Side-by-side comparison · Research & Search
Elicit vs Exa vs Prompt Cowboy
Everything that matters when choosing between them, in one place: our rating, what each can do, what they cost, and the trade-offs.
Comparing 3 tools, the maximum.
At a glance
Elicit
3.8Pick it if: Researchers, students and analysts who need to review a lot of papers carefully.
Exa
4.0Pick it if: People using Claude Code or building their own assistants who want real web search behind them.
Prompt Cowboy
3.9Pick it if: Anyone who feels their AI results are mediocre and suspects the prompt is the reason.
Overview
| Attribute | Elicit | Exa | Prompt Cowboy |
|---|---|---|---|
| In one line | Finds, screens and summarises research papers into a comparison table. | A search engine built for AI tools, so Claude can find exactly the pages it needs. | Turns a rough one-line idea into a detailed, well-structured prompt for any AI tool. |
| Pricing model | Freemium | Freemium | Freemium |
| Starting price | $49/user/mo | From $4 per 1 | $8/mo |
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Works with Claude Code | No | Yes | No |
Rating breakdown
Our scores out of 5. The higher bar in each row is highlighted.
| Attribute | Elicit | Exa | Prompt Cowboy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Overall rating | 3.8 | 4.0Winner | 3.9 |
| Ease of useHow quickly someone non-technical gets value from it. | 3.5 | 3.0 | 5.0 |
| FeaturesHow much it can do, and how well the pieces fit together. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 2.5 |
| Output qualityHow good the results are before you fix them. | 4.5 | 4.0 | 3.5 |
| Value for moneyWhat you get for the price, including the free plan. | 3.0 | 4.5 | 4.0 |
| Speed & reliabilityHow fast it is and how often it falls over. | 3.5 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
Feature comparison
A tick means it does this today. A dash means we haven't checked.
| Attribute | Elicit | Exa | Prompt Cowboy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Access & platform | |||
| Free plan | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Mobile app | No | No | No |
| Desktop app | No | No | No |
| Browser extension | No | No | – |
| API access | Yes | Yes | – |
| Teams & business | |||
| Team workspace | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Enterprise plan or SSO | Yes | Yes | No |
| Connects to other apps | Yes | Yes | No |
| Open source or self-hosted | No | No | No |
| AI abilities | |||
| Works with your files | Yes | No | No |
| Understands images | – | No | No |
| Makes images | No | No | No |
| Makes video | No | No | No |
| Writes code | No | No | No |
| Runs agents or automations | Yes | Yes | No |
| Learns your brand or style | No | No | Yes |
| Works in many languages | – | Yes | – |
| Capabilities score | 7/ 17 | 7/ 17 | 3/ 17 |
Pricing
Plans as listed on each vendor's site when we last checked. Confirm before you buy.
| Attribute | Elicit | Exa | Prompt Cowboy |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plans | Basic Free Searching and reading a few papers. | FreeOur pick Free Personal use inside Claude Code. | FreeOur pick Free Learning what a good prompt looks like. |
ProOur pick $49/user/mo billed yearly Anyone doing a real literature review. | Pay as you go From $4 per 1,000 searches Anyone whose usage outgrows the free credit. | Individual $8/mo People who use it daily and want prompts in their own voice. | |
Scale $169/user/mo billed yearly Teams running many reviews at once. | Enterprise Custom Companies building products on top of it. | Team See website Small teams who want shared instructions. | |
Enterprise Custom Universities, pharma and large research groups. | |||
| Which plan to pick | Stay on Basic unless you have a review to run. When you do, Pro has everything one person needs, and the yearly commitment is the only way to get the quoted price. Scale is for teams, not for a solo researcher who wants more headroom. | Start free. The monthly $10 of credit is plenty for one person using it from Claude Code, and if you do run out you only pay for what you use. Enterprise is for software companies, not for a business that just wants better search. | Free is genuinely enough for most people. Pay for Individual only if you are writing prompts all day and the style matching would save you editing time. Check the Team price on the site; it was not shown on the pricing page when we looked. |
Key features
| Attribute | Elicit | Exa | Prompt Cowboy |
|---|---|---|---|
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Pros and cons
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Who each one is for
| Attribute | Elicit | Exa | Prompt Cowboy |
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How we compare
Ratings are our own, from using each tool, across ease of use, features, output quality, value for money, speed & reliability. The "Visit" buttons may use affiliate links, which never affect a score.
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