# Aurinko Email API vs Gmail API

> Gmail scores 77.8 (BB) to Aurinko Email's 44.2 (E) for mailbox access. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-gmail-api
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- 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: 2026-10-09

Gmail API scores 77.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Aurinko Email API's 44.2 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Aurinko Email API leads on payments & pricing. Both do mailbox access.

- Aurinko Email API: grade E, 44.2/100, rank #878 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/aurinko-email.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/aurinko-email.json
- Gmail API: grade BB, 77.8/100, rank #19 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gmail-api.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gmail-api.json
- Best mailbox access APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/mailbox-access/index.md
- All 36 mailboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mailbox-access/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Aurinko Email API (E)

Good for: A product that connects many users' Gmail and Microsoft mailboxes and wants one schema, delta sync, tracking and webhooks at a low price per account.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 35

Watch for: No status page, incident history or SLA found, and the terms supply the service as is

### Gmail API (BB)

Good for: An agent working in a Gmail or Google Workspace user's own mailbox, with search, threads, drafts, labels and incremental sync at no per-account fee.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 90 against 40
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 67
- Agent ergonomics, 82 against 49
- Security & auth, 81 against 42
- Maintenance & community, 85 against 13
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 44

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better

Watch for: Eight restricted scopes, including `gmail.readonly` and `gmail.metadata`, need restricted-scope verification for a public app


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Aurinko Email API | Gmail API | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 90 | Gmail API +50 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 82 | Gmail API +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 49 | 82 | Gmail API +33 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 42 | 81 | Gmail API +39 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 35 | Aurinko Email API +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 85 | Gmail API +72 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 82 | Gmail API +38 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **44.2 · E** | **77.8 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Aurinko Email API | Gmail API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Yoxel, Inc. | Google |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.aurinko.io` | `https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Yoxel's Terms of Services Agreement | Apache-2.0 (client libraries) |
| Tools exposed | none | 23 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-23 |
| Terms last updated | 2022-08-11 | 2021-11-09 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2022-08-11 | 2026-10-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 12k stars, 1.1M npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Aurinko Email API.** One REST interface covers message search with 17 query operators, drafts, sending, folders and delta sync across seven mailbox types, at $1.50 an active account a month and with send-only and read-only scopes. No status page, SLA, changelog, idempotency key on send or official SDK was found, and SOC 2 is not yet held.

**Gmail API.** Fourteen OAuth scopes separate labels, sending, metadata and read-only access, and the quota page gives every method a unit cost. Eight of the scopes are restricted, read-only and metadata among them, so a public app that reads mail needs Google's verification and an annual third-party security assessment. Gmail mailboxes only.

## Before you call either

### Aurinko Email API

1. Use `https://api.aurinko.io/v1`. Several cURL examples in the docs print `https:/api.aurinko.io` with one slash, and one search example names the host `asti.aurinko.io`
2. Do not retry `POST /v1/email/messages` blindly after a timeout. There is no idempotency key, so check Sent mail with `q=rfc822msgid:` or by subject first
3. Call `POST /v1/email/sync` until `ready` is true, then page `/v1/email/sync/updated` with `pageToken` until a `nextDeltaToken` appears and store it
4. Check the `omitted` array on message lists. Full bodies come only from Google and Office 365, and other providers return a snippet
5. Request `Mail.Read` plus `Mail.Send` for read and send without modify rights. The docs example names `Mail.ReadOnly`, which is not in the scope list

### Gmail API

1. Ask for the narrowest scope. `gmail.labels` is non-sensitive and `gmail.send` is sensitive, while every scope that reads mail is restricted
2. List with `messages.list` and `q` in Gmail search syntax, then fetch each ID with `format=metadata` or `full`. List calls return IDs only
3. Send by posting an RFC 2822 message, base64url encoded, in `raw`. Set `threadId` and matching reply headers to stay in a thread
4. Store the `historyId` and call `history.list`. On a 404, run a full sync. Call `watch` again at least every 7 days
5. Back off exponentially on 403 and 429 rate errors, and keep batches to 50 requests or fewer

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Aurinko Email API or Gmail API?

Gmail API scores 77.8 (BB) on agent readiness against Aurinko Email API's 44.2 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Aurinko Email API leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Aurinko Email API and Gmail API need an API key?

Both use an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Aurinko Email API and Gmail API without installing anything?

Yes. Aurinko Email API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.aurinko.io and Gmail API at https://gmail.googleapis.com/gmail/v1.


## For agents

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

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