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Comparison · ai-assistants

Gladia vs Exa

A side-by-side editorial comparison of Gladia and Exa — release velocity, themes, recent moves, and the top alternatives to consider.

Gladia vs Exa: at a glance

FeatureGladiaExa
Sectorai-assistantsai-assistants
Velocity score6.36.3
Sparks · 30d11
Top themesspeech-to-text, transcription, ai-models, developer-sdksearch, agents, retrieval, mcp
Last editorial update3d ago16h ago
WebsiteVisit →Visit →

What is Gladia?

Gladia ships a new flagship speech-to-text model and edges into the meeting-bot stack.

Gladia sells speech-to-text as an API, competing with Deepgram and AssemblyAI. Its recent work centers on model accuracy — the new Solaria-3 model and an open benchmark — alongside developer ergonomics (an official async SDK, a multilingual normalization library) and enterprise trust signals. A new Attendee integration pushes it toward live meeting transcription.

Read the full Gladia trajectory →

What is Exa?

Exa is pushing past search into autonomous web-research agents.

Exa has moved beyond its search-and-retrieval API into agentic territory. The headline change is Exa Agent — a research agent built on Exa's index and reachable via API — now joined by MCP availability for Agent and Connect. The underlying search product keeps maturing in parallel: auto-routing, people and company search, markdown-native content, and instant results.

Read the full Exa trajectory →

Gladia vs Exa: editorial side-by-side

G
Gladia
AI-ASSISTANTS
6.3

Gladia ships a new flagship speech-to-text model and edges into the meeting-bot stack.

◆ Current state

Gladia sells speech-to-text as an API, competing with Deepgram and AssemblyAI. Its recent work centers on model accuracy — the new Solaria-3 model and an open benchmark — alongside developer ergonomics (an official async SDK, a multilingual normalization library) and enterprise trust signals. A new Attendee integration pushes it toward live meeting transcription.

◆ Where it's heading

Two threads run through the changelog: advancing the core STT model on real-world, multilingual audio, and positioning Gladia inside the meeting-assistant ecosystem it mapped publicly in May. The Attendee integration, multilingual normalization, and async SDK all lower the friction of wiring Gladia into voice and meeting products.

◆ Prediction

Expect continued Solaria model iteration and more meeting-platform integrations — or first-party bot tooling — as Gladia leans into the meeting-transcription use case it keeps signaling.

E
Exa
AI-ASSISTANTS
6.3

Exa is pushing past search into autonomous web-research agents.

◆ Current state

Exa has moved beyond its search-and-retrieval API into agentic territory. The headline change is Exa Agent — a research agent built on Exa's index and reachable via API — now joined by MCP availability for Agent and Connect. The underlying search product keeps maturing in parallel: auto-routing, people and company search, markdown-native content, and instant results.

◆ Where it's heading

The arc runs from primitives to products: a fast index, then specialized verticals (people, companies), now an agent that composes them into end-to-end research. Bringing Agent and Connect to MCP signals Exa wants to be a retrieval backend inside other agent stacks, not just a standalone API.

◆ Prediction

Expect Exa to deepen the agent layer — structured research outputs and monitoring already appear in the changelog — and to lean on MCP distribution to embed inside third-party agents rather than compete for end users directly.

Alternatives to Gladia and Exa

Other ai-assistants products tracked by Sparkpulse, ranked by recent ship velocity. Each card links to a full editorial trajectory and lets you pivot into a head-to-head comparison with either Gladia or Exa.

See all Gladia alternatives → · See all Exa alternatives →

Recent activity from Gladia and Exa

Latest ship moves from both products, interleaved chronologically. ⚡ = editorial spark.

  1. 2d agoExaJuly 2026
  2. 3d agoGladiaAttendee integration
  3. 17d agoExaJune 2026
  4. 17d agoExaMay 2025
  5. 17d agoExaAugust 2025
  6. 17d agoExaApril 2026
  7. 17d agoExaOctober 2025
  8. 23d agoGladiaSolaria-3: Our new speech-to-text model
  9. 1mo agoGladiaSOC 2 Type II & HIPAA Renewal
  10. 1mo agoGladiaAI Meeting Assistant Market Map
  11. 2mo agoGladiaMultilingual Normalization Library
  12. 2mo agoGladiaAsynchronous SDK

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between Gladia and Exa?

They serve adjacent needs but don't currently overlap on shipped themes. Gladia and Exa are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). See the at-a-glance table above for a side-by-side breakdown of velocity, recent sparks, and editorial themes.

Is Gladia better than Exa?

Sparkpulse doesn't pick a winner — we score release velocity, not feature parity. Gladia and Exa are shipping at a similar cadence (velocity 6.3 vs 6.3, both within Sparkpulse's "active" band). For your specific use case, the alternatives sections above list other ai-assistants products to evaluate alongside.

What are the best alternatives to Gladia?

Top Gladia alternatives in ai-assistants are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Gladia alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/gladia for the full list with editorial commentary on each.

What are the best alternatives to Exa?

Top Exa alternatives in ai-assistants are ranked by recent ship velocity. Browse the "Exa alternatives" section above for the current picks, or visit /alternatives/exa for the full list with editorial commentary on each.