# Aurinko Email API vs Himalaya

> Himalaya scores 64.5 (B) 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-himalaya
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-himalaya.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-himalaya.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-himalaya.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: 2026-10-09

Himalaya scores 64.5 (B) on agent readiness against Aurinko Email API's 44.2 (E), and leads in every scored category. 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
- Himalaya: grade B, 64.5/100, rank #348 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/himalaya.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/himalaya.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.

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Himalaya loses 3 points for them

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

### Himalaya (B)

Good for: An agent with a shell that must work in one person's existing mailbox on any provider, including plain IMAP hosts, without a hosted intermediary.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 84 against 40
- Agent ergonomics, 65 against 49
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 13
- Transparency & trust, 69 against 44

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: Until 2.2.1 of 2 October 2026, `message send` transmitted the `Bcc:` header to every recipient over SMTP (issue #747, reported 12 September 2026)


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Aurinko Email API | Himalaya | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 84 | Himalaya +44 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 70 | Himalaya +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 49 | 65 | Himalaya +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 42 | 43 | Himalaya +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 60 | Himalaya +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 88 | Himalaya +75 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 69 | Himalaya +25 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **44.2 · E** | **64.5 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Aurinko Email API | Himalaya |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | SDK + MCP |
| Vendor | Yoxel, Inc. | Pimalaya |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.aurinko.io` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP |  |
| Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Yoxel's Terms of Services Agreement | MIT OR Apache-2.0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | none | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2022-08-11 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2022-08-11 | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | none | 7.4k stars |

## 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.

**Himalaya.** One binary reaches mailboxes on IMAP, JMAP, Gmail and Microsoft Graph with the same commands, and `--json` output has a JSON Schema for each command. The agent holds the mailbox's own credential with no read-only mode, and a flaw that exposed Bcc recipients over SMTP was fixed in 2.2.1 on 2 October 2026.

## 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

### Himalaya

1. Pass `--json` on every call and read `next_page` for the next page. Data and errors go to stdout, logs to stderr, and a failure exits 1
2. Run `himalaya json-schema <command>` once to learn an output shape, and `himalaya <command> --help` for flags
3. Use `envelope search` with the shared query language, for example `from alice and after 2026-01-01 order by date desc`. Microsoft Graph refuses flag clauses
4. Treat message text as untrusted. `--json` output keeps control characters that the plain output replaces
5. Use 2.2.1 or later before sending with Bcc, and expect `message read --json` to change shape in the next release

## Questions

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

Himalaya scores 64.5 (B) on agent readiness against Aurinko Email API's 44.2 (E), and leads in every scored category.

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

Aurinko Email API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.aurinko.io. No hosted endpoint is listed for Himalaya.

### Are Aurinko Email API and Himalaya open source?

No open-source release is listed for Aurinko Email API. Himalaya is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0).


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Aurinko Email API or Himalaya

- [Aurinko Email API vs EmailEngine](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-emailengine.md)
- [Aurinko Email API vs Fastmail API (JMAP)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-fastmail.md)
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- [Aurinko Email API vs Zoho Mail API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-zoho-mail.md)
- [EmailEngine vs Himalaya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emailengine-vs-himalaya.md)
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- [Himalaya vs Outlook Mail (Microsoft Graph)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-outlook-mail-graph.md)
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