# Close API + MCP vs SugarAI (SugarCRM)

> Close scores 66.7 (B) to SugarAI's 49.5 (D) for crm records. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/close-vs-sugarcrm
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/close-vs-sugarcrm.md (~2,700 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/close-vs-sugarcrm.min.md (~730 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/close-vs-sugarcrm.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: 2026-10-09

Close API + MCP scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against SugarAI (SugarCRM)'s 49.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SugarAI (SugarCRM) leads on agent ergonomics. Both do crm records.

- Close API + MCP: grade B, 66.7/100, rank #277 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/close.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/close.json
- SugarAI (SugarCRM): grade D, 49.5/100, rank #793 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sugarcrm.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sugarcrm.json
- Best CRM and customer-platform tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/crm/index.md
- All 136 crm comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crm/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Close API + MCP (B)

Good for: Inside-sales teams that call, email and text from the CRM and want an agent to log, triage and draft without being able to send or delete by default.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 81 against 61
- Schema & documentation, 82 against 48
- Security & auth, 66 against 51
- Payments & pricing, 30 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 79 against 22

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: 121 MCP tools, and even the read scope loads 71

### SugarAI (SugarCRM) (D)

Good for: Companies already running Sugar Sell, Serve or Enterprise that want an agent to read and write records under a named user's roles, and that have Sugar's approval for the integration.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 69 against 56

Watch for: The AI Supplemental Terms forbid connecting customer-owned or third-party AI systems, agents or MCP connectors to the Services or APIs except through functionality Sugar has approved. This matters before any probe is run


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Close API + MCP | SugarAI (SugarCRM) | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 81 | 61 | Close API + MCP +20 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 82 | 48 | Close API + MCP +34 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 69 | SugarAI (SugarCRM) +13 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 51 | Close API + MCP +15 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 10 | Close API + MCP +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 79 | 22 | Close API + MCP +57 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 71 | SugarAI (SugarCRM) +4 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.7 · B** | **49.5 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Close API + MCP | SugarAI (SugarCRM) |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Close | SugarAI Software Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.close.com/api/v1` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | Proprietary service under the SugarAI Customer Terms of Service |
| Tools exposed | 121 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `com.close/close-mcp` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-10 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2025-10-31 |  |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-05-30 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Popularity | 70 stars, 14k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

## Verdicts

**Close API + MCP.** Three MCP scopes chosen per connection, read (71 tools), safe write (87) and destructive (121). 121 MCP tools, and even the read scope loads 71.

**SugarAI (SugarCRM).** The REST reference covers 350 endpoint pages with filters, field selection, bulk calls and upsert by `sync_key`. SugarAI's AI Supplemental Terms forbid connecting a customer's or third party's AI agent or MCP connector to the APIs unless Sugar has approved it, tokens carry no scopes, and no OpenAPI file, trial or SLA was found.

## Before you call either

### Close API + MCP

1. Connect with `Close-Scope: mcp.read` unless the job needs writes, and `mcp.write_safe` if it only creates
2. Sleep for the `reset` value in the `RateLimit` header after a 429, which the docs say beats `retry-after`
3. Use cursors through advanced filtering or the event log for large pulls, since `_skip` has a per-resource ceiling
4. Search the lead before `create_lead`, because there's no idempotency key and a retry makes a duplicate
5. Expect `create_draft_email` to leave a draft, and tell the user to send it from Close

### SugarAI (SugarCRM)

1. Confirm that Sugar has approved the agent integration before connecting. The AI Supplemental Terms forbid unapproved AI agents and MCP connectors on the APIs
2. POST to `/rest/v11_27/oauth2/token` with `grant_type` `password` and a `platform` other than `base`, `mobile` or `portal`, or the login can end the user's own session
3. Send the access token in the `OAuth-Token` header. It lasts 60 minutes by default, so store the refresh token and not the password
4. Stay under 20 requests a second on SugarCloud and reuse one session for batches. Over-limit traffic is blocked by IP address until support lifts it
5. Page with `max_num` and `offset` until `next_offset` is -1, and pass `fields` to keep responses small
6. Use `PATCH /integrate/:module/:sync_key_field_name/:sync_key_field_value` for writes that may be retried, since it inserts or updates by `sync_key`

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Close API + MCP or SugarAI (SugarCRM)?

Close API + MCP scores 66.7 (B) on agent readiness against SugarAI (SugarCRM)'s 49.5 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. SugarAI (SugarCRM) leads on agent ergonomics.

### Do Close API + MCP and SugarAI (SugarCRM) need an API key?

Close API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. SugarAI (SugarCRM) uses an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Close API + MCP and SugarAI (SugarCRM) without installing anything?

Close API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.close.com/api/v1. No hosted endpoint is listed for SugarAI (SugarCRM).


## For agents

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

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