# Axiom MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server > Axiom scores 68.2 (B) to Rootly's 53.8 (D) for incidents. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side. - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-rootly-mcp - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-rootly-mcp.md (~5,350 tokens) - Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt) - API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json - MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key) - DNS: dig +short TXT .grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.. and .vs.. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev) - Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data) - Updated: 2026-11-04 Axiom MCP Server scores 68.2 (B) on agent readiness against Rootly MCP Server's 53.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Rootly MCP Server leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. Both do incidents. - Axiom MCP Server: grade B, 68.2/100, rank #269 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/axiom.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/axiom.json - Rootly MCP Server: grade D, 53.8/100, rank #829 of 1349. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rootly-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rootly-mcp.json - Best observability and incident tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/observability/index.md - All 49 observability comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/observability/index.md ## Which one, for what ### Axiom MCP Server (B) Good for: Agents that investigate logs, traces and metrics with APL and need a budget cap, and agents that must bootstrap their own observability without a person. Ahead on: - Reliability, 72 against 48 - Security & auth, 72 against 65 - Payments & pricing, 60 against 20 Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card - No incidents deducted, where Rootly MCP Server loses 9 points for them Watch for: The server is closed source and tool input schemas are only visible through an authenticated session ### Rootly MCP Server (D) Good for: Incident and on-call agents in teams that already run Rootly. Ahead on: - Schema & documentation, 78 against 62 - Agent ergonomics, 77 against 63 - Transparency & trust, 81 against 70 Also in its favour: - Runs on your own machine - Open source Watch for: Hosted connections expose write tools by default, and the docs describe the read-only switch only for servers the owner runs ## Why the edge ### Payments & pricing: Axiom MCP Server +40 - Axiom MCP Server (60): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). The pricing page states the platform fee, the free allowances, add-on prices and that usage carries volume discounts, with a calculator rather than a printed per-unit rate (20). The Personal plan is free with no card (20). `POST /v2/orgs/provision` needs no authentication and returns a working token, so an agent can start without a person, though a person must claim the organisation within 24 hours for it to persist (20). 0 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 60. - Rootly MCP Server (20): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public. Essentials is $20 per product per user a month, with MCP and API access included, and Enterprise is by quote. No per-call price (10). No free tier. Self-serve sign-up starts a trial of about two weeks per the pricing page. The sign-up page answered with a bot check, so whether a card is needed wasn't established, and the line takes half marks (10). A person signs up in a browser and either logs in through OAuth or creates an API key (0). The package is free to run but needs a Rootly account, so the self-hosted rule doesn't apply. ### Reliability: Axiom MCP Server +24 - Axiom MCP Server (72): Scored as a hosted MCP server. status.axiom.co is an incident.io page with six US and six EU components (API, ingest, querying, alerting, endpoints, app) and uptime per component for August to November 2026, with no MCP component (20). feed.rss holds nine incidents in the 90 days to 3 November 2026, among them elevated query errors in the US from 18:05 to 19:15 UTC on 14 October with missed monitor runs, a metrics ingestion and query disruption on 15 October, elevated query errors after a deployment on 21 October, metrics query error rates on 25 October, query errors and monitor delays on 27 October, metrics ingest on 30 October, EU monitor alerting degraded on 7 October, and console authentication through GitHub degraded on 12 August. US querying shows 99.90 per cent uptime. One incident over an hour on the query path and several shorter ones, so one major (10). Rate limits are published as headers (X-RateLimit-Scope, -Limit, -Remaining, -Reset) and plan limits on the limits page, but the per-minute numbers aren't printed (12). 429 with a message and reset headers, query cost caps that answer 429 with the reset time, and provisioning 429 with backoff guidance; no idempotency keys for the write tools (10). A published SLA of 99.9 per cent monthly uptime for Axiom Cloud with 10 and 25 per cent credits (10). Not marked beta; registry version 1.0.0 (10). 20 + 10 + 12 + 10 + 10 + 10 = 72. - Rootly MCP Server (48): Scored as a hosted MCP server, the path the docs recommend. status.rootly.com is linked from the site and llms.txt. On 9 October it answered our reader with a bot check, so its components (15) and incident history (5) were unread. Rootly's Terms of Use bar crawling or scraping the Services, and this run pauses such hosts pending a ruling, so the 9 October readings are kept. The REST API behind the tools allows 3,000 read calls and 3,000 write calls a minute per API key, and 50 alert creations a minute. No separate limit for mcp.rootly.com was found (12). A 429 returns a JSON error with `X-RateLimit-Limit`, `X-RateLimit-Remaining`, `X-RateLimit-Used` and `X-RateLimit-Reset` headers. No `Retry-After`, backoff guidance or idempotency keys were found (8). The pricing table lists "99.99 % Reliability" for on-call, and no SLA document was found (0). The hosted `/mcp` and `/mcp-codemode` endpoints carry no beta label. The README calls Code Mode experimental while the docs recommend it (8). ### Schema & documentation: Rootly MCP Server +16 - Axiom MCP Server (62): The server is closed source (axiomhq/mcp isn't public) and tools/list needs a session, so the input schemas couldn't be read; partial credit for a contract that exists (10). llms.txt on axiom.co and a Markdown twin of every docs page (10). The tools reference gives each tool a purpose, an example request and a Read or Write label, says to use `queryMetrics` for metrics datasets instead of `queryDataset`, and the 29 October 2026 changelog adds session instructions on finding dataset and field names first (15). No parameters, types or enums are published for the tools (4). An example per tool, the REST docs' error shapes and the 429 bodies; no MCP error list (8). A dated changelog with MCP entries and a protocol version stated (2026-07-28 alongside the session transport), and a registry version (15). 10 + 10 + 15 + 4 + 8 + 15 = 62. - Rootly MCP Server (78): Read from the source at v2.3.21. Curated tools declare typed pydantic inputs and the rest are generated from Rootly's OpenAPI 3.0.1 description, 565 operations in the bundled copy, which the API docs also link for download (25). rootly.com/llms.txt and Markdown twins of the docs pages (10). Curated tools such as `list_incidents` say when to use them and when to prefer `search_incidents`. Generated tools carry the API's short summaries, for example "List alerts" (11). Sort orders use enums and generated tools keep the API's `include` enums, but severity, status and ID lists are free strings, with IDs passed comma-separated (9). The README and docs give worked calls for five tools and a troubleshooting section. The error types the server returns aren't documented (8). Semantic versioning with a dated Keep a Changelog file. The docs page still names two tools in camelCase and links the old Rootly-AI-Labs repository (15). ### Agent ergonomics: Rootly MCP Server +14 - Axiom MCP Server (63): 31 tools in the reference, 28 without service map, so the 11-to-30 band with no toolset switch (15). APL queries take their own limits and time ranges, and the REST API documents timestamp pagination; nothing documents page sizes for the list tools (15). 429 bodies state the limit and reset, the REST docs describe error shapes, and a `sendFeedback` tool reports unclear descriptions to Axiom (12). Reads and writes are labelled in the docs, but delete tools have no confirmation step, no idempotency keys exist for writes, and annotations weren't confirmed (8). One-command setup for 16 clients with OAuth, a setup prompt for agents, and official SDKs in eight languages for the API behind it (13). 15 + 15 + 12 + 8 + 13 = 63. - Rootly MCP Server (77): The default endpoint lists about 218 tools per the README, which the checklist scores at 5. A slim profile (77 names in the source, about 70 per the README), a Code Mode endpoint with five meta-tools and an exact allowlist for servers the owner runs add back 10 (15). List tools page with bounded sizes, strip alert and incident lists to summary fields and clamp out-of-range counts, reporting each change under `argument_adjustments` (18). Tool errors return `error_type` and a message, with hints for plan-gated 404s, the pagination cap and replaced alert routing tools (16). Every tool sets `readOnlyHint`, `destructiveHint` and `openWorldHint` since 2.3.19, and writes set `idempotentHint`. `create_incident` has no idempotency key (15). Curated tools have no required parameters beyond record references and accept common aliases such as `limit`. Rootly lists REST SDKs for Go, Python and other languages (13). ### Transparency & trust: Rootly MCP Server +11 - Axiom MCP Server (70): Closed service with clear terms naming Axiom, Inc. (15). A privacy policy with retention by data category, a DPA that names the sub-processor page and US or EU processing, and per-plan retention on the pricing page; the sub-processor list itself renders through a script and the terms carry no date (20). The changelog has a deprecation category and the docs mark the legacy query endpoint, but no notice period is written down (10). US and EU edge deployments are documented and the DPA says data may be processed in either, with the sub-processor list unread (12). 15 + 20 + 10 + 12 = 57. - Rootly MCP Server (81): The server is Apache-2.0 and the hosted service runs under Rootly's Terms of Use of July 2026 (27). A privacy policy of October 2026, a subprocessor list and AI data pages are public, and retention is stated only in general terms. The README says hosted telemetry records tool arguments, responses, timing and errors through AgentCat with redaction hooks. AgentCat isn't on the subprocessor list and the MCP docs page doesn't mention telemetry (15). No deprecation policy was found. camelCase tool names stay callable as hidden aliases with no removal date, and the terms say notice of changes isn't always practical (8). The subprocessor list names about 30 processors with purpose, data and location, nearly all in the United States (15). ### Security & auth: Axiom MCP Server +7 - Axiom MCP Server (72): Browser OAuth creates a session the agent uses as the signed-in user, listed and revocable under Settings > Profile, and the docs say agents never see tokens; the header route uses a personal access token with full account rights, and the organisation id, not a secret, may go in the URL (26). Query cost limits on roles cap what an OAuth session can spend, scoped API tokens with expiry exist for the REST API, but the MCP server runs with the user's whole role and lists delete tools with no confirmation, and the AI agents page's read-only description contradicts the tools reference (12). Log, trace and event content is untrusted text and no injection guidance was found (2). An audit log on every organisation for 30 days, full history as an add-on, and session listing (12). ISO 27001, SOC 2 Type II, a security.txt on app.axiom.co, a bug bounty policy at axiom.co/security and annual penetration tests (20). 26 + 12 + 2 + 12 + 20 = 72. - Rootly MCP Server (65): OAuth 2 with dynamic client registration, PKCE with S256, one-hour access tokens, rotating refresh tokens, a revocation endpoint and `:read` and `:write` scopes per resource. The MCP server's resource metadata advertises a single `all` scope since 2.3.13, so MCP logins aren't narrowed by scope. API keys are global with a chosen role, team or personal, sent in the `Authorization` header (26). Delete operations are off by default and API key, user, role and webhook endpoints are excluded. Write tools are on by default for hosted connections, the documented read-only switch applies to servers the owner runs, and no confirmation step was found (11). Incident text, alert payloads and meeting transcripts are untrusted content, and no injection guidance was found (3). `list_audits` reads Rootly's audit log, which the pricing page lists under Enterprise (9). security.txt valid to 1 September 2027, a disclosure policy with safe harbour and response times, no paid bounty, SOC 2 Type II stated with the report on request, and dependency advisories recorded in the changelog. The server's own fixes in 2.3.22 and 2.4.0 carry no advisory, and OSV holds none for the package (16). ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Axiom MCP Server | Rootly MCP Server | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 72 | 48 | Axiom MCP Server +24 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 62 | 78 | Rootly MCP Server +16 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 77 | Rootly MCP Server +14 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 72 | 65 | Axiom MCP Server +7 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 20 | Axiom MCP Server +40 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 81 | Axiom MCP Server +2 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 81 | Rootly MCP Server +11 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -9 | | | **Total** | | **68.2 · B** | **53.8 · D** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Axiom MCP Server | Rootly MCP Server | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | MCP server | MCP server | | Vendor | Axiom, Inc. | Rootly Inc. | | Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.axiom.co/mcp` | `https://mcp.rootly.com/mcp` | | Transports | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy), stdio | | Auth | OAuth | OAuth or key | | Pricing | Freemium | Paid | | Price for incidents | not published | $20 per seat per month | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | none | Apache-2.0 for the server. The hosted service runs under Rootly's Terms of Use | | Tools exposed | 31 | 218 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | yes | | MCP registry | `co.axiom/mcp` | `com.rootly/mcp-server` | | Last release | 2026-10-29 | 2026-10-31 | | Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-07-01 | | Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-01 | | 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 | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes | | Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (4) | ## How the scores have moved ### Axiom MCP Server No score change since it was listed. ### Rootly MCP Server - -6.0 on 4 November 2026 (C to D): security - +0.1 on 28 October 2026: checklist ## Verdicts **Axiom MCP Server.** An agent can start without a person, provisioning a temporary organisation with one unauthenticated call, and then query with OAuth sessions capped by dollar cost limits under a 99.9 per cent SLA. Tool schemas aren't public, the server is closed source, and the docs call it read-only while listing delete tools. **Rootly MCP Server.** The server is open source under Apache-2.0, ships dated releases every few weeks, and has a slim profile and a Code Mode endpoint that cut the list of about 218 tools. Hosted connections expose write tools by default. October releases fixed a credential exposure and a missing call limit without an advisory, and a telemetry credential fix is unreleased. ## Before you call either ### Axiom MCP Server 1. With no organisation, call `POST https://api.axiom.co/v2/orgs/provision` once, store the returned token and surface the `claimUrl` to the person; both are shown once and the organisation is deleted after 24 hours unclaimed 2. Call `listDatasets` and `getDatasetFields` before `queryDataset`; metrics datasets take `queryMetrics` with MPL, not APL 3. Treat a 429 as a rate limit or a query-cost cap; read `X-RateLimit-Reset` or the limit message for when the window resets, and don't resend sooner 4. Prefer OAuth; if a token header is the only option, expect the PAT to carry the person's full rights and ask them to set a query cost limit on their role first 5. `deleteDashboard`, `deleteMonitor` and `deleteNotifier` are live writes with no confirmation step; list first and confirm with the person before deleting ### Rootly MCP Server 1. Connect to `https://mcp.rootly.com/mcp-codemode` or add `?tool_profile=slim` to `/mcp`. The default endpoint loads about 218 tool definitions 2. Connect Code Mode in place of the classic endpoint, not beside it. The docs say models skip `execute` when both are present 3. Use a Global API key for `get_oncall_handoff_summary` and `get_oncall_shift_metrics`. Team and personal keys return partial results 4. Refetch the tool list after a server release. Curated tools reject undeclared arguments, which failed calls from cached schemas in September 2026 5. Treat a 404 from a generated tool as a possible plan limit or missing parent record, and read the hint in the response 6. Move off `https://mcp.rootly.com/sse` before 20 November 2026, when Rootly removes the SSE transport ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Axiom MCP Server or Rootly MCP Server? Axiom MCP Server scores 68.2 (B) on agent readiness against Rootly MCP Server's 53.8 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Rootly MCP Server leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. ### Do Axiom MCP Server and Rootly MCP Server need an API key? Axiom MCP Server uses an OAuth sign-in. Rootly MCP Server takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. ### Can an agent call Axiom MCP Server and Rootly MCP Server without installing anything? Yes. Axiom MCP Server has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.axiom.co/mcp and Rootly MCP Server at https://mcp.rootly.com/mcp. ### Are Axiom MCP Server and Rootly MCP Server open source? No open-source release is listed for Axiom MCP Server. Rootly MCP Server is open source (Apache-2.0 for the server. The hosted service runs under Rootly's Terms of Use). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-rootly-mcp.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-rootly-mcp.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "axiom", "b": "rootly-mcp"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare axiom rootly-mcp` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/axiom.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rootly-mcp.json ## Other comparisons with Axiom MCP Server or Rootly MCP Server - [Axiom MCP Server vs incident.io API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-incident-io.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs PagerDuty MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-pagerduty-mcp.md) - [Better Stack vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/better-stack-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [Causely MCP server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/causely-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [Datadog MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/datadog-mcp-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [Grafana MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/grafana-mcp-server-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [incident.io API vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/incident-io-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [New Relic MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/new-relic-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [PagerDuty MCP Server vs Rootly MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pagerduty-mcp-vs-rootly-mcp.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Better Stack](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-better-stack.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Causely MCP server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-causely.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Datadog MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-datadog-mcp.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Grafana MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-grafana-mcp-server.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Honeycomb MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-honeycomb-mcp.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs New Relic MCP Server](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-new-relic.md) - [Axiom MCP Server vs Sentry MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/axiom-vs-sentry-mcp.md) --- Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp