# Apify MCP Server vs Diffbot (slim)

> Apify scores 76.5 (BB) to Diffbot's 54.3 (C) for crawling. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-diffbot.md (~2,800 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-diffbot.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/apify-mcp-vs-diffbot
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Apify MCP Server scores 76.5 (BB) on agent readiness against Diffbot's 54.3 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do crawling. Apify MCP Server accepts x402. Diffbot doesn't.

- Apify MCP Server: BB 76.5, rank #28 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/apify-mcp.min.md
- Diffbot: C 54.3, rank #687 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/diffbot.min.md
- Apify MCP Server, good for Best when the job matches an existing Actor (Google Maps, social profiles, e-commerce, SERP) and the agent can wait seconds to minutes for a run. Ahead on Reliability, 65 against 55; Schema & documentation, 92 against 83; Agent ergonomics, 92 against 63; Security & auth, 62 against 21; Payments & pricing, 95 against 40; Maintenance & community, 95 against 57; Transparency & trust, 86 against 68. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account; Runs on your own machine; Open source.
- Diffbot, good for Agents that want typed article, product or discussion data from arbitrary pages without writing selectors, and teams that also want the Knowledge Graph. Also Free to start without a card; No incidents deducted, where Apify MCP Server loses 5 points for them.

| Category | Apify MCP Server | Diffbot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 65 | 55 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 92 | 83 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 92 | 63 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 62 | 21 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 95 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 95 | 57 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 86 | 68 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Apify MCP Server | Diffbot |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Apify | Diffbot Technologies Corp. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.apify.com` | `https://api.diffbot.com/v3` |
| Transports | stdio, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| x402 | yes, from $1/call | no |
| Licence | MIT | Proprietary service under Diffbot's Terms of Use. The Python client, the TypeScript client and the agent skills are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 35 | none |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.apify/apify-mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-06-15 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-07-09 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-07-09 | 2025-08-29 |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 8.6k stars, 15k npm/wk | 9 npm/wk, 45 PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.4/5 (8) | none |