Head to head · Exchange market data · October 2026 research run
Bitstamp API vs Upbit Open API
Upbit Open API scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Bitstamp API's 50.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Bitstamp API leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do exchange market data.
Best crypto exchange APIs and MCP servers for AI agents · All 210 exchanges comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for An agent that needs a long-running regulated spot venue in the EU, UK and US with a sandbox and per-endpoint key permissions, and can do its own signing.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 63 against 42
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 15
Watch for
No official MCP server, SDK, llms.txt or OpenAPI file; the registry's Bitstamp servers are third parties proxying public market data
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 51
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 58
- Maintenance & community, 83 against 28
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 +55
Bitstamp API 28
Read as a closed service. The last dated API change is 28 August 2026, 67 days before the check (20). Only one dated entry in the last 90 days, after 1 July and 12 June (0). No public repository or issue tracker, support pages did not load and support.bitstamp.net did not resolve; a changelog exists (8 of 25). No official SDKs and no MCP registry presence of Bitstamp's own (0). No package to assess (0). 20 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 0 = 28.
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 Bitstamp API +21
Bitstamp API 63
Read with the hosted lines on the HTTP API v2 at www.bitstamp.net/api/v2/. status.bitstamp.net is a Statuspage site with component history (20). Its feed for 5 August to 3 November 2026 has 17 entries, among them withdrawals failing on 14 networks for about 3 hours on 21 August, database maintenance with login failures and intermittent trading interruptions for about 1 hour 44 minutes on 23 September, a 39-minute halt of all markets on 5 August, and delistings and single-asset suspensions. One major (10). Rate limits with numbers, 400 a second and 10,000 per 10 minutes (15). Limit errors are named (400.002, 400.067, 400.068) but there is no Retry-After or backoff guidance, duplicate client order ids are allowed, and the only retry guidance is to check the order after a 500.016 timeout (8 of 15). No SLA found (0). Generally available (10). 20 + 10 + 15 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 63.
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.
Schema & documentation Upbit Open API +15
Bitstamp API 51
No OpenAPI or other machine-readable contract was found on the API page or elsewhere (0). No llms.txt or Markdown docs (0). The single documentation page describes each endpoint's purpose and parameters, with notes such as the 10-second cache on open orders and the Travel Rule fields, but not when to use one endpoint over another (14 of 20). Parameters are typed with enumerations (margin mode CROSS or ISOLATED, margin multiplier 1 to 25, order types) and required fields marked (11 of 15). Signing examples in Python, Java and C++, and error families with numbered codes and explanations (13 of 15). Version v2 in the path and header, a dated changelog from 7 April 2023 to 28 August 2026, and a 410.001 code for deprecated endpoints, with no stated notice period (13 of 15). 0 + 0 + 14 + 11 + 13 + 13 = 51.
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 +12
Bitstamp API 58
Graded on the REST API. Order book grouping and transaction time windows size responses, but there is no field selection and no MCP surface (15 of 25). Offset, limit, since and sort on transaction history, until_id windows on order-data replay (14 of 20). response_code and response_explanation name the failure, such as 400.009 insufficient balance, 403.004 trading blocked and 500.025 insufficient liquidity (16 of 20). No idempotency, since client_order_id duplicates are allowed since November 2023 and the docs say only to check the order id after a timeout; the kill switch limits damage (8 of 20). Few required parameters, but no official SDK in any language (5 of 15). 15 + 14 + 16 + 8 + 5 = 58.
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.
Payments & pricing Bitstamp API +5
Bitstamp API 20
No machine payment protocol (0). The fee schedule page loaded empty, the API's fee endpoints need a key, and no rate could be read, so fees are scored as not published (0, unchecked). The API is free, public endpoints need no key and the sandbox needs no money (20). A person must sign up in a browser with identity checks and mint the key (0). 0 + 0 + 20 + 0 = 20.
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.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Bitstamp API | Upbit Open API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 63 | 42 | Bitstamp API +21 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 51 | 66 | Upbit Open API +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 58 | 70 | Upbit Open API +12 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 60 | 59 | Bitstamp API +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 20 | 15 | Bitstamp API +5 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 28 | 83 | Upbit Open API +55 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 53 | 54 | Upbit Open API +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | D 50.4/100 | C 54.7/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Bitstamp API | Upbit Open API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Bitstamp Ltd. | Dunamu Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | no (local only) |
| Transports | ||
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary hosted API under Bitstamp's terms of use, which our reader couldn't load | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 0 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-28 | 2026-10-20 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not read yet |
| Popularity | none | 91 stars |
Verdicts
Bitstamp API
Bitstamp documents its v2 API on one static page with numeric rate limits, per-endpoint key permissions, an IP allow-list, a kill switch and a sandbox. There is no official MCP server, duplicate client order ids are allowed, and the fee schedule, terms, privacy policy and country list render by script and 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
Bitstamp API
- Mint a key with only the endpoint permissions the task needs and an IP allow-list; keep
revoke_all_api_keysin reach as a kill switch - Treat
client_order_idas a label, not a guard. On a timeout (500.016) fetch the order by client id before resending, because duplicates are accepted - Use a fresh 36-character nonce and a timestamp within 150 seconds of server time on every request, or expect API0004 and API0017
- Stay under 400 requests a second and 10,000 per 10 minutes; 400.002 and 400.067 mean back off, and open-orders answers are cached for 10 seconds
- Start on sandbox.bitstamp.net with the same paths, and read the fee schedule in a browser before quoting costs, since it is unreadable to a plain fetch
Upbit Open API
- 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
- Sign every request with a fresh JWT (HS512, new nonce, SHA512 query hash) and branch on error.name, not error.message
- Run POST /v1/orders/test before a live order; it costs nothing and shares the 8-a-second order-test group
- 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
- 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, Bitstamp API or Upbit Open API?
Upbit Open API scores 54.7 (C) on agent readiness against Bitstamp API's 50.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Bitstamp API leads on reliability and payments & pricing.
Do Bitstamp API and Upbit Open API need an API key?
Both need an API key.
Can an agent call Bitstamp API and Upbit Open API without installing anything?
No hosted endpoint is listed for Bitstamp API. No hosted endpoint is listed for Upbit Open API.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/bitstamp-vs-upbit.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/bitstamp.json·/api/v1/tools/upbit.json - From a terminal
anchor compare bitstamp upbit(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "bitstamp", "b": "upbit"}at/mcp, no key