# Amazon Ads API vs Refersion MCP (slim)

> Amazon Ads scores 59 (C) to Refersion MCP's 52.4 (D) for ad reporting. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-ads-api-vs-refersion.md (~4,700 tokens) · this version ~3,030 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-ads-api-vs-refersion.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-ads-api-vs-refersion
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-02
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Amazon Ads API scores 59 (C) on agent readiness against Refersion MCP's 52.4 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Refersion MCP leads on reliability. Both do ad reporting.

- Amazon Ads API: C 59, rank #621 of 1266 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/amazon-ads-api.min.md
- Refersion MCP: D 52.4, rank #900 of 1266 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/refersion.min.md
- Amazon Ads API, 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 Schema & documentation, 76 against 46; Agent ergonomics, 62 against 50; Payments & pricing, 40 against 12; Maintenance & community, 65 against 58; Transparency & trust, 73 against 65.
- Refersion MCP, good for A brand or agency running an affiliate or influencer programme on Refersion who wants an assistant to review conversions, credit missing orders, approve applicants and compare affiliates across client accounts. Ahead on Reliability, 72 against 45.

| Category | Amazon Ads API | Refersion MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 45 | 72 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 76 | 46 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 62 | 50 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 60 | 58 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 40 | 12 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 65 | 58 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 73 | 65 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Amazon Ads API | Refersion MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Amazon | Refersion Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://advertising-api.amazon.com` | `https://api.refersion.com/mcp` |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| 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 hosted service under Refersion's Terms of Service (last updated 21 November 2024), which name Refersion Inc., a New Jersey corporation. No source code or package is published for the MCP server |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-26 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2024-11-21 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-30 | 2024-11-21 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Amazon Ads API +30: Amazon Ads API 76 (OpenAPI 3.0.1 files download without a login. The merged Ads API v1 file has 104 operations and 1,729 schemas (25). No llms.txt, and the docs site returns a JavaScript shell to a plain fetch (0). Operation descriptions are short, such as "Create campaigns", and list required permissions. When to use an operation is left to the guides (10). Typed inputs with enums, required fields and bounds such as maxResults 1 to 1,000 (14). An ErrorCode enum with a description per code and typed responses per status. Guide examples exist, though fewer sit in the specification (12). Per-resource versioning policy and dated release notes with an RSS feed (15).); Refersion MCP 46 (The MCP tool definitions can be read only after signing in, which this run didn't do. Refersion says each tool maps to an endpoint of API v2026-08, whose OpenAPI 3.1 file is public at refersion.dev with 36 paths and 44 operations. That counts in part, since it's the API's contract and not the tools' (12 of 25). No llms.txt on refersion.com or refersion.dev (both 404) and no Markdown docs for agents (0 of 10). The OpenAPI descriptions run 240 to 1,221 characters and state behaviour and preconditions (an affiliate with unpaid conversions can't be deleted, `topics` replaces rather than merges), with little on when not to call, and the MCP descriptions weren't read (8 of 20). 315 required markers, but only 5 enums, and statuses such as PENDING or APPROVED are listed in prose rather than as enums (6 of 15). 615 examples and documented 401, 402, 403, 404, 422 and 429 responses in the API file, none readable for the MCP tools (10 of 15). A dated API version with a no-breaking-change commitment and dated product posts on the blog. The changelog site wasn't read (its robots.txt disallows agents) and the MCP server has no version of its own (10 of 15). Total 46.)
- Payments & pricing, Amazon Ads API +28: Amazon Ads API 40 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Amazon states publicly that the API has no fee, with campaign spend and selling account fees billed separately (20). API use is free and test accounts have no active billing (20). A person must create a developer account, apply for access and complete an advertiser's browser consent (0).); Refersion MCP 12 (No machine payment protocol (0 of 40). Plan prices are public without a login, Launch $39 and Growth $199 a month plus 3 or 2 per cent of affiliate-driven sales, but nothing says which plan includes the MCP server, and Scale is through sales (10 of 20). The free Marketplace Listing only publishes an offer, no trial is published, and API access is ticked for Growth only (0 of 20). A merchant signs up in a browser and approves the assistant at consent. Clients can identify themselves by a client ID metadata document with no manual registration, which earns 2 (2 of 20). Total 12.)
- Reliability, Refersion MCP +27: Amazon Ads API 45 (Graded on the REST API with the hosted checklist. status.ads.amazon.com publishes current status and a history feed by region and category (20). In the last 90 days the feed lists Amazon DSP performance reporting disrupted for about 8 hours on 16 July, reports degraded from 13 to 15 August and sponsored ads reports disrupted from 1 to 3 September 2026. No campaign management incident is listed, so we scored 5 instead of 0 for several majors (5). Rate limits are dynamic and based on system load, with no numbers (0). 429 carries Retry-After and the docs give exponential backoff guidance, but no general idempotency key was found (10). No SLA found for the API (0). The API is generally available. The MCP server is in open beta (10).); Refersion MCP 72 (Read with the hosted lines, for the remote server at api.refersion.com/mcp. status.refersion.com is an Atlassian Statuspage with components for the dashboards, click and conversion tracking, REST API and GraphQL API, though none for the MCP server (20). The last 90 days hold one incident, on 1 September 2026, when the marketing website didn't load for about two hours while tracking and the app stayed up. The one before was a cloud-provider degradation on 20 October 2025 (20 of 30). API v2026-08 publishes 300 reads, 60 writes and 30 webhook-endpoint requests a minute per account. The tools map to that API per Refersion, but no limit is stated for the MCP server itself (12 of 15). 429 responses carry Retry-After with the wait in the body, and a few operations are documented as idempotent, but there are no idempotency keys for writes such as manual credits (10 of 15). No SLA found (0 of 10). The server isn't labelled beta or preview on the product page or the launch post (10). Total 72.)
- Agent ergonomics, Amazon Ads API +12: Amazon Ads API 62 (Query operations take maxResults and nextToken, and reports are requested with chosen columns. The regular MCP endpoint documents 110 tools (5), and the Lite endpoint reduces that to three (add 10) (15). Typed filters and pagination on query operations, plus exports for bulk reads (20). ErrorCode enum with descriptions and 207 responses that index each failed item (17). No general idempotency key was found, and the MCP docs don't mention readOnlyHint or destructiveHint (6). No official SDK. Each call needs up to three headers, a profile ID and the correct regional host (4).); Refersion MCP 50 (Tool count and definition size couldn't be read. Refersion says each tool maps to an endpoint of an API with 44 operations, which points to more than 30 tools, so this takes the more-than-30 reading (5 of 25). The API has page and limit, a cursor on webhook endpoints, sorting and many range filters on affiliates and conversions; whether the tools pass all of them through wasn't seen (15 of 20). Documented 422 validation errors, 402 plan-limit messages such as 'Your plan does not include webhook access.', and a 429 body with `retryAfter` (14 of 20). Refersion says every tool is marked as reading, changing or deleting, so clients can confirm a delete, but the annotations weren't read and no idempotency keys exist (8 of 20). No API key or SDK is needed for the MCP server, and Refersion's examples are plain requests. Required inputs couldn't be read (8 of 15). Total 50.)
- Transparency & trust, Amazon Ads API +8: Amazon Ads API 73 (Closed service with a published licence agreement, last updated 1 June 2024, and MIT-0 samples (15). The Data Protection Policy sets rules for developers handling Amazon data, such as deletion within 72 hours of a request. The Amazon.com Privacy Notice, last updated 30 June 2026, applies. No API-specific retention periods or DPA were found (12). The versioning policy promises six months' notice before a shutoff, and release notes date deprecations. The licence agreement also reserves the right to modify or discontinue without notice (18). Three regional hosts are documented. No subprocessor list was found (6).); Refersion MCP 65 (A closed service with clear terms (last updated 21 November 2024) naming Refersion Inc., a New Jersey corporation and a subsidiary of EH ZO 1 Holdings LLC. Nothing in them covers AI assistants or the MCP server (15 of 30). The privacy policy (21 November 2024) lists what is collected by role and the rights to request, with no retention periods. A help article of 31 March 2026 says data is deleted within 30 days of cancellation, while the terms allow erasure 30 days after a suspension and deletion within 90 days of termination. A GDPR article says Refersion is processor for merchants' transaction data. No DPA was found, and the terms let Refersion sell anonymised data (12 of 30). API v2026-08 is a dated version with a commitment that breaking changes ship in a new version, REST v2 is frozen and GraphQL deprecated for merchants, with no shutdown dates (12 of 20). Service providers are described by category, Google Analytics is named, and no subprocessor list or data location was found (3 of 20). Total 42.)
- Maintenance & community, Amazon Ads API +7: Amazon Ads API 65 (Latest dated release note 5 October 2026 (30). 41 dated release notes between 10 July and 5 October (20). Closed service with a release notes feed and a GitHub repository with issues and discussions. We did not read reply times (10). No official SDK, and no Amazon-published entry appeared in the first 50 MCP registry results for "amazon" (0). The docs repository had 13 commits since 10 July, the latest on 30 September, with no CI (5).); Refersion MCP 58 (Read for a closed service. The server was announced on 26 October 2026, seven days before this check (30). Dated product posts on the blog within the 90 days from 4 August, among them API v2026-08 on 31 August, Branded Links on 21 September and the MCP server on 26 October (20). A help centre updated on 2 October 2026, the support address helpme@refersion.com and chat on Growth. changelog.refersion.com exists but wasn't read, and response times weren't checked (8 of 15). Not in the official MCP registry (0 of 15). No package to judge (0 of 10). Total 58.)