Perplexity MCP Server vs Exa MCP

When to pick Perplexity MCP Server

• Choose Perplexity MCP Server when your assistant should answer a question using current web sources. perplexity_ask combines conversational answers with live search through the Agent API's fast preset.
• You need an analytical answer or a detailed report and want separate tools for those tasks. perplexity_reason uses the medium preset; perplexity_research uses high. Research can take minutes and reports progress when the client requests it.
• You want ranked search results with publication and update dates when available. perplexity_search supports recency and domain filters, plus a fast search option documented as reducing latency and cost.
• Your deployment needs a corporate proxy or a shared HTTP service under your control. The local server documents proxy environment variables, Docker deployment and self-hosted HTTP settings for network binding, allowed hosts and browser origins.

When to pick Exa MCP

• Choose Exa MCP when your agent needs search results together with page text. Its default web_search_exa tool returns content that the agent can use in its own response.
• You already have URLs to inspect. web_fetch_exa reads full webpage content from one or more URLs and returns clean Markdown, giving your workflow an explicit page-fetching step.
• Your search needs highlights, summaries or subpage crawling alongside domain and date filters. Enable web_search_advanced_exa for those controls, and include any default tools you still want in the configuration.
• You are building lists, enriching records or requesting structured research output. The optional agent_run tool covers these multi-step tasks and requires OAuth or an API key.

Main differences

• The default work differs. Perplexity exposes search, conversational answers, research and reasoning as separate tools. Exa starts with search and page fetching; advanced search and agent research are optional. Pick based on whether your next step needs an answer or source content to process.
• Search controls target different needs. Perplexity documents recency filtering and a lower-latency search mode. Exa's advanced tool adds highlights, summaries and subpage crawling. Both document domain filtering, so that requirement alone does not distinguish them.
• Both offer hosted HTTP connections and local npm execution. Perplexity also documents running your own HTTP service or Docker container. Its hosted endpoint uses Streamable HTTP; Exa's hosted configuration also specifies Streamable HTTP.
• Authentication differs on the hosted services. Perplexity requires an API key, sent as a bearer header for remote connections. Exa documents anonymous hosted use with rate limits, with OAuth or an API key for higher limits and Exa Agent. Exa accepts keys through a query parameter or either documented authentication header.
• Configuration changes what the agent receives. Perplexity's max_tokens and max_tokens_per_page options for ask and reason control retrieved search content, not answer length. Exa's URL tools parameter selects exposed tools and replaces the defaults, so omitted default tools disappear from that selection.

Setup

For Perplexity, run npx -y @perplexity-ai/mcp-server through your client's local MCP configuration and set PERPLEXITY_API_KEY. Claude Code's documented command is claude mcp add perplexity --env PERPLEXITY_API_KEY="your_key_here" -- npx -y @perplexity-ai/mcp-server.

For Exa, use npx -y exa-mcp-server for local execution, or configure a hosted Streamable HTTP connection to https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp. The hosted service allows rate-limited anonymous use; sign in through OAuth or supply an API key for Exa Agent. To retain search and fetching while enabling research, use https://mcp.exa.ai/mcp?tools=web_search_exa,web_fetch_exa,agent_run.