# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-smartsheet
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-smartsheet.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-smartsheet.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/baserow-vs-smartsheet.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: 2026-10-08

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.

- Baserow: grade B, 63.6/100, rank #306 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/baserow.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/baserow.json
- Smartsheet API + MCP: grade B, 67.6/100, rank #205 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/smartsheet.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/smartsheet.json

## 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

| Category | Weight | Baserow | Smartsheet API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 65 | 65 | even |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 77 | 88 | Smartsheet API + MCP +11 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 72 | 74 | Smartsheet API + MCP +2 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 54 | 66 | Smartsheet API + MCP +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 20 | Baserow +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 80 | Smartsheet API + MCP +8 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 82 | Smartsheet API + MCP +17 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **63.6 · B** | **67.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Baserow | Smartsheet API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Baserow B.V. | Smartsheet Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.baserow.io` | `https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0` |
| Transports | HTTP, SSE (legacy) | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | 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 | Proprietary service under Smartsheet's User Agreement and Developer Agreement. The SDKs on GitHub are Apache-2.0 |
| Tools exposed | 7 | 83 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2021-07-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-05-20 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 6.1k stars | 82 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.


## For agents

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

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