{"id":"neural-search","slug":"neural-search","name":"Neural / semantic web search","shortName":"Neural / semantic web search","problemStatement":"Find relevant pages by meaning for research agents.","whenNotTopPick":"Exact navigational queries — keyword SERP APIs.","categoryIds":["cat-search-scrape"],"depotPickProviderId":"exa","depotPickRationale":"capability semantic retrieval.","runnersUpIds":["tavily","brave-search","typesense-cloud","algolia","meilisearch-cloud"],"weights":{"capabilityFit":0.26,"pricePerformance":0.12,"latencyReliability":0.12,"developerDx":0.22,"privacyPosture":0.12,"lockInRisk":0.08,"maturity":0.08},"methodologyNotes":"capability semantic retrieval.","tags":["neural"],"depth":{"whenNotToUse":{"text":"Exact navigational queries — keyword SERP APIs.","source":"editorial `whenNotTopPick` (data/jtbds.json)"},"whenNotToUseReason":null,"runnerUp":{"providerId":"tavily","name":"Tavily","overallForJob":8.3,"pickOverallForJob":8.34,"beatsPickOn":["pricePerformance"],"source":"first resolvable entry of the job's editorially ranked `runnersUpIds`; scores are stored job-weighted scores"},"runnerUpReason":null,"lockIn":{"pickLockInRisk":4.5,"runnerUpLockInRisk":4.5,"scale":"0–10 stored curated estimate; higher = more lock-in (worse)","pickExitSignals":[],"runnerUpExitSignals":[],"pickNotes":[],"selfHostFallback":[],"migration":null,"migrationReason":"no_stored_migration_data","derivedFrom":"stored lockInRisk scores, provider tags (oss, self-host, openai-compat, open-models), free rows that list this job, and verbatim provider notes. No migration guide was invented."}},"freshness":{"pick":{"score":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"lastReviewed":{"asOf":"2026-10-19","ageDays":8,"stale":false,"staleAfterDays":30,"reason":null},"sourceCheck":{"checkedAt":"2026-10-27","sourceUrls":1,"sourcesReachable":1,"pricingRows":16,"pricingRowsReconfirmed":5,"note":"A source re-check confirms the page is reachable and, for pricing rows, that the stored amount and SKU name appear on it. It does not re-derive or change the score.","reason":null}}},"depotPick":{"id":"exa","slug":"exa","name":"Exa","tagline":"Depot pick for research-style agent search. Pair with Firecrawl when you need full page content.","overall":8.34},"runnersUp":[{"id":"tavily","slug":"tavily","name":"Tavily","tagline":"Depot co-default for agent web search with Exa. Pick Tavily for classic SERP-like agent search.","overall":8.3},{"id":"brave-search","slug":"brave-search","name":"Brave Search API","tagline":"Best privacy-forward search API with an independent index. Strong complement to Tavily/Exa.","overall":8.29},{"id":"typesense-cloud","slug":"typesense-cloud","name":"Typesense Cloud","tagline":"Hybrid search peer when you want Algolia-like DX without per-request fees. Sample $0.03/hr floor pinned…","overall":8.27},{"id":"algolia","slug":"algolia","name":"Algolia","tagline":"Enterprise product-search default. Prefer Typesense/OpenSearch when $/QPS dominates; vector DBs when pure…","overall":8.32},{"id":"meilisearch-cloud","slug":"meilisearch-cloud","name":"Meilisearch Cloud","tagline":"Typesense/Algolia peer for product + RAG hybrid search. Prefer Typesense when hourly HA clusters are clearer…","overall":8.37}]}