# Argyle vs Zeal

> Argyle scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics. Both do payroll employees. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-zeal
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-zeal.md (~2,150 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-zeal.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-zeal.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

Argyle scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics. Both do payroll employees.

- Argyle: grade B, 63.7/100, rank #297 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/argyle.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/argyle.json
- Zeal: grade E, 45.4/100, rank #658 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeal.json

## Which one, for what

### Argyle (B)

Good for: A lender, tenant screener, benefits agency or background checker whose applicant can sign in to a payroll or gig account, and who needs paystubs, employment records or an income report.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 81 against 42
- Schema & documentation, 86 against 68
- Security & auth, 48 against 34
- Payments & pricing, 15 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 75 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 83 against 51

Watch for: No price is published. The site has no pricing page, and fees are set in a Service Order agreed with sales

### Zeal (E)

Good for: A US staffing platform, marketplace or workforce product that will sign a partnership and run payroll for many employers under its own brand, including daily and on-demand pay.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 58

Watch for: No self-serve signup. Zeal's team creates the partner account after a demo request, and no price is published


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Argyle | Zeal | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 81 | 42 | Argyle +39 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 86 | 68 | Argyle +18 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 63 | Zeal +5 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 48 | 34 | Argyle +14 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 15 | 0 | Argyle +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 75 | 61 | Argyle +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 51 | Argyle +32 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63.7 · B** | **45.4 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Argyle | Zeal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Argyle Systems Inc. | Puzzl Group Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.argyle.com/v2` | `https://api.zeal.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Argyle's Open Payroll Customer Terms. The React Native Link SDK on npm is Apache 2.0 | Proprietary service. The npm SDK declares MIT. The SDK repositories on GitHub carry no licence file |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-01 | 2026-07-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-01-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-10-01 | 2026-01-16 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 481 npm/wk | 0 stars, 8 npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Argyle.** Graded on the REST API. One OpenAPI file covers 91 operations, llms.txt indexes Markdown docs, and a Sandbox with sample users comes with a Console sign-up. Every payroll connection needs the worker to sign in through Link. No prices are published, no idempotency keys were found, and API keys carry no per-key scopes.

**Zeal.** Graded on the partner REST API at api.zeal.com, which is the only access route. Three OpenAPI specs, llms.txt, a test environment that moves no money, a preview endpoint and a per-cheque approval flag are documented. Access starts with a demo request, prices are not published, each environment has one unscoped key, and no status page or working changelog was found.

## Before you call either

### Argyle

1. Send HTTP Basic auth with `api_key_id` as the username and `api_key_secret` as the password. Sandbox keys fail with 401 on Production and the reverse
2. Create the user with `POST /v2/users` and an `external_id`, then look it up by `external_id` before retrying. No idempotency key was found
3. Do not read data straight after an account connects. Wait for the account and data webhooks, or for the verification status, before fetching records
4. Follow the full URL in `next` when paging. Do not build cursor values or fetch pages in parallel. `limit` defaults to 10 and stops at 200
5. Stay under 50 requests a second. On 429, queue the request and retry later, not at once
6. Treat `DELETE /v2/users/{id}` as permanent. It removes every resource tied to that user, with no confirmation step

### Zeal

1. Use the Test API key until a person has approved live payroll. Error code 0 (403) means the account has no production access
2. Send `companyID` on almost every call and `partnerID` on partner-level calls, in the body for POST and PATCH and the query for GET
3. Create cheques with `approval_required: true`, run POST /preview/checks, then PATCH /employeeCheck with `approved: true`. Without the flag Zeal processes pending cheques automatically
4. Send `x-idempotency-key` on every create so a retry within 24 hours doesn't pay twice
5. Previews and reports are jobs. Keep the `job_id` and poll GET /preview or GET /reports, or wait for the Job Queue webhook
6. Check dates must be bank days and submitted before 2 PM Pacific two bank days ahead, or the call fails with code 89

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Argyle or Zeal?

Argyle scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics.

### Do Argyle and Zeal need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Argyle and Zeal without installing anything?

Yes. Argyle has a hosted endpoint at https://api.argyle.com/v2 and Zeal at https://api.zeal.com.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Argyle or Zeal

- [Argyle vs Check](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-check-payroll.md)
- [Argyle vs Employment Hero Payroll](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-employment-hero.md)
- [Argyle vs Everee](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-everee.md)
- [Argyle vs Finch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-finch.md)
- [Argyle vs Gusto](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-gusto.md)
- [Argyle vs Paychex](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-paychex.md)
- [Argyle vs Salsa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-salsa.md)
- [Finch vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-zeal.md)
- [Paychex vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/paychex-vs-zeal.md)
- [Check vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.md)
- [Employment Hero Payroll vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/employment-hero-vs-zeal.md)
- [Everee vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-zeal.md)
- [Gusto vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-zeal.md)
- [Salsa vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/salsa-vs-zeal.md)