# Activepieces API + MCP vs Windmill API + MCP

> Activepieces API + MCP has a score of 57.8 (C) against Windmill API + MCP's 56.1 (C). Both do automation workflows. The largest gap is reliability, 15 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/activepieces-vs-windmill
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/activepieces-vs-windmill.md (~1,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/activepieces-vs-windmill.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/activepieces-vs-windmill.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

Activepieces API + MCP has a score of 57.8 (C) against Windmill API + MCP's 56.1 (C). Both do automation workflows. The largest gap is reliability, 15 points.

- Activepieces API + MCP: grade C, 57.8/100, rank #288 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/activepieces.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/activepieces.json
- Windmill API + MCP: grade C, 56.1/100, rank #306 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/windmill.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/windmill.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Activepieces API + MCP for reliability (+15), transparency & trust (+9).

Pick Windmill API + MCP for agent ergonomics (+8), maintenance & community (+7).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Activepieces API + MCP | Windmill API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 40 | Activepieces API + MCP +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 79 | Activepieces API + MCP +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 73 | Windmill API + MCP +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 60 | Activepieces API + MCP +4 |
| 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) | 80 | 87 | Windmill API + MCP +7 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 67 | Activepieces API + MCP +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -6 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **57.8 · C** | **56.1 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Activepieces API + MCP | Windmill API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Activepieces | Windmill Labs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://cloud.activepieces.com/api/v1` | `https://app.windmill.dev/api` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (core), commercial licence for enterprise-only parts | AGPL-3.0 (core), Apache-2.0 (clients and OpenAPI), commercial for enterprise-only parts |
| Tools exposed | 45 | 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 | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-01 |
| Popularity | 25k stars, 452k npm/wk | 18k stars, 126k npm/wk, 218k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Activepieces API + MCP.** MIT core, self-hostable, with the enterprise parts clearly separated. Docs say API keys come from the platform dashboard in Platform and Enterprise editions, while the pricing page lists the API on every plan.

**Windmill API + MCP.** Token scopes down to a single script path, with expiry. The default MCP URL puts the token in `?token=` unless a superadmin turns that off.

## Before you call either

### Activepieces API + MCP

1. Run `ap_validate_flow` before publishing a flow
2. Use `ap_search_actions` with a plain task description rather than listing pieces
3. Turn off the Flow Building and Tables groups for a project the agent should only read
4. Page with `limit` and `cursor` and stop when `next` is null
5. Cloud runs stop at 10 minutes of active time. Waits and approvals don't count

### Windmill API + MCP

1. Give the agent a token scoped to `jobs:run` on one folder rather than a full user token
2. Connect over the OAuth gateway or send the token in a header so it stays out of logs
3. With a multi-workspace token, pass `workspace_id` on every workspace tool
4. Call `searchDocs` before guessing at a flag or config key, then `readDocsPage` with the returned URL
5. Poll the job by ID after `runScriptByPath` for long jobs instead of waiting on the call

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