Glean vs Exa

Comprehensive side-by-side comparison — features, pricing, performance, and more.

Updated October 2026

Glean

Glean Technologies, Inc.

Work AI that Works — Agents, Assistant & Search

Enterprise

81% verification coverage

Exa

EXA LABS INC.

Web search, built for AI agents

Freemium

78% verification coverage

Trust & Reliability

Glean

Customers (per vendor):Booking.com, Zillow, TIME +7

GDPR

SOC 2

HIPAA

Exa

Uptime:99.97%Status page

Users:100K-1M

Customers (per vendor):Cognition, Cursor, StackAI +7

GDPR

SOC 2

HIPAA

Overall Winner: Exa

7.8/10 vs Glean at 6.7/10

Leads in:

Performance

Support

Ease of Use

Scores are AI-estimated from publicly available data — not an independent test or a verified user rating. How we rank →

AI Comparison Summary

Glean

6.7

avg score

Exa

7.8

avg score

Exa leads overall — particularly in Ease of Use and Support and 1 more.

Glean has an edge in Compliance & Data Protection.

Based on 7 dimensions

Scores are AI-estimated from publicly available data — not an independent test or a verified user rating. How we rank →

Overall Winner

Exa

7.8 / 10

Glean

Best For

Mid-market and enterprise companies seeking unified knowledge access

Engineering teams improving delivery speed and incident response

Customer service teams resolving tickets faster with AI

Sales teams analyzing data and personalizing outreach

Exa

Best For

AI agents requiring real-time web data

Developers building AI applications needing web search

Mid-market product teams enriching CRM records

Enterprise teams needing custom data indexing and compliance

* Verdict is based on our algorithmic scoring of publicly available data. Learn about our methodology

Glean is best for

💬Chat & Conversation8.5🔍Research7.5🤖Automation & Agents6.3

Exa is best for

🔍Research7.5💬Chat & Conversation5.0💻Coding & Dev4.0

Filter by your use case:

Limitations

Glean

Cons

No cons listed yet.

Exa

Cons

Pricing for enterprise features like SSO, SCIM, and custom SLAs requires contacting sales
Zero data retention is available on Enterprise plans only
HIPAA compliance mode is available on Enterprise plans only for eligible cached retrieval requests

Weighted Score — Adjust What Matters to You

Pick a profile or drag sliders — scores and radar update instantly on the right.

Quick profiles:

Ease of Use5

Customization5

Support5

Integration5

Compliance & Data Protection5

Performance5

Planning Quality5

Dimension Comparison

Glean

6.7

/ 10

Exa

7.8

/ 10

Clear winner

Dimension Breakdown

Ease of Use

How intuitive is onboarding, UI navigation, and day-to-day usage for the target audience?

Glean

1.0

Exa

6.0▲ +5.0

Customization

Calculated

How much can users tailor workflows, settings, prompts, or outputs to their needs?

Glean

8.0▲ +1.0

Exa

7.0

Support

How strong is the documentation, customer support, community, and learning resources?

Glean

5.0

Exa

9.0▲ +4.0

Integration

Calculated

How well does it connect with other tools, APIs, and workflows?

Glean

10.0

Exa

10.0

Compliance & Data Protection

Calculated

Compliance certifications and data-protection posture, counted from ten verified signals: SOC 2 Type II, GDPR compliance, HIPAA, WCAG AA/AAA, PII redaction, licensed-only training, a published sub-processor list, a downloadable DPA, not training on user data, and a documented deletion path

Glean

8.0▲ +3.0

Exa

5.0

Performance

Calculated

Latency + throughput speed

Glean

8.0

Exa

10.0▲ +2.0

Planning Quality

Calculated

Multi-step planning depth + replanning capability

Glean

—

Exa

—

Calculated = derived from structured signals (integration count, API/open-source config, compliance certs, response-time). AI = LLM-assessed from public website content. Methodology

Task Performance

Glean

Task

Exa

9.0

Search Accuracy

9.0

Answer Extraction

7.0

8.0

Source Attribution

9.0

7.0

Real Time Indexing

9.0

Semantic Understanding

9.0

4.0

Multi Modal Search

3.0

7.0

Filter Refinement

8.0

Personalization

2.0

Content Detection

1.0

9.0

Knowledge Graph

5.0

7.0

Agent Coordination

3.0

7.0

Task Delegation

3.0

* Task scores (1–10) are algorithmically generated from publicly available data.

Data is sourced from public information and vendor websites. It may not always be up-to-date — verify pricing and features directly with the vendor before purchasing.Report inaccuracy

Frequently Asked Questions

Which is better, Glean or Exa?

Both are strong options. Glean is a strong choice, while Exa is a strong choice. The best choice depends on your specific use case, budget, and workflow requirements.

Is Glean cheaper than Exa?

Glean starts at free (enterprise model). Exa starts at free (freemium model). Use the Cost Calculator above for a detailed estimate.

What are the main differences between Glean and Exa?

Glean — "Work AI that Works — Agents, Assistant & Search". Exa — "Web search, built for AI agents". Key differences include their pricing models, platform support, integrations, and technical capabilities. See the Feature Comparison table above for a complete side-by-side breakdown.

Can I use Glean and Exa together?

Yes, many teams use both tools together for different purposes. Use the Stack Builder section above to combine Glean and Exa with other tools and save your AI toolkit.

Does Glean or Exa have a free plan?

Glean is a paid tool. Exa is available for free. Always verify current pricing directly with the vendor.

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