa.ai |
| Grades | Maintenance B, Licence A, Quality C | Maintenance A, Licence A, Quality A |
| npm downloads a week | Not on npm | Not on npm |
| Runs | Local | Remote |
| Works with | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf, ChatGPT |
| GitHub stars | 1 | 5,142 |
| Last commit | 6 Aug 2026 | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Listed since | 19 Oct 2026 | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Install Obsidian Semantic Search | Install exa |
Questions
Is Obsidian Semantic Search or exa more popular?
exa has more GitHub stars: 5,142.
Can I use Obsidian Semantic Search and exa together?
Yes. AI assistants can load several MCP servers at once. Install both and the assistant picks the right one for each task.