Head to head · Crypto market data · October 2026 research run
CoinDesk Data API vs Nansen x402 API
Nansen x402 API has a score of 67.4 (B) against CoinDesk Data API's 46.9 (D). Both do crypto market data. The largest gap is payments & pricing, 95 points. Nansen x402 API accepts x402. CoinDesk Data API doesn't.
Which one, for what
Pick CoinDesk Data API for
- transparency & trust (+10)
Pick Nansen x402 API for
- schema & documentation (+12)
- agent ergonomics (+16)
- payments & pricing (+95)
- maintenance & community (+52)
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | CoinDesk Data API | Nansen x402 API | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 43 | 45 | Nansen x402 API +2 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 72 | 84 | Nansen x402 API +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 70 | 86 | Nansen x402 API +16 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 45 | 45 | even |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 0 | 95 | Nansen x402 API +95 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 23 | 75 | Nansen x402 API +52 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 61 | 51 | CoinDesk Data API +10 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 46.9 · D | 67.4 · B |
Facts side by side
| Fact | CoinDesk Data API | Nansen x402 API |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | CoinDesk Data (formerly CCData / CryptoCompare) | Nansen |
| Hosted endpoint | https://data-api.coindesk.com | https://api.nansen.ai/api/v1/ |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | proprietary | proprietary |
| Tools exposed | none | 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 | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-24 |
| Popularity | none | none |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |
Verdicts
CoinDesk Data API
Official OpenAPI 3.0.3 document at data-api.coindesk.com/info/v1/openapi, with enums, examples and error responses from 400 to 503. No free or trial access since 2026-05-21, and no x402, so a person has to buy a plan before an agent gets data.
Nansen x402 API
x402 on every Pro endpoint except labels, $0.01 or $0.05 a call, on Base, Solana or Monad. No status page, incident history or SLA that we could find.
Before you call either
CoinDesk Data API
- Read the OpenAPI at
https://data-api.coindesk.com/info/v1/openapirather than the docs site, which a plain fetch can't render - Send the key as
Authorization: Apikey <key>and never in the query string - Use
groupsto ask for only the field groups you need on tick endpoints - Back off on 429 until the window resets, since limits apply per second, minute, hour, day and month
- For reference prices, call the CADLI or CCIX index endpoints rather than one exchange's spot tick
Nansen x402 API
- Check the price tier before calling. Premium and Smart Money endpoints cost $0.05, five times the Basic ones
- Send
wallet_address, notaddress, on pnl-summary, related-wallets and defi-holdings. The old name is deprecated - Set
per_pageand a date range. Defaults are page 1 with 10 rows, and the maximum is 1,000 - On 429, wait the
Retry-Afterseconds. The call isn't charged - Pass
chainexplicitly. It's a required enum on the token endpoints
Other comparisons with CoinDesk Data API or Nansen x402 API
Disclosure
Anchor Terminal's founder built this API at CryptoCompare, which became CCData and was acquired by CoinDesk in 2024. He no longer works there. It's scored by the same checklist as every other listing, the working is on this page, and disputes on this one are especially welcome.