# 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP vs Bird API + MCP

> Bird API + MCP has a score of 77.7 (BB) against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52.2 (D). Both do messaging whatsapp. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 75 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird.md (~1,600 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/360dialog-vs-bird.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Bird API + MCP has a score of 77.7 (BB) against 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP's 52.2 (D). Both do messaging whatsapp. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 75 points.

- 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP: grade D, 52.2/100, rank #343 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/360dialog.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/360dialog.json
- Bird API + MCP: grade BB, 77.7/100, rank #17 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bird.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bird.json

## Which one, for what

Pick 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP for reliability (+10).

Pick Bird API + MCP for schema & documentation (+22), agent ergonomics (+37), security & auth (+50), maintenance & community (+75), transparency & trust (+30).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | Bird API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 73 | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 92 | Bird API + MCP +22 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 53 | 90 | Bird API + MCP +37 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 35 | 85 | Bird API + MCP +50 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 35 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 8 | 83 | Bird API + MCP +75 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 50 | 80 | Bird API + MCP +30 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.2 · D** | **77.7 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP | Bird API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | 360dialog | Bird (formerly MessageBird) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://waba-v2.360dialog.io` | `https://us1.platform.bird.com/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.bird/mcp` |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-01 |
| Popularity | none | 6 stars, 67k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.6/5 (8) |

## Verdicts

**360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP.** Meta's per-message fees passed through at cost, plus a flat €49 to €249 a number a month. No changelog, official SDK or standalone OpenAPI download.

**Bird API + MCP.** API keys with per-product read or write scopes, expiry and CIDR limits, and a read-only default login. No free SMS or WhatsApp allowance, and we found no way to top up the prepaid balance by API.

## Before you call either

### 360dialog WhatsApp API + MCP

1. Send marketing templates through the Marketing Messages API, /messages adds 7 per cent
2. Ask a docs page a question with `?ask=` before reading the whole page
3. Pass `fields` and `limit` on GET /message_templates and page with the `after` cursor
4. Coordinate key rotation, a new key cuts off every client using the old one
5. Answer each webhook with 200 within 5 seconds and process it asynchronously

### Bird API + MCP

1. Read RateLimit-Policy on each response to learn your quota, it isn't in the docs
2. Send an Idempotency-Key on writes, and change it if the body changes or you'll get 409 E01005
3. Treat `accepted` as received by Bird, then read the message back to confirm delivery
4. Connect to mcp.bird.com/dynamic if your client struggles with large tool lists
5. Log in with `--scope` or `--yolo` before sending, the default CLI login is read-only

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