# Amazon Ads API vs Microsoft Advertising API

> Microsoft Advertising API scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Amazon Ads API's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Amazon Ads API leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do ads reporting. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side…

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- Updated: 2026-10-08

Microsoft Advertising API scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Amazon Ads API's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Amazon Ads API leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do ads reporting.

- Amazon Ads API: grade C, 59/100, rank #388 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-ads-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/amazon-ads-api.json
- Microsoft Advertising API: grade C, 60.3/100, rank #360 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-advertising-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/microsoft-advertising-api.json

## Which one, for what

### Amazon Ads API (C)

Good for: Agents managing sponsored ads and Amazon DSP for an advertiser or agency that already has API approval, and teams that want a vendor-run MCP server.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 73 against 64

Watch for: Access needs an approved application (review may take up to one business day) and an advertiser's consent in a browser

### Microsoft Advertising API (C)

Good for: Agents that manage or report on Microsoft Advertising accounts, including Google Ads imports.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 60 against 45

Watch for: Call-rate limits carry no numbers. The docs describe a 60-second sliding window, and call the Bulk and Reporting limits internal and subject to change


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Amazon Ads API | Microsoft Advertising API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 60 | Microsoft Advertising API +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 76 | 79 | Microsoft Advertising API +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 63 | Microsoft Advertising API +1 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 60 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 30 | Amazon Ads API +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 61 | Amazon Ads API +4 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 73 | 64 | Amazon Ads API +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **59 · C** | **60.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Amazon Ads API | Microsoft Advertising API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Amazon | Microsoft |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://advertising-api.amazon.com` | `https://campaign.api.bingads.microsoft.com/CampaignManagement/v13` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |
| Pricing | Free | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Amazon Advertising API Licence Agreement. The Postman collections and samples in amzn/ads-advanced-tools-docs are MIT-0 | Proprietary service. The .NET, Java, Python and PHP SDKs are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 7 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-30 | 2026-09-01 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | none | 128 stars, 19k PyPI/wk |

## Verdicts

**Amazon Ads API.** Public OpenAPI specifications, test accounts that serve no ads and a six-month shutoff notice policy support agent use. Access needs an approved application and an advertiser's OAuth consent, rate limits are dynamic with no published numbers, and the status feed shows three reporting disruptions since July 2026. The MCP server is in open beta.

**Microsoft Advertising API.** Version 13 covers campaigns, budgets, audiences, ads and reports over REST with JSON, with a sandbox that needs no payment method and four official SDKs. Call-rate limits are unpublished, no public OpenAPI file or idempotency key was found, and one OAuth scope covers every operation. The SOAP interface retires on 31 January 2027.

## Before you call either

### Amazon Ads API

1. Send Amazon-Advertising-API-ClientId and a Bearer access token on every call, and Amazon-Advertising-API-Scope with a profile ID from GET /v2/profiles on most
2. Call the host for the advertiser's region. advertising-api.amazon.com is North America, advertising-api-eu Europe and advertising-api-fe Far East
3. Refresh the access token every 60 minutes. Refresh tokens issued from 30 July 2026 expire 365 days after consent
4. On 429, wait the Retry-After seconds and back off exponentially. Request an export instead of listing every entity
5. Rehearse writes in a test account, or create campaigns in the PAUSED state, before anything can spend
6. For MCP, prefer https://advertising-ai.amazon.com/mcp/lite and disable delete tools in the client configuration

### Microsoft Advertising API

1. Build and test against the sandbox hosts (`*.api.sandbox.bingads.microsoft.com`) with developer token BBD37VB98. Sandbox and production credentials are separate
2. Send `Authorization: Bearer <token>`, `DeveloperToken`, `CustomerId` and `CustomerAccountId` on REST calls. Use the account ID, never the eight-character account number
3. Create campaigns with `Status` set to `Paused`, then read them back before activating. No validate-only mode was found
4. On error 117 (CallRateExceeded) wait 60 seconds. On Bulk error 4204 wait up to 15 minutes
5. Read `PartialErrors` on every add, update and delete. A call can succeed for some items and fail for others

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Amazon Ads API or Microsoft Advertising API?

Microsoft Advertising API scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against Amazon Ads API's 59 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Amazon Ads API leads on payments & pricing and transparency & trust.

### Do Amazon Ads API and Microsoft Advertising API need an API key?

Both use an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Amazon Ads API and Microsoft Advertising API without installing anything?

Yes. Amazon Ads API has a hosted endpoint at https://advertising-api.amazon.com and Microsoft Advertising API at https://campaign.api.bingads.microsoft.com/CampaignManagement/v13.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Amazon Ads API or Microsoft Advertising API

- [Amazon Ads API vs Google Ads API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-ads-api-vs-google-ads-api.md)
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