# Binance API vs Bitfinex API (slim)

> Binance scores 63.2 (B) to Bitfinex's 58.4 (C) for exchange spot trading. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-bitfinex.md (~5,050 tokens) · this version ~2,780 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-bitfinex.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/binance-vs-bitfinex
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-04
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Binance API scores 63.2 (B) on agent readiness against Bitfinex API's 58.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Bitfinex API leads on reliability, payments & pricing and transparency & trust. Both do exchange spot trading.

- Binance API: B 63.2, rank #473 of 1349 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/binance.min.md
- Bitfinex API: C 58.4, rank #675 of 1349 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bitfinex.min.md
- Binance API, good for An agent trading a funded Binance account outside the prohibited countries, with the deepest set of markets in this group and a free testnet. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 86 against 48; Agent ergonomics, 76 against 61; Security & auth, 72 against 62; Maintenance & community, 81 against 41. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; Free to start without a card.
- Bitfinex API, good for An agent trading spot, margin or derivatives, or lending on the funding market, with scoped keys, official clients and paper trading. Ahead on Reliability, 85 against 45; Payments & pricing, 40 against 35; Transparency & trust, 49 against 43.

| Category | Binance API | Bitfinex API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 45 | 85 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 86 | 48 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 76 | 61 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 72 | 62 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 35 | 40 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 81 | 41 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 43 | 49 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Binance API | Bitfinex API |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Binance | iFinex Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://agent.binance.com/mcp/agentic` | no (local only) |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted service under Binance's Terms of Use, which load by script and weren't read. The API docs, connectors, CLI and Skills Hub are open on GitHub under MIT | Proprietary hosted API under Bitfinex's API Terms of Service, which our reader couldn't load. The official client libraries (Node, Python, Go, Ruby) are MIT or Apache-2.0 |
| Last release | 2026-10-30 | 2026-07-18 |
| Popularity | 4.9k stars | 480 stars |

Why the edge:
- Reliability, Bitfinex API +40: Binance API 45 (Read with the hosted lines on the spot REST API. No status page was found on binance.com or in the API docs (0), so no incident record (5). Rate limits are published as per-endpoint weights with numbers from exchangeInfo, 6,000 request weight a minute, 50 orders per 10 seconds, 160,000 a day and 61,000 raw requests per 5 minutes, and FIX limits per session (15). 429 and 418 carry Retry-After, a 5xx is documented as unknown status to be queried, and orders take a client order id (15). No SLA (0). Generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 45.); Bitfinex API 85 (Read with the hosted lines on the v2 API at api.bitfinex.com. bitfinex.statuspage.io is a Statuspage site with history back to May 2021 (20). Its feed has no entry between 25 March 2026 and 3 November 2026, so the last 90 days are clean on the record; the feed logs platform-wide outages only (a 14-hour maintenance in March 2026, a 3-hour outage in August 2025), so smaller incidents may go unrecorded. Judgement call (30). Rate limits with numbers, 10 to 90 a minute per IP and the WebSocket connection limits (15). `ERR_RATE_LIMIT` and the 60-second block are documented, with no Retry-After; orders take a `cid` but no idempotency key or retry guidance was found (10 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 30 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 85.)
- Maintenance & community, Binance API +40: Binance API 81 (Read as a closed service. The spot changelog's newest entry is 30 October 2026, the MCP docs are dated 30 October and binance-cli v2.2.0 shipped on 20 October (30). Changelog entries on 2 September, 18 September, 27 October and 30 October (20). A public changelog, connectors pushed in October and a Skills Hub merging pull requests weekly; issue replies not read (10 of 15). Official connectors in nine languages current as of October 2026; the MCP server is not in the official registry (15). Connector CI not read; the CLI publishes release installers (6 of 10). 30 + 20 + 10 + 15 + 6 = 81.); Bitfinex API 41 (Read as a closed service with open clients. The last dated change we could read is bitfinex-api-node 9.1.0 on 18 July 2026, 108 days before the check; the docs changelog stops in October 2024 (10). Not three dated releases in the last 90 days (0). The bitfinexcom organisation pushes often (bfx-report on 3 November 2026) and the clients have issue trackers, but support articles answered 403 and no reply times were read (10 of 25). Official clients current in four languages, Node 9.1.0 of July 2026 and Python 4.0.0 of October 2025; not in the MCP registry (15). The Node client has a dependency history of security fixes (its last GitHub release notes name two) and no CI was read (6 of 10). 10 + 0 + 10 + 15 + 6 = 41.)
- Schema & documentation, Binance API +38: Binance API 86 (The docs are Markdown in a public repository with a Postman collection and a Swagger spec, but the spec was last pushed in October 2024 (20 of 25). llms.txt and llms-full.txt on developers.binance.com (10). Each endpoint states its weight, parameters and notes on behaviour, with less on when not to use one (15 of 20). Enums for order types, time in force and symbol filters, required columns in the parameter tables (12 of 15). Request and response examples throughout and an error code list with messages (14 of 15). A dated changelog since 2018 with retirements announced months ahead, such as the 2 September 2026 field removal notified on 2 December 2025 (15). 20 + 10 + 15 + 12 + 14 + 15 = 86.); Bitfinex API 48 (No OpenAPI or AsyncAPI file was found on docs.bitfinex.com, in llms.txt or in the client repositories (0). llms.txt and a .md twin of every docs page (10). Each reference page states the endpoint's purpose and fields, and the introduction says when to use api-pub against api, but nothing says when not to use an endpoint (14 of 20). Responses are positional arrays described in field tables, inputs are typed in prose with some enumerations (wallet names, order types) and required fields marked; the withdrawal CODE field is work in progress (7 of 15). Signed-request recipes in five languages, but authenticated errors are documented as 400 with an empty object and there is no error reference (9 of 15). Version v2 in the path and a dated changelog, whose last entry is October 2024 and whose v1 deprecation has no date (8 of 15). 0 + 10 + 14 + 7 + 9 + 8 = 48.)
- Agent ergonomics, Binance API +15: Binance API 76 (limit on depth, trades and klines, a symbols filter on exchangeInfo and tickers, and SBE encoding, though fields cannot be selected (16 of 25). fromId, startTime, endTime and limit on history endpoints (16 of 20). Error codes with messages an agent can branch on, such as the rate limit and timestamp errors (17 of 20). newClientOrderId on orders, a cancel-replace endpoint and the 5xx unknown-status rule, but no idempotency key on other writes (12 of 20). Connectors in nine languages, a CLI with testnet and demo profiles, and a timestamped HMAC or Ed25519 signature on every private call (15). 16 + 16 + 17 + 12 + 15 = 76.); Bitfinex API 61 (Graded on the REST API. Limits on trades, candles and book depth, and `pub:list` config endpoints keep responses small, but positional arrays make every field a lookup (14 of 25). `start`, `end`, `limit` and `sort` on history endpoints and per-symbol variants (16 of 20). `ERR_RATE_LIMIT` is actionable; authenticated 400s return `{}` and withdrawal status strings may change, so an agent cannot branch on causes (8 of 20). A client id on orders, order multi-op and cancel-multiple, but no idempotency key and no retry contract (8 of 20). Few required parameters and official clients in Node, Python, Go and Ruby (15). 14 + 16 + 8 + 8 + 15 = 61.)
- Security & auth, Binance API +10: Binance API 72 (API keys with HMAC, RSA or Ed25519 signatures, permissions for reading, trading, futures and withdrawals, an IP restriction, revocation in API Management, and OAuth with four scopes on the MCP server; no key expiry found (28 of 30). Read-only keys, sub-accounts, withdrawals only with an IP restriction, and the MCP server's isolated Agentic sub-account with no withdrawal scope and confirmation before writes (18 of 20). The API returns no untrusted content (10). Keys are listed in API Management and used weight is returned per call, but no per-call log for the operator was found (6 of 15). security.txt with a contact and no expiry, a Bugcrowd programme named in the proof-of-solvency repository, no certification read (10 of 20). 28 + 18 + 10 + 6 + 10 = 72.); Bitfinex API 62 (Revocable keys with per-scope read and write flags, a permissions endpoint, 2FA and email confirmation at creation, strictly increasing nonces, and IP binding to 20 addresses per the support article's search text (the article answered 403); no key expiry (24 of 30). `withdraw` and `ui_withdraw` are separate scopes and read-only keys are possible, but the support text says keys from email-and-password accounts start with every permission enabled and no confirmation step is documented for API withdrawals (14 of 20). The API returns exchange data, not third-party text (10). Login history and an account changelog (audit) endpoint are documented (10 of 15). No security.txt, no readable disclosure policy and no certification page readable (4 of 20). 24 + 14 + 10 + 10 + 4 = 62.)
- Transparency & trust, Bitfinex API +6: Binance API 43 (The editorial half. A closed service whose Terms of Use couldn't be read; the docs, connectors, CLI and skills are MIT on GitHub (10 of 30). The privacy notice couldn't be read, so no retention or subprocessor statement was checked; the prohibited-countries list is public and dated (5 of 30). The changelog gives retirement dates for SBE schemas and FIX fields months ahead (16 of 20). No subprocessor or data-location statement read (0 of 20). 10 + 5 + 16 + 0 = 31.); Bitfinex API 49 (The editorial half. A closed service whose Exchange Terms and API Terms of Service loaded only navigation, so the licence terms are unknown; the clients are MIT and Apache-2.0 (8 of 30). The privacy statement loaded only navigation, so retention and data handling are unchecked (0 of 30). The docs say v1 will be deprecated "at some point in the future" with no date, and the Python client's 4.0.0 removed endpoints with a release note (5 of 20). Subprocessors and data locations are in the unread privacy statement (0). 8 + 0 + 5 + 0 = 13.)