# Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs Mercury API

> Airwallex Spend and Issuing scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Mercury API's 63.8 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mercury API leads on payments & pricing. Both do spend transactions. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-mercury
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-mercury.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-mercury.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-mercury.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: 2026-10-08

Airwallex Spend and Issuing scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Mercury API's 63.8 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mercury API leads on payments & pricing. Both do spend transactions.

- Airwallex Spend and Issuing: grade B, 68.3/100, rank #187 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/airwallex.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/airwallex.json
- Mercury API: grade B, 63.8/100, rank #293 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mercury.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mercury.json

## Which one, for what

### Airwallex Spend and Issuing (B)

Good for: A company already banking with Airwallex in several currencies that wants an agent to issue cards with limits, read card transactions and expenses, load vendors, purchase orders and bills, and sync status to an ERP.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 77 against 59
- Transparency & trust, 78 against 63

Watch for: No OpenAPI spec was found. The reference is a Markdown page per endpoint, and the CLI prints one endpoint's schema at a time

### Mercury API (B)

Good for: A company that banks with Mercury and wants an agent to read balances and transactions, set notes and categories, upload receipts, issue virtual cards with spend limits and queue payments for human approval.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 25

Watch for: No rate limits with numbers and no 429 handling were found in the reviewed documentation


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Airwallex Spend and Issuing | Mercury API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 77 | 59 | Airwallex Spend and Issuing +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 72 | Mercury API +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 69 | 68 | Airwallex Spend and Issuing +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 84 | 82 | Airwallex Spend and Issuing +2 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 30 | Mercury API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 64 | Airwallex Spend and Issuing +2 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 78 | 63 | Airwallex Spend and Issuing +15 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.3 · B** | **63.8 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Airwallex Spend and Issuing | Mercury API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Airwallex | Mercury Technologies, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.airwallex.com` | `https://api.mercury.com/api/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Airwallex's service agreement and API terms. The plugin and skills repository is Apache-2.0 and `@airwallex/node-sdk` is MIT | Proprietary service under Mercury's Terms of Use. The Mercury CLI on GitHub is Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 35 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-08-12 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-06-20 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 7 stars, 44k npm/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Airwallex Spend and Issuing.** Scoped API keys split read from write per resource, tokens last 30 minutes, and the sandbox opens at once with no contract. No OpenAPI spec was found, every Spend endpoint read is marked beta, the pricing page lists direct Spend API integration under the custom-priced Accelerate plan, and no SLA was found.

**Mercury API.** Custom tokens take per-endpoint scopes, write tokens need an IP allowlist, and payments can be queued for approval in the dashboard through `POST /account/{accountId}/request-send-money`. No rate limits, error catalogue or SLA were found in the reviewed documentation, the changelog carries no dates, and the MCP server is beta.

## Before you call either

### Airwallex Spend and Issuing

1. Exchange `x-client-id` and `x-api-key` at `POST /api/v1/authentication/login` once, then reuse the bearer token for 30 minutes. The login endpoint allows 100 requests a minute per key
2. Create Spend keys with organisation-level permissions. With a key linked to several accounts, send `x-login-as` at login or the token carries no account permissions
3. Send a fresh UUID as `request_id` on every create call and reuse the same value when retrying after a timeout
4. Expect two pagination styles. Spend and card transaction events use the `page` bookmark with `page_after` and `page_before`. Cards and legacy transactions use `page_num` and `has_more`
5. Card and expense lists default to the last 30 days. Pass both created-at bounds to read further back, and fetch a card singly to see its `authorization_controls`

### Mercury API

1. Ask for a Custom token with only the scopes the task needs. Scopes can't be edited later, and a token unused for 45 days is deleted.
2. Without a fixed IP address, send payments through `POST /account/{accountId}/request-send-money`. Direct sends through `POST /account/{accountId}/transactions` need an allowlisted IP.
3. Send a stored `idempotencyKey` with every payment. The same recipient, account, amount and method within 24 hours returns 400 even with a new key.
4. Set `limit` on list calls. `GET /transactions` returns up to 1,000 rows by default.
5. Test against `https://api-sandbox.mercury.com/api/v1/` with a sandbox token. Webhooks aren't available in the sandbox.

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Airwallex Spend and Issuing or Mercury API?

Airwallex Spend and Issuing scores 68.3 (B) on agent readiness against Mercury API's 63.8 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Mercury API leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Airwallex Spend and Issuing and Mercury API need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Airwallex Spend and Issuing and Mercury API without installing anything?

Yes. Airwallex Spend and Issuing has a hosted endpoint at https://api.airwallex.com and Mercury API at https://api.mercury.com/api/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-mercury.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-mercury.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "airwallex", "b": "mercury"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare airwallex mercury`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/airwallex.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mercury.json

## Other comparisons with Airwallex Spend and Issuing or Mercury API

- [Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs BILL](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-bill.md)
- [Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs Brex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-brex.md)
- [Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs Expensify](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-expensify.md)
- [Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs Pleo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-pleo.md)
- [Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs Ramp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-ramp.md)
- [Airwallex Spend and Issuing vs Spendesk API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/airwallex-vs-spendesk.md)
- [BILL vs Mercury API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bill-vs-mercury.md)
- [Brex vs Mercury API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/brex-vs-mercury.md)
- [Expensify vs Mercury API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/expensify-vs-mercury.md)
- [Mercury API vs Pleo API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mercury-vs-pleo.md)
- [Mercury API vs Ramp](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mercury-vs-ramp.md)
- [Mercury API vs Spendesk API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mercury-vs-spendesk.md)