Exa is arguably the best 'search tool' for RAG pipelines because it doesn't just give you links—it gives you the clean content your LLM actually needs. Its neural search capabilities allow for fuzzy, concept-based queries that traditional keyword APIs fail at. However, at $5/1k requests, it is a premium tool; if you just need a list of URLs, stick to Tavily or Serper, but if you need deep context and content extraction in one go, Exa is worth the cost.
