# CoinDesk Data API vs OpenBB (slim)

> OpenBB scores 60.3 (C) to CoinDesk Data's 46.6 (D) for crypto market data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-openbb.md (~2,450 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-openbb.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-openbb
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-25
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

OpenBB scores 60.3 (C) on agent readiness against CoinDesk Data API's 46.6 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. CoinDesk Data API leads on agent ergonomics. Both do crypto market data.

- CoinDesk Data API: D 46.6, rank #998 of 1210 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/coindesk-data-api.min.md
- OpenBB: C 60.3, rank #592 of 1210 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/openbb.min.md
- CoinDesk Data API, good for Institutional crypto work that needs derivatives, order books, regulated reference rates or deep history, with a human buying the plan. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 70 against 63. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.
- OpenBB, good for Agents that need free macro, regulatory and exchange data (FRED, BLS, IMF, OECD, ECB, SEC filings, Treasury, Cboe options, Deribit crypto derivatives) behind one MCP server the owner runs. Ahead on Reliability, 68 against 43; Payments & pricing, 60 against 0; Maintenance & community, 62 against 23; Transparency & trust, 64 against 57. Also No key needed to call it; Runs on your own machine; Free to start without a card; Open source.

| Category | CoinDesk Data API | OpenBB |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 43 | 68 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 72 | 73 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 70 | 63 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 46 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 60 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 23 | 62 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 57 | 64 |

| Fact (where they differ) | CoinDesk Data API | OpenBB |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | CoinDesk Data (formerly CCData / CryptoCompare) | OpenBB Inc. (code stewarded by OpenBQ) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://data-api.coindesk.com` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP, SSE (legacy), stdio |
| Auth | API key | None |
| Pricing | Paid | Free |
| Licence | proprietary | Apache-2.0 for version 5 and later (29 September 2026); earlier releases are AGPL-3.0-only. Data returned by providers is under each source's own terms |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-29 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-11-14 | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes |  |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |