# Cloudviz API vs Mermaid Chart MCP

> Cloudviz API has a score of 37.9 (F) against Mermaid Chart MCP's 31.7 (F). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 48 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-04

Cloudviz API has a score of 37.9 (F) against Mermaid Chart MCP's 31.7 (F). Both do diagram create. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 48 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
- Mermaid Chart MCP: grade F, 31.7/100, rank #442 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mermaid-chart.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mermaid-chart.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Cloudviz API for reliability (+5), schema & documentation (+26), agent ergonomics (+16), security & auth (+33).

Pick Mermaid Chart MCP for payments & pricing (+25), maintenance & community (+48).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Cloudviz API | Mermaid Chart MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 20 | 15 | Cloudviz API +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 58 | 32 | Cloudviz API +26 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 50 | 34 | Cloudviz API +16 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 53 | 20 | Cloudviz API +33 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 45 | Mermaid Chart MCP +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 5 | 53 | Mermaid Chart MCP +48 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 47 | 48 | Mermaid Chart MCP +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **37.9 · F** | **31.7 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Cloudviz API | Mermaid Chart MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Cloudviz | Mermaid Chart |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.cloudviz.io` | `https://mcp.mermaid.ai/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy) |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 25 |
| 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 | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.mermaidchart/mermaid-mcp` |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-17 |
| Popularity | none | 395 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 2.5/5 (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.

**Mermaid Chart MCP.** Validation and rendering work with no account or key. Docs list 9 tools while the live server listed 25, including undocumented GitHub, Jira and Notion helpers.

## 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

### Mermaid Chart MCP

1. Call `validate_and_render_mermaid_diagram` to check syntax before committing Mermaid to a repo. It needs no token
2. Only add the token if you need to save into Mermaid Chart projects. It reaches every project on the account
3. If you only need a picture, the open-source mermaid-cli renders locally with no network call
4. Use mcp.mermaid.ai. The registry still lists the older mcp.mermaidchart.com host

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