FOMOA vs Exa.ai: Free India-Optimized AI Search Alternative in 2026

The AI Search API Landscape in 2026

If you're building AI applications that need web search capabilities, you've likely looked at Exa.ai. It's powerful, well-documented, and used by companies like Notion and Perplexity.

But there's a problem: Exa.ai costs $5 per 1,000 requests, and it has virtually no optimization for Indian content, sources, or languages.

Enter FOMOA: All 5 core Exa.ai features, completely free, with India-first optimization.

Quick Feature Comparison

| Feature | Exa.ai | FOMOA | |---------|--------|-------| | Direct Answers | $5/1,000 requests | Free | | Deep Research | $5/1,000 requests | Free | | Web Crawling | $5/1,000 requests | Free | | Entity Search | $5/1,000 requests | Free | | Websets | $5/1,000 requests | Free | | Indian Sources | ~10 sources | 150+ curated sources | | Hindi Support | Basic/Translation | Native (56K samples) | | Hinglish Support | None | Full support | | India Credibility DB | No | Yes (pre-scored) | | Government Schemes | Limited | Comprehensive | | OpenAI Compatible | No | Yes | | Rate Limit | Depends on plan | 60 req/min (free) |

Feature-by-Feature Deep Dive

1. Direct Answers (/api/answer)

Both platforms provide AI-generated answers from web sources. Here's how they compare:

# Exa.ai Answer API
import exa_py

exa = exa_py.Exa(api_key="your_exa_key")

result = exa.answer(
    query="What is India's GDP 2024?",
    num_results=5
)
# Cost: $0.005 per request

# FOMOA Answer API (Free)
import requests

response = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/answer",
    json={
        "query": "What is India's GDP 2024?",
        "num_results": 5,
        "include_sources": True
    },
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer your_fomoa_key"}
)
# Cost: $0.00

FOMOA Advantage: For India-specific queries, FOMOA searches Indian government sources (mospi.gov.in, rbi.org.in) that Exa.ai doesn't prioritize.

2. Deep Research (/api/research)

Multi-hop research that follows leads from initial results:

Exa.ai Research Process
=======================
Query → Search → Extract → Summarize
         ↓
    Generic global sources
         ↓
    May miss Indian context

FOMOA Research Process
======================
Query → Expand → Search (Parallel) → Extract → Follow-up → Synthesize
         ↓                            ↓
    Hindi query variants         Indian sources
         ↓                       prioritized
    English + Hindi sources          ↓
                                Conflict detection
                                     ↓
                                Credibility-weighted
                                   synthesis

# FOMOA Deep Research API
response = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/research",
    json={
        "query": "Impact of UPI on Indian economy 2024",
        "depth": "deep",  # quick (5s), normal (15s), deep (60s)
        "include_analysis": True
    },
    headers={"Authorization": "Bearer your_fomoa_key"}
)

# Returns:
# - Multi-source synthesis
# - RBI statistics
# - NPCI data
# - Academic research
# - News analysis
# - Conflict flags if sources disagree

3. Web Crawling (/api/crawl)

Extract content from websites:

Exa.ai Crawl               FOMOA Crawl
===========               ===========
Basic extraction           Smart extraction
No Indian site tuning      Indian site optimization
                          - Handles common Indian CMS
                          - gov.in specific parsing
                          - Hindi content extraction
Respects robots.txt        Respects robots.txt
                          - Plus ethical rate limiting
                          - Sitemap optimization

# FOMOA Crawl API
response = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/crawl",
    json={
        "url": "https://pmjay.gov.in/about-pmjay",
        "extract": ["text", "links", "meta"],
        "max_pages": 10
    }
)

# Returns clean, structured content
# even from complex government websites

4. Entity Search (/api/entities)

Search for specific entity types:

Exa.ai entities: Companies, people, products (global focus)

FOMOA entities:

• Companies (Indian startup ecosystem)
• Government schemes (100+ central, 1000+ state)
• Educational institutions (IITs, IIMs, NITs, universities)
• Financial instruments (NSE/BSE listed)
• Government offices and services

# FOMOA Entity Search - Government Schemes
response = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/entities",
    json={
        "entity_type": "govt_scheme",
        "filters": {
            "ministry": "Agriculture",
            "beneficiary": "farmers",
            "state": "Maharashtra"
        }
    }
)

# Returns structured scheme data:
# - Scheme name (Hindi + English)
# - Eligibility criteria
# - Benefits
# - Application process
# - Official portal links

5. Websets (Collections)

Create curated collections of web sources:

# FOMOA Websets API
# Create a collection of Indian fintech companies

response = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/websets",
    json={
        "name": "Indian Fintech 2026",
        "description": "Top fintech companies in India",
        "criteria": {
            "entity_type": "company",
            "industry": "Fintech",
            "location": "India",
            "founded_after": 2015
        },
        "max_size": 100
    }
)

# Use webset for targeted searches
search_response = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/search",
    json={
        "query": "UPI integration features",
        "webset_id": response.json()["webset_id"]
    }
)

Cost Comparison: Real-World Scenarios

Scenario 1: Startup Building India News Aggregator

Daily requests: 10,000
Monthly requests: 300,000

Exa.ai Cost:
- 300,000 × $0.005 = $1,500/month
- Annual: $18,000

FOMOA Cost:
- $0/month
- Annual: $0

Savings: $18,000/year

Scenario 2: Student Research Project

Monthly queries: 5,000

Exa.ai Cost:
- 5,000 × $0.005 = $25/month
- Often exceeds student budgets

FOMOA Cost:
- $0/month
- Perfect for academic use

Scenario 3: Government Portal Integration

Daily queries: 50,000
Monthly: 1,500,000

Exa.ai Cost:
- 1,500,000 × $0.005 = $7,500/month
- Government procurement complexity

FOMOA Cost:
- $0/month
- Designed for government use cases

India-Specific Advantages

1. Native Hindi Processing

Query: "मुद्रा लोन कैसे लें"
(How to get Mudra loan)

Exa.ai:
- May translate query
- Searches English sources
- Response requires translation back
- Context often lost

FOMOA:
- Native Hindi understanding
- Searches Hindi + English sources
- Response in user's language
- Full context preserved

2. Government Source Priority

Query: "Ayushman Bharat eligibility"

Exa.ai Results:
1. Wikipedia article
2. News article (2022)
3. Insurance company blog
4. Quora answer

FOMOA Results:
1. pmjay.gov.in (Official) ★
2. PIB Press Release ★
3. State health department portal
4. NHA announcement

3. Indian Format Understanding

Formats FOMOA handles natively:
- Lakhs/Crores number system
- +91 phone number format
- PIN codes (6 digits)
- Aadhaar (12 digits)
- PAN (AAAAA0000A)
- GSTIN (15 characters)
- IFSC codes
- Vehicle registration formats

Migration Guide: Exa.ai to FOMOA

Step 1: Update Base URL

# Before (Exa.ai)
import exa_py
exa = exa_py.Exa(api_key="exa_key")

# After (FOMOA) - Using OpenAI-compatible endpoint
from openai import OpenAI
client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://fomoa.cloud/v1",
    api_key="fomoa_key"
)

Step 2: Map API Endpoints

Exa.ai Endpoint           FOMOA Endpoint
---------------           --------------
/search                   /api/search
/answer                   /api/answer
/research                 /api/research
/crawl                    /api/crawl
/contents                 /api/entities

Step 3: Update Parameters

# Exa.ai style
result = exa.search(
    query="AI startups India",
    num_results=10,
    include_domains=["techcrunch.com", "ycombinator.com"]
)

# FOMOA style
result = requests.post(
    "https://fomoa.cloud/api/search",
    json={
        "query": "AI startups India",
        "num_results": 10,
        "domain_filter": ["tracxn.com", "inc42.com", "yourstory.com"],
        "include_indian_sources": True  # FOMOA-specific
    }
)

Integration Examples

LangChain Integration

from langchain.tools import Tool
from langchain.agents import initialize_agent, AgentType
from langchain.llms import OpenAI
import requests

def fomoa_search(query: str) -> str:
    response = requests.post(
        "https://fomoa.cloud/api/answer",
        json={"query": query},
        headers={"Authorization": "Bearer your_key"}
    )
    return response.json()["answer"]

search_tool = Tool(
    name="FOMOA Search",
    func=fomoa_search,
    description="Search Indian web sources for information"
)

agent = initialize_agent(
    tools=[search_tool],
    llm=OpenAI(),
    agent=AgentType.ZERO_SHOT_REACT_DESCRIPTION
)

LlamaIndex Integration

from llama_index import VectorStoreIndex, Document
from llama_index.readers.web import FOMOAReader

# Custom reader for FOMOA
class FOMOAReader:
    def load_data(self, query: str, num_results: int = 10):
        response = requests.post(
            "https://fomoa.cloud/api/search",
            json={"query": query, "num_results": num_results}
        )

        documents = []
        for result in response.json()["results"]:
            documents.append(Document(
                text=result["content"],
                metadata={
                    "url": result["url"],
                    "credibility_score": result["credibility_score"]
                }
            ))
        return documents

Rate Limits & Fair Use

FOMOA Free Tier Limits
======================

API Endpoint          Rate Limit           Burst
------------          ----------           -----
/api/search           60/minute            100
/api/answer           60/minute            100
/api/research         20/minute            30
/api/crawl            30/minute            50
/api/entities         60/minute            100

Total daily limit: 100,000 requests
No credit card required

When to Choose Which

Choose FOMOA When:

• Building for Indian market
• Need Hindi/Hinglish support
• Government/scheme related queries
• Cost-sensitive project
• Student/researcher
• Startup with limited budget
• Need OpenAI-compatible API

Consider Exa.ai When:

• Pure global English focus
• Need enterprise SLA guarantees
• Existing Exa.ai integration
• Require specific Exa.ai features

Getting Started

1. Sign up: fomoa.cloud 2. Get API key: Dashboard → API Keys 3. Start building: Use our OpenAI-compatible endpoint

# Quick start in 3 lines
from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(base_url="https://fomoa.cloud/v1", api_key="your_key")
response = client.chat.completions.create(
    model="fomoa",
    messages=[{"role": "user", "content": "Best mutual funds India 2026"}]
)
print(response.choices[0].message.content)

---

Save thousands in API costs while getting better results for Indian queries.

Try FOMOA free at fomoa.cloud.

Questions about migrating from Exa.ai? Connect on LinkedIn.

Related Articles

• Why Indian Users Need an India-First AI Search Engine
• Deep Research Mode: Multi-Hop AI Research Explained
• Building AI APIs: FOMOA's OpenAI-Compatible Endpoint
• Understanding Source Credibility: How FOMOA Ranks Results