Head to head · Exchange market data · October 2026 research run

Bitfinex API vs Upbit Open API

Bitfinex API scores 58.4 (C) on agent readiness against Upbit Open API's 54.7 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Upbit Open API leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do exchange market data.

Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents · All 210 exchanges comparisons

Which one, for what

Bitfinex API C

Best 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 42
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 15

Watch for

No official MCP server, OpenAPI file or AsyncAPI file; the registry's Bitfinex servers are third parties proxying public market data

Upbit Open API C

Best for KRW-market trading for agents acting for a verified Korean account, with first-party SDKs, a CLI and skills but no MCP.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 66 against 48
  • Agent ergonomics, 70 against 61
  • Maintenance & community, 83 against 41
  • Transparency & trust, 54 against 49

Watch for

No MCP server; the agent route is the CLI through skills, which need a terminal

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Reliability Bitfinex API +43

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.

Upbit Open API 42

Read with the hosted lines. No status page found on docs.upbit.com or in llms.txt; a wallet-status endpoint and an announcements stream stand in (0). No readable incident history (5). Rate limits documented with numbers per group, per IP and per pocket, updated 7 October 2026 (15). 429 then 418 with a stated block length and a Remaining-Req header, an order-test endpoint and a self-match-prevention default; an order identifier for safe retries was not checked (12 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.

Maintenance & community Upbit Open API +42

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.

Upbit Open API 83

Read as a closed service. SDK v1.1.0 on 20 October 2026 (30). The CLI 1.0.0 on 1 September, the rate-limit update of 7 October, the SDK on 20 October and the path-format notice for 16 November 2026 (20). open-api@upbit.com answers in turn on weekdays per the support notice, notices carry dates, and the six upbit-official repositories show no open issues (12 of 15). Current official SDKs in Python, TypeScript and Go (15). Apache-2.0 repositories pushed in October 2026; CI not checked (6 of 10). 30 + 20 + 12 + 15 + 6 = 83.

Payments & pricing Bitfinex API +25

Bitfinex API 40

No machine payment protocol (0). The fees page is public without login (20), though it shows zero maker and taker with no tiers or date. The API is free, public endpoints need no account, and paper trading needs no money (20). A person must sign up in a browser with identity checks and mint the key (0). 0 + 20 + 20 + 0 = 40.

Upbit Open API 15

No machine payment protocol (0). The fee schedule is on upbit.com, which disallows every crawler path, so no price is recorded (0 of 20, unchecked). Public quotation endpoints need no key, card or account; trading needs a verified Korean account. Judgement call (15 of 20). A person must sign up, pass identity checks and issue keys on the PC web site (0). 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 15.

Schema & documentation Upbit Open API +18

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.

Upbit Open API 66

No OpenAPI found; the reference is a readme.io site with a Markdown twin of every page (5 of 25). llms.txt on docs.upbit.com and a kr/llms.txt index (10). Each reference page states what the endpoint does, its group and its errors, with warnings such as market_offline after maintenance (14 of 20). Typed parameters with enums for order type, side and time in force and required flags (11 of 15). Recipes in Python, Java and Node.js and an error format of error.name and error.message with HTTP statuses (13 of 15). Feature versions in page histories (v1.6.1) and dated notices with effective dates, no single API version (13 of 15). 5 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 13 + 13 = 66.

Agent ergonomics Upbit Open API +9

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.

Upbit Open API 70

Graded on the REST API with the CLI. Candle counts, list limits and the CLI's --max-items and --transform size responses (16 of 25). Paging and filters on orders and history (15 of 20). error.name codes to branch on, which the November 2026 notice tells clients to use, and 418 with its block length (15 of 20). An order-test endpoint and a CONFIRM gate in the skills; an order identifier for idempotent placement was not checked (11 of 20). Few required parameters, SDKs in three languages and a CLI, but keys need the PC web site and a registered IP (13 of 15). 16 + 15 + 15 + 11 + 13 = 70.

Transparency & trust Upbit Open API +5

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.

Upbit Open API 54

The editorial half. A closed service whose user and Open API terms could not be fetched under upbit.com's robots.txt, and whose SDK licence page calls the SDK material not open source while the repositories carry Apache-2.0 (8 of 30). The developer centre's privacy policy names Dunamu Inc., gives retention periods and names Zendesk in Japan; the main privacy policy was not read (14 of 30). Notices with effective dates, including the path-format change and the deprecated Remaining-Req min field (12 of 20). Zendesk and Google Analytics named with a location for the developer centre only (8 of 20). 8 + 14 + 12 + 8 = 42.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runBitfinex APIUpbit Open APIEdge
Reliability16%208542Bitfinex API +43
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.24866Upbit Open API +18
Agent ergonomics13%16.26170Upbit Open API +9
Security & auth14%17.56259Bitfinex API +3
Payments & pricing10%12.54015Bitfinex API +25
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.84183Upbit Open API +42
Transparency & trust7%8.84954Upbit Open API +5
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 58.4/100C 54.7/100

Facts side by side

FactBitfinex APIUpbit Open API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendoriFinex Inc.Dunamu Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transports
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
LicenceProprietary 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-2.0none
Tools exposednone0
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-07-182026-10-20
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be readno date given
Customer content may train modelscouldn't be readnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accesscouldn't be readnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingcouldn't be readnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticecouldn't be readnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waivercouldn't be readnot read yet
Popularity480 stars91 stars

Verdicts

Bitfinex API

Bitfinex gives an agent scoped keys with a separate withdraw permission, paper-trading sub-accounts on the production API, llms.txt and official clients in four languages. There is no official MCP server, responses are positional arrays with empty error bodies, rate limits run 10 to 90 a minute per IP, and the terms, API terms and privacy statement could not be read.

Upbit Open API

Upbit's Open API has a mandatory IP allow-list, scoped keys with a default withdrawal lock, per-group rate limits with 429 and 418 signalling, an order-test endpoint, official SDKs, a CLI and agent skills with a CONFIRM gate. There is no MCP server, sandbox or status page, and the fees and terms sit on a host our crawler may not read.

Before you call either

Bitfinex API

  1. Mint a key with read on the scopes the task needs and write only on orders; never grant withdraw to a trading key, and bind the key to known IPs
  2. Use one key per client process, since each key keeps its own strictly increasing nonce and a reused nonce is rejected
  3. Rehearse on a paper-trading sub-account with the TEST symbols before touching real balances; the sub-account cannot be converted later
  4. Plan requests against the per-endpoint limit of 10 to 90 a minute per IP; ERR_RATE_LIMIT blocks the IP for 60 seconds with no Retry-After
  5. Map each response by position from the docs' field tables and set a cid on orders, because responses are arrays and a 400 carries no reason

Upbit Open API

  1. Ask the person for a key with only the functions the task needs and your server's public IPv4 address registered; a private or unregistered IP is refused
  2. Sign every request with a fresh JWT (HS512, new nonce, SHA512 query hash) and branch on error.name, not error.message
  3. Run POST /v1/orders/test before a live order; it costs nothing and shares the 8-a-second order-test group
  4. Read Remaining-Req and keep orders under 12 a second per pocket; on 429 wait for the next second and on 418 wait out the stated block
  5. Leave the withdrawal safe-lock on unless the person lifts it in the app, and send paths with single slashes and no trailing slash before 16 November 2026

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Bitfinex API or Upbit Open API?

Bitfinex API scores 58.4 (C) on agent readiness against Upbit Open API's 54.7 (C), and leads in 3 of 7 scored categories. Upbit Open API leads on schema & documentation, agent ergonomics, maintenance & community and transparency & trust.

Do Bitfinex API and Upbit Open API need an API key?

Both need an API key.

Can an agent call Bitfinex API and Upbit Open API without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Bitfinex API. No hosted endpoint is listed for Upbit Open API.

Other comparisons with Bitfinex API or Upbit Open API

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