# Cloudviz API vs Lucid API + MCP

> Lucid API + MCP has a score of 60.9 (C) against Cloudviz API's 37.9 (F). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is reliability, 47 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

Lucid API + MCP has a score of 60.9 (C) against Cloudviz API's 37.9 (F). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is reliability, 47 points.

- Cloudviz API: grade F, 37.9/100, rank #432 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/cloudviz.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/cloudviz.json
- Lucid API + MCP: grade C, 60.9/100, rank #238 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/lucid.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/lucid.json

## Which one, for what

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

Pick Lucid API + MCP for reliability (+47), schema & documentation (+15), agent ergonomics (+12), security & auth (+27), payments & pricing (+5), maintenance & community (+28), transparency & trust (+16).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cloudviz API | Lucid API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 20 | 67 | Lucid API + MCP +47 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 73 | Lucid API + MCP +15 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 62 | Lucid API + MCP +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 80 | Lucid API + MCP +27 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 25 | Lucid API + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 5 | 33 | Lucid API + MCP +28 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 47 | 63 | Lucid API + MCP +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **37.9 · F** | **60.9 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cloudviz API | Lucid API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Cloudviz | Lucid Software |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cloudviz.io` | `https://api.lucid.co` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | proprietary |
| Tools exposed | none | 9 |
| 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 | yes | no |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `app.lucid.mcp/lucid` |
| Last release | none | 2026-06-15 |
| Popularity | none | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Cloudviz API.** Diagrams come from the live AWS account through a read-only cross-account role with a per-customer external ID. AWS only, and API access starts at the $49 a month Team plan.

**Lucid API + MCP.** OAuth 2.0 scopes with `:readonly` variants, and audit log endpoints in the REST API. No public changelog for the API or the MCP server.

## Before you call either

### Cloudviz API

1. Call `GET /aws/accounts/` first to get the Cloudviz account ID, then request `/aws/accounts/{account-id}/{region}/{format}`
2. On a 202, wait and repeat the same GET until the diagram is ready
3. Ask for `jsonSnapshot` or `jsonDiagram` (there is no plain `json` format) when the agent has to reason over resources
4. Use a read-only key unless the agent has to add, change or delete AWS accounts

### Lucid API + MCP

1. Always send `Lucid-Api-Version: 1`, or prefix the path with /v1
2. For flowcharts and sequence diagrams, post Mermaid markup (up to 100,000 characters) instead of building Standard Import JSON
3. Request `:readonly` scopes when the agent only reads documents
4. On 429, wait 60 seconds or back off. Create Mermaid Diagram allows 60 calls a minute
5. Sharing and embed endpoints need an OAuth token. An API key won't work there

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