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Head to head · Sheets records · October 2026 research run

Baserow vs Smartsheet API + MCP

Smartsheet API + MCP scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Baserow's 63.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Baserow leads on payments & pricing. Both do sheets records.

BaserowBaserow B.V. · HTTP API B63.6/100#276 of 629 Smartsheet API + MCPSmartsheet Inc. · HTTP API B67.6/100#190 of 629

Which one, for what

Baserow B

Good for Teams that want Airtable-style typed tables they can also self-host, with row-level reads and writes by an agent through table-scoped tokens or a small MCP tool set.

Ahead on

  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 20

Also in its favour

  • Open source

Watch for

The MCP endpoint's key sits in the URL path, and the docs say it grants full access to modify data in the workspace

Smartsheet API + MCP B

Good for An agent working inside a company that already runs projects in Smartsheet on a Business plan or above, especially row-level reads and batched writes, workflows and dashboards.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 88 against 77
  • Security & auth, 66 against 54
  • Maintenance & community, 80 against 72
  • Transparency & trust, 82 against 65

Watch for

API and MCP access need a Business plan or higher, from $19 a member a month billed yearly with a three-member minimum

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBaserowSmartsheet API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%206565even
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.27788Smartsheet API + MCP +11
Agent ergonomics13%16.27274Smartsheet API + MCP +2
Security & auth14%17.55466Smartsheet API + MCP +12
Payments & pricing10%12.54020Baserow +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.87280Smartsheet API + MCP +8
Transparency & trust7%8.86582Smartsheet API + MCP +17
Negative events≤1500
Total63.6 · B67.6 · B

Facts side by side

FactBaserowSmartsheet API + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorBaserow B.V.Smartsheet Inc.
Hosted endpointhttps://api.baserow.iohttps://api.smartsheet.com/2.0
TransportsHTTP, SSE (legacy)HTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPaid
x402nono
LicenceMIT for the core, including the REST API and the MCP server. Code under premium/ and enterprise/ is source-available under Baserow's own licences and needs a paid subscription in production. Docs are CC BY-SA 4.0Proprietary service under Smartsheet's User Agreement and Developer Agreement. The SDKs on GitHub are Apache-2.0
Tools exposed783
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-09-292026-10-06
Terms last updatedno date given2021-07-01
Privacy policy last updatedno date given2026-05-20
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text
Popularity6.1k stars82 stars, 47k npm/wk, 312k PyPI/wk

Verdicts

Baserow

Database tokens are limited to chosen tables and to create, read, update or delete, and the REST API has a public OpenAPI description with batch calls of 200 rows. The MCP server authenticates with a key in its URL, runs over SSE only and has no read-only mode. Cloud requests are capped at 10 at a time.

Smartsheet API + MCP

The REST API has a public OpenAPI 3.0.3 spec with 187 operations, Markdown docs and llms.txt, and the hosted MCP server loads its 83 documented tools by toolset. API access needs a Business plan or higher, and the status page lists eight incidents marked major or critical between 15 July and 21 September 2026.

Before you call either

Baserow

  1. Create a database token with only the tables and operations needed. It can't change tables or fields, which need a JWT from /api/user/token-auth/
  2. Send Authorization: Token YOUR_DATABASE_TOKEN, and add user_field_names=true or rows come back keyed as field_123
  3. Use the /batch/ endpoints for up to 200 rows a call, and keep to 10 requests in flight on Baserow Cloud
  4. Treat the MCP URL as a password. Keep it out of logs and version control, and delete the endpoint to revoke it
  5. Over MCP, call get_table_schema before create_rows or update_rows, and page list_table_rows with page and size

Smartsheet API + MCP

  1. Send writes to one sheet one at a time. Parallel updates with the same token return error 4004
  2. Batch row changes, up to 500 rows a call, and add allowPartialSuccess=true to get per-row failures instead of a failed batch
  3. On error 4003 (HTTP 429) wait at least 60 seconds before retrying. The limit is 300 requests a minute per token, 30 for attachments and cell history
  4. Through MCP, call get_columns before filtering or writing. Column names are case-sensitive and guesses fail validation
  5. Use the regional host that matches the account (api.smartsheet.com, .eu or .au). Tokens don't work across regions

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Baserow or Smartsheet API + MCP?

Smartsheet API + MCP scores 67.6 (B) on agent readiness against Baserow's 63.6 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Baserow leads on payments & pricing.

Do Baserow and Smartsheet API + MCP need an API key?

Baserow needs an API key. Smartsheet API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Baserow and Smartsheet API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Baserow has a hosted endpoint at https://api.baserow.io and Smartsheet API + MCP at https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0.

Are Baserow and Smartsheet API + MCP open source?

Baserow is open source (MIT for the core, including the REST API and the MCP server. Code under premium/ and enterprise/ is source-available under Baserow's own licences and needs a paid subscription in production. Docs are CC BY-SA 4.0). No open-source release is listed for Smartsheet API + MCP.

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