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

Bithumb Open API vs Upbit Open API

Upbit Open API scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Bithumb Open API's 50.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Both do exchange market data.

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

Which one, for what

Bithumb Open API D

Best for KRW-market trading for agents acting for a verified Korean account, with a vendor-built MCP server, CLI and skills.

Also in its favour

  • Runs on your own machine

Watch for

No sandbox or testnet; every order uses real funds

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

  • Reliability, 42 against 34
  • Maintenance & community, 83 against 69
  • Transparency & trust, 54 against 47

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.

Maintenance & community Upbit Open API +14

Bithumb Open API 69

Read as a closed service. Rate limits updated 27 October 2026 and the ticker cap effective 13 October 2026 (30). Batch orders 20 August, Private v1 retired 30 September, the ticker cap 13 October and the limits page 27 October 2026 (20). A phone support line, dated notices and a GitHub repository with no open issues and one commit; replies not observed (9 of 15). The MCP server is not in the official MCP registry and there is no SDK; the CLI and MCP packages are current (5 of 15). The MCP package depends only on @modelcontextprotocol/sdk ^1.26 on Node 18, with no public source or CI (5 of 10). 30 + 20 + 9 + 5 + 5 = 69.

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.

Reliability Upbit Open API +8

Bithumb Open API 34

Read with the hosted lines. No status page found on apidocs.bithumb.com or in llms.txt; wallet-status and notices endpoints stand in (0). No readable incident history, though two notices record a public WebSocket interruption and a brief service break (5). Rate limits documented per category with numbers, updated 27 October 2026 (15). A breach is described only as a temporary restriction, with no status code, header or Retry-After, and no client order id or idempotency key is documented; 422 order_not_ready and 500 server_error say to retry later (4 of 15). No SLA found (0). The API is generally available; the MCP server and CLI are at 0.8.5 (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 4 + 0 + 10 = 34.

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.

Transparency & trust Upbit Open API +7

Bithumb Open API 47

The editorial half. A closed service whose terms couldn't be read (timeouts and a title-only page); the kit is MIT with a disclaimer naming Bithumb Co., Ltd. (10 of 30). No privacy policy read (0 of 30, unchecked). Dated retirement of WebSocket Private v1 and effective dates on breaking notices (14 of 20). No subprocessor or data-location statement read (0 of 20). 10 + 0 + 14 + 0 = 24.

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 runBithumb Open APIUpbit Open APIEdge
Reliability16%203442Upbit Open API +8
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.26466Upbit Open API +2
Agent ergonomics13%16.26770Upbit Open API +3
Security & auth14%17.56059Bithumb Open API +1
Payments & pricing10%12.51515even
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86983Upbit Open API +14
Transparency & trust7%8.84754Upbit Open API +7
Negative events≤1500
TotalD 50.6/100C 54.7/100

Facts side by side

FactBithumb Open APIUpbit Open API
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorBithumb Co., Ltd.Dunamu Inc.
Hosted endpointno (local only)no (local only)
Transportsstdio
AuthAPI keyAPI key
PricingPay per usePay per use
x402nono
Tools exposed410
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesyes
Last release2026-10-132026-10-20
Terms last updatedcouldn't be readno document linked
Privacy policy last updatedno document linkedno 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
Popularity6 stars91 stars

Verdicts

Bithumb Open API

Bithumb runs an official local MCP server with 41 tools, module selection and a read-only flag, beside a CLI with per-profile read-only gating and six agent skills, over an API with scoped one-year keys and a mandatory IP list. There is no sandbox, no status page, no documented 429 behaviour, and the fees and terms couldn't 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

Bithumb Open API

  1. Ask for a key with asset and order inquiry plus order placement only, never withdrawals, with your IP registered; keys expire after one year and a wrong IP answers 401 NotAllowIP
  2. Start the server with --modules market,account,trade --read-only for analysis and drop --read-only only when the person asks to trade; deposit and withdraw modules stay off
  3. Prefer the bithumb CLI for writes, as the skills do, and check bithumb config show --json for a read-only profile before any order
  4. Keep the ticker's markets parameter at 200 or fewer, batch orders at 30 and cancels at 30 per request, and stay under 140 private calls a second per category
  5. Retry 422 order_not_ready and 500 server_error after a pause; there is no sandbox, so start with the smallest order the market allows

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, Bithumb Open API or Upbit Open API?

Upbit Open API scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Bithumb Open API's 50.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories.

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

Both need an API key.

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

Bithumb Open API runs on your own machine, with no hosted endpoint listed. No hosted endpoint is listed for Upbit Open API.

Other comparisons with Bithumb Open API or Upbit Open API

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