AI Plugin IndexExa Search vs brave
Exa Search and brave are both search and web MCP servers. brave scores higher (95 vs 94 out of 100). Exa Search has more GitHub stars (5.2k), and Exa Search was updated more recently (3 days ago). The table compares them side by side.
| Exa Search | brave | |
|---|---|---|
| Score | 94 / 100 | 95 / 100 |
| What it does | Search the live web and fetch clean content from source pages. | Visit https://brave.com/search/api/ for a free API key. Search the web, local businesses, images,… |
| Publisher | Community: pollinations | Verified: smithery.ai |
| Grades | Maintenance A, Licence A, Quality A | Maintenance A, Licence A, Quality A |
| npm downloads a week | Not on npm | Not on npm |
| Runs | Remote | Remote |
| Works with | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf, ChatGPT | Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, Codex, Gemini CLI, VS Code, Windsurf, ChatGPT |
| GitHub stars | 5,227 | 1,510 |
| Last commit | 19 Oct 2026 | 17 Oct 2026 |
| Licence | MIT | MIT |
| Listed since | 19 Oct 2026 | 19 Oct 2026 |
| Install Exa Search | Install brave |
Questions
Is Exa Search or brave more popular?
Exa Search has more GitHub stars: 5,227.
Can I use Exa Search and brave together?
Yes. AI assistants can load several MCP servers at once. Install both and the assistant picks the right one for each task.