# Check vs Zeal

> Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do payroll run. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.md (~1,950 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.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: 2026-10-08

Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do payroll run.

- Check: grade B, 67.5/100, rank #193 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/check-payroll.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/check-payroll.json
- Zeal: grade E, 45.4/100, rank #569 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeal.json

## Which one, for what

### Check (B)

Good for: A software platform that wants to sell US payroll inside its own product and can sign a partnership, with Check handling tax calculation, money movement and filings.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 80 against 42
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 68
- Agent ergonomics, 83 against 63
- Security & auth, 74 against 34
- Payments & pricing, 5 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 72 against 61
- Transparency & trust, 62 against 51

Watch for: No public price and no self-serve signup. The documentation says to request an API key through Check's sales contact

### Zeal (E)

Good for: A US staffing platform, marketplace or workforce product that will sign a partnership and run payroll for many employers under its own brand, including daily and on-demand pay.

Watch for: No self-serve signup. Zeal's team creates the partner account after a demo request, and no price is published


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Check | Zeal | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 80 | 42 | Check +38 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 68 | Check +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 83 | 63 | Check +20 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 74 | 34 | Check +40 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 5 | 0 | Check +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 61 | Check +11 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 51 | Check +11 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **67.5 · B** | **45.4 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Check | Zeal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Check Technologies, Inc. | Puzzl Group Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.checkhq.com` | `https://api.zeal.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Check's terms of service and partner agreement. The MCP server and CLI on GitHub are MIT | Proprietary service. The npm SDK declares MIT. The SDK repositories on GitHub carry no licence file |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-07 | 2026-07-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2021-09-03 | 2026-01-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2024-04-18 | 2026-01-16 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 18 stars | 0 stars, 8 npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Check.** Graded as embedded payroll through a partner API key, not access to an existing employer's payroll account. The API has idempotency keys on writes, a required preview before approval and queryable request logs. No price is public, a sandbox key comes through Check's sales team, and one API key carries the whole partner account.

**Zeal.** Graded on the partner REST API at api.zeal.com, which is the only access route. Three OpenAPI specs, llms.txt, a test environment that moves no money, a preview endpoint and a per-cheque approval flag are documented. Access starts with a demo request, prices are not published, each environment has one unscoped key, and no status page or working changelog was found.

## Before you call either

### Check

1. Use https://sandbox.checkhq.com with the sandbox key and https://api.checkhq.com with the production key. A key is not valid across environments
2. Preview a payroll before approving it, then pass `preview_started_at` to POST /payrolls/{id}/approve so a stale preview fails with 409
3. Send `X-Idempotency-Key` on every write. Keys expire after 24 hours, so list the resource before retrying later than that
4. On 429 wait for `Retry-After`. The limit is 10 requests a second in sandbox and for partners paying fewer than 1,000 payees a month, with 100 concurrent requests
5. Connect the MCP server with `?read_only=true` or `X-MCP-Readonly: true` unless writes are intended. In production, approving a payroll moves money

### Zeal

1. Use the Test API key until a person has approved live payroll. Error code 0 (403) means the account has no production access
2. Send `companyID` on almost every call and `partnerID` on partner-level calls, in the body for POST and PATCH and the query for GET
3. Create cheques with `approval_required: true`, run POST /preview/checks, then PATCH /employeeCheck with `approved: true`. Without the flag Zeal processes pending cheques automatically
4. Send `x-idempotency-key` on every create so a retry within 24 hours doesn't pay twice
5. Previews and reports are jobs. Keep the `job_id` and poll GET /preview or GET /reports, or wait for the Job Queue webhook
6. Check dates must be bank days and submitted before 2 PM Pacific two bank days ahead, or the call fails with code 89

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Check or Zeal?

Check scores 67.5 (B) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in every scored category.

### Do Check and Zeal need an API key?

Check takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Zeal needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Check and Zeal without installing anything?

Yes. Check has a hosted endpoint at https://api.checkhq.com and Zeal at https://api.zeal.com.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-zeal.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "check-payroll", "b": "zeal"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare check-payroll zeal`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/check-payroll.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeal.json

## Other comparisons with Check or Zeal

- [Check vs Gusto](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-gusto.md)
- [Check vs Salsa](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-salsa.md)
- [Gusto vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gusto-vs-zeal.md)
- [Salsa vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/salsa-vs-zeal.md)
- [Check vs Finch](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/check-payroll-vs-finch.md)
- [Finch vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/finch-vs-zeal.md)