Exa MCP Server vs Olostep MCP Server
A side-by-side look at the Exa MCP Server and Olostep MCP Server MCP servers: transport, auth, tools, quality signals, and the config to install either one in Claude, Cursor, Windsurf or VS Code.
Verdict: choose Exa MCP Server for search & data extraction work as a local process; choose Olostep MCP Server for search & data extraction as a local process. You can also run both side by side in one mcpServers block.
Which MCP server should you choose?
Choose Exa MCP Server when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: API key required.
- You want tools like
web_search_exa, web_fetch_exa.
Choose Olostep MCP Server when
- You need dedicated capabilities in the Search & Data Extraction domain.
- You prefer a local stdio subprocess transport.
- Its auth model fits you: API key required.
- You have the keys it needs:
OLOSTEP_API_KEY. - You want tools like
create_map, create_crawl, get_crawl_results.
Feature & specification comparison
Rows where the two servers differ are marked.
| Spec | ||
|---|---|---|
| Category | Search & Data Extraction | Search & Data Extraction |
| Quality signal | 73/100 · Great | 67/100 · Great |
| Install command | Confirmed | Confirmed |
| Transport | Local subprocess (stdio) | Local subprocess (stdio) |
| Auth | API key required | API key required |
| Pricing | BYOK (pay the provider) | BYOK (pay the provider) |
| Required env vars | None listed | OLOSTEP_API_KEY |
| Verified owner | Community listing | Community listing |
| GitHub stars | 5,215 | 25 |
| Directory activity | 21 views 0 installs 0 upvotes | 3 views 0 installs 0 upvotes |
| Tools | 2 | 10 |
| Full listing | View Exa MCP Server | View Olostep MCP Server |
Tools & capabilities
Exa MCP Server tools 2
web_search_exaSearch the web for any topic and get clean, ready-to-use content. Best for: Finding current information, news, facts, people, companies, or answering questions about any topic. Returns: Clean text content from top search results. Query tips: describe the ideal page, not keywords. "blog post comparing React and Vue performance" not "React vs Vue". Use category:people / category:company to search through Linkedin profiles / companies respectively. If highlights are insufficient, follow up with web_fetch_exa on the best URLs.web_fetch_exaRead a webpage's full content as clean markdown. Use after web_search_exa when highlights are insufficient or to read any URL. Best for: Extracting full content from known URLs. Batch multiple URLs in one call. Returns: Clean text content and metadata from the page(s).
Olostep MCP Server tools 10
create_mapGet a LIST of URLs on a website (URL discovery only — does NOT scrape content). Use when the user wants a list of links: 'show me all URLs on this site', 'map this website', or when you want to surface candidate URLs to the user before scraping a subset. Prefer `create_crawl` if the goal is to scrape the whole site — it discovers AND scrapes in one workflow. Use this only when the URL list itself is the deliverable.create_crawl**PREFERRED tool for crawling a website.** Use this whenever the user says 'crawl', 'scrape the whole site', 'get all pages from a site', or wants multiple pages from a single domain. This is the CORRECT tool for any whole-site scraping task. **Do NOT use `batch_scrape_urls` for crawling** - that tool is only for when you already have a specific list of unrelated URLs from different domains. Starts an ASYNC crawl that autonomously discovers and scrapes pages by following links from a start URL. Returns a crawl_id - the crawl runs in the background. You MUST then call `get_crawl_results` with the returned crawl_id to poll status and retrieve the scraped pages. Do NOT call `get_batch_results` with a crawl_id - crawls and batches are separate resources.get_crawl_resultsRetrieve the status and scraped pages for a crawl job. Pass the crawl_id returned by create_crawl. If the crawl is still in_progress, returns the current status so you can call again later (poll every ~10 seconds). Once completed, returns the list of discovered pages with their scraped content in the requested formats. This is the REQUIRED companion to create_crawl — create_crawl only kicks off the async job, this tool is how you actually get the content.batch_scrape_urlsScrape a SPECIFIC, KNOWN list of URLs (typically from different domains). **Do NOT use this for crawling a website** - if the user wants to scrape a whole site or 'crawl' a domain, use `create_crawl` instead. Use this only when you already have an explicit list of URLs to scrape (e.g., user provides a CSV of URLs, or you need to scrape unrelated pages). Returns a batch_id immediately. Use `get_batch_results` with the batch_id to fetch the scraped content once the batch completes (~5–8 min). Set `wait_for_completion_seconds` to poll automatically.get_batch_resultsRetrieve the status and scraped content for a batch job. Pass the batch_id returned by batch_scrape_urls. If the batch is completed, returns the scraped content for each URL. If still in_progress, returns the current status so you can call again later.answersAnswer a factual question using web search, optionally shaped into a flat JSON object of fields (returned with sources and citations). Best for a bounded, factual answer (e.g. a company's founding year, a product's current price). It is NOT reliable for enumerating a live list from a page (e.g. 'the latest N blog posts with titles and dates'). For that, use create_map or get_webpage_content on the page and read the results instead.search_webSearch the web for a given query and return structured results (non-AI, parser-based).scrape_websiteExtract content from a single URL. Supports multiple formats and JavaScript rendering.get_webpage_contentRetrieve content of a webpage in markdownget_website_urlsSearch and retrieve relevant URLs from a website (URL discovery only - does NOT scrape content). Use this only when the user wants a *filtered list of links* matching a search query. **Do NOT use this as a precursor to scraping** - if the user wants to scrape/crawl a site, use `create_crawl` directly.
Ready-to-paste client configs
Paste either block (or both) into your client config, e.g. claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json. We only show a config when the install command is confirmed.
Exa MCP Server
{
"mcpServers": {
"exa-labs-exa-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"exa-mcp-server"
]
}
}
}
Olostep MCP Server
{
"mcpServers": {
"olostep-olostep-mcp-server": {
"command": "npx",
"args": [
"-y",
"olostep-mcp"
],
"env": {
"OLOSTEP_API_KEY": "YOUR_OLOSTEP_API_KEY_HERE"
}
}
}
}
Frequently asked questions
Exa MCP Server is categorized under Search & Data Extraction and uses a local stdio subprocess. Olostep MCP Server belongs to Search & Data Extraction and uses a local stdio subprocess. Pick Exa MCP Server for search & data extraction work and Olostep MCP Server for search & data extraction.
Copy the mcpServers block from the config section on this page into your client's config (for example claude_desktop_config.json or ~/.cursor/mcp.json), then fully restart the client.
Exa MCP Server is bring-your-own-key: usage is billed by the API provider you supply a key for. Auth: api key required. Olostep MCP Server is bring-your-own-key: usage is billed by the API provider you supply a key for. Auth: api key required. If a server needs environment variables such as API keys, define them under the env key in your client's MCP config.
Yes. MCP clients support multiple servers: add exa-labs-exa-mcp-server and olostep-olostep-mcp-server as separate keys in the same mcpServers object, and your assistant will call tools from either one.
On AllMCPs, Exa MCP Server has a quality signal of 73/100 (Great) with 21 views, 0 installs and 5,215 GitHub stars. Olostep MCP Server has 67/100 (Great) with 3 views, 0 installs and 25 GitHub stars.