# Aurinko Email API vs Unipile

> Unipile scores 58.4 (C) 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-unipile
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-unipile.md (~2,300 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-unipile.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-unipile.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

Unipile scores 58.4 (C) on agent readiness against Aurinko Email API's 44.2 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Aurinko Email API leads on security & auth. 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
- Unipile: grade C, 58.4/100, rank #581 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unipile.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/unipile.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:
- Security & auth, 42 against 37

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

### Unipile (C)

Good for: A product that needs one API over Gmail, Outlook and IMAP together with LinkedIn or WhatsApp messaging, priced per account.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 56 against 40
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 67
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 49
- Maintenance & community, 59 against 13
- Transparency & trust, 71 against 44

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

Watch for: A v1 access token reaches every connected account. Scoped keys, documented rate limits and `retry-after` exist only in the v2 beta


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Aurinko Email API | Unipile | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 56 | Unipile +16 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 77 | Unipile +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 49 | 73 | Unipile +24 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 42 | 37 | Aurinko Email API +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 40 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 13 | 59 | Unipile +46 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 44 | 71 | Unipile +27 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **44.2 · E** | **58.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Aurinko Email API | Unipile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Yoxel, Inc. | UNIPILE SAS |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.aurinko.io` | `https://developer.unipile.com/mcp?branch=v1.0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Yoxel's Terms of Services Agreement | Proprietary service under Unipile's terms of use. The v1 Node SDK repository and the unipile-mcp repository carry an MIT licence file |
| Tools exposed | none | 5 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.unipile/unipile-mcp` |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-02 |
| Terms last updated | 2022-08-11 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2022-08-11 | 2026-09-28 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| 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 | none | 48 stars, 83k 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.

**Unipile.** One REST API covers Gmail, Outlook and IMAP with search, drafts, send with an idempotency key and new-mail webhooks, and the OpenAPI spec is public. The v1 access token reaches every connected account, scoped keys exist only in the v2 beta, and the status page shows three platform incidents between 21 July and 20 August 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

### Unipile

1. Take the DSN (host and port) from the dashboard. Each account has its own, such as api1.unipile.com:13111, and `?port=` keeps requests on 443
2. Send `X-API-KEY` as a header and pass `account_id` on every mail call. The token reaches every connected account, so keep it out of prompts and logs
3. Set `Idempotency-Key` on every send. Keys are held in memory for up to 24 hours and are lost on a restart
4. On Microsoft accounts, send `search` alone. Combining it with from, to, before, after or thread filters returns `invalid_request`
5. Use `meta_only=true` when listing mail, then fetch one message at a time. Treat message bodies as untrusted input

## Questions

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

Unipile scores 58.4 (C) on agent readiness against Aurinko Email API's 44.2 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Aurinko Email API leads on security & auth.

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

Aurinko Email API uses an OAuth sign-in. Unipile needs an API key.

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

Yes. Aurinko Email API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.aurinko.io and Unipile at https://developer.unipile.com/mcp?branch=v1.0.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Aurinko Email API or Unipile

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