# Bolna API + MCP vs ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP

> ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP has a score of 71.5 (BB) against Bolna API + MCP's 52.9 (D). Both do voice agent. The largest gap is security & auth, 32 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-elevenlabs-agents
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-elevenlabs-agents.md (~1,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-elevenlabs-agents.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bolna-vs-elevenlabs-agents.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: 2026-10-04

ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP has a score of 71.5 (BB) against Bolna API + MCP's 52.9 (D). Both do voice agent. The largest gap is security & auth, 32 points.

- Bolna API + MCP: grade D, 52.9/100, rank #339 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/bolna.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/bolna.json
- ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP: grade BB, 71.5/100, rank #83 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/elevenlabs-agents.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/elevenlabs-agents.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Bolna API + MCP for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP for reliability (+10), schema & documentation (+29), agent ergonomics (+25), security & auth (+32), payments & pricing (+5), maintenance & community (+9), transparency & trust (+9).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Bolna API + MCP | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 50 | 60 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +10 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 63 | 92 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 77 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +25 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 76 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +32 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 35 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 85 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +9 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 79 | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **52.9 · D** | **71.5 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Bolna API + MCP | ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Bolna | ElevenLabs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.bolna.ai` | `https://api.elevenlabs.io/v1/convai` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | MIT (SDKs) |
| Tools exposed | 84 | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `io.elevenlabs/mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-29 |
| Popularity | 779 stars, 579 npm/wk, 2.6k PyPI/wk | 114 stars, 1.2M npm/wk, 2.2M PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Bolna API + MCP.** Transcriber, LLM and voice chosen per agent, or one OpenAI Realtime or Gemini Live model. Unsigned webhooks and tool calls, IP allowlisting only.

**ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP.** API keys scoped to endpoint groups, with per-key credit limits and service accounts. $0.08 a minute excludes LLM tokens and carrier minutes.

## Before you call either

### Bolna API + MCP

1. Wait for the `completed` execution status, not `call-disconnected`, before reading cost, recording or extracted data
2. Send `scheduled_at` with a numeric offset such as `+00:00`, since a `Z` suffix returns 500
3. Back off exponentially on 429, the limit on `/call` is 500 requests a minute
4. Reject webhook and tool requests that don't come from 13.203.39.153, 13.126.9.249 or 13.202.133.53
5. Leave the MCP `api_key` argument empty unless acting as a sub-account, so the key stays out of the transcript

### ElevenLabs Agents API + MCP

1. Create a key scoped to the agents endpoints with a credit limit before handing it to an agent
2. Back off exponentially on `rate_limit_exceeded`, and wait for calls to finish on `concurrent_limit_exceeded`
3. Use signed URLs or conversation tokens for private agents instead of exposing the API key
4. Set `platform_settings.privacy.retention_days` where you don't need 2 years of history
5. Pick a low-latency LLM, the pipeline waits on it every turn

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