• TARGETING
  • ANALYSIS
  • INSIGHTS
  • HUMAN

How to research competitors with your AI

Connect Exa AI to your agent to pull live web data and domain-specific insights without leaving your chat interface.

Ask AI about this page

Short answer

How can I use my AI to research competitors?

Your AI uses Exa AI to find companies within specific industries or target specific competitor domains to extract relevant highlights. You'll get a filtered list of players and the specific data points you need to build a competitive profile.

Research outcomes

What you'll find

The data your agent gathers from the web.

TARGETING

Industry lists

The AI finds companies based on category filters. You get a clean list of players in a specific niche.

ANALYSIS

Domain deep dives

The AI scans specific competitor websites. It pulls the exact information you asked for from their pages.

INSIGHTS

Key highlights

The AI extracts specific text snippets and data points. This saves you from reading every page manually.

HUMAN

Strategic decisions

The AI provides the raw data and highlights. You decide how to use these findings to adjust your strategy.

The workflow

What your AI does when the request arrives.

The AI moves from broad discovery to specific data extraction.

  1. Find companies

    The AI identifies potential competitors by looking up specific business categories.

    search_by_category

  2. Target domains

    The AI narrows the search to specific competitor websites you already know.

    search_specific_domains

  3. Extract data

    The AI pulls the most relevant text snippets from the target pages.

    get_query_highlights

  4. Summarize findings

    The AI organizes the gathered highlights into a readable format for your review.

    get_query_highlights

Try it

Copy these to start.

Use these prompts to kick off your research.

Starting points

Swap the bracketed text for your actual industry or competitor URLs.

Exa AI Connector

You're all set. Choose your MCP client and follow the setup instructions.

Connector linkhttps://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_FGVXtKSFn3wrHq5L8wcmkWylSnn62LI4lF4yyImn/mcp

Claude Desktop

Follow the steps below to connect in seconds.

  1. 1In Claude Desktop, open Settings → Connectors.
  2. 2Click “Add custom connector” and paste the connector link above as the remote MCP server URL.
  3. 3Click Add and start a new chat — Exa AI capabilities are ready to use.
Configuration · claude_desktop_config.jsonCopy
{
  "mcpServers": {
    "exa-ai-mcp": {
      "url": "https://edge.vinkius.com/vk_preview_FGVXtKSFn3wrHq5L8wcmkWylSnn62LI4lF4yyImn/mcp"
    }
  }
}
Copy into chat04

  • Find all companies in the [SaaS fintech] category.

  • Search the domains [competitor1.com, competitor2.com] for their pricing models.

  • Get highlights from [competitor3.com] regarding their enterprise features.

  • Identify companies in the [renewable energy] sector and summarize their mission statements.

  • Claude
  • ChatGPT
  • Cursor
  • VS Code
  • Windsurf
  • Claude Code
  • JetBrains
  • Cline

Start here

Connect Exa AI once, then ask.

One click connects this MCP to your client. Your credentials stay encrypted and the setup is handled on our end.

Connect Exa AI to your AI

FAQ

Common questions

  • 01

    Can the AI browse any website on the internet?

    No. The AI can only access and highlight data from sites it can find through the specific search and domain tools provided.

  • 02

    Can the AI change information on a competitor's website?

    No. The AI only reads and extracts data. It has no ability to modify or delete any external content.

  • 03

    Does the AI perform the final strategic analysis?

    No. The AI provides the data and the highlights. You are responsible for interpreting that data and making business decisions.

  • 04

    Can I limit the search to a specific list of URLs?

    Yes. You can use the domain-specific search tool to focus strictly on a list of competitor sites.

  • 05

    Will the AI remember my previous searches?

    The AI's memory depends on your specific AI client's context window, not the MCP itself.

  • More questions about Exa AI? The Connector page answers them. See everything the Exa AI Connector can do

Connect Exa AI to Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT & more