# CoinDesk Data API vs Yield.xyz MCP server (slim)

> Yield.xyz scores 74 (BB) to CoinDesk Data's 19 (F) for crypto market data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-yield-xyz-mcp.md (~4,200 tokens) · this version ~2,530 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-yield-xyz-mcp.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/coindesk-data-api-vs-yield-xyz-mcp
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Yield.xyz MCP server scores 74 (BB) on agent readiness against CoinDesk Data API's 19 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do crypto market data. Yield.xyz MCP server accepts x402. CoinDesk Data API doesn't.

- CoinDesk Data API: F 19, rank #1458 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/coindesk-data-api.min.md
- Yield.xyz MCP server: BB 74, rank #97 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/yield-xyz-mcp.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.
- Yield.xyz MCP server, good for Agents and wallets that need to find, compare and enter staking or DeFi yields, paying per call over x402 if they like. Ahead on Reliability, 65 against 15; Schema & documentation, 95 against 0; Agent ergonomics, 82 against 15; Security & auth, 56 against 45; Payments & pricing, 100 against 0; Maintenance & community, 60 against 13. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; An agent can pay per call over x402, with no account.

| Category | CoinDesk Data API | Yield.xyz MCP server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 15 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 0 | 95 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 15 | 82 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 56 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 0 | 100 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 13 | 60 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 52 | 53 |

| Fact (where they differ) | CoinDesk Data API | Yield.xyz MCP server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | CoinDesk Data (formerly CCData / CryptoCompare) | Omni Ltd. (Yield.xyz) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://data-api.coindesk.com` | `https://mcp.yield.xyz/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | yes, from $0.001/call |
| Licence | proprietary | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 22 |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Terms last updated | 2025-11-14 | not read yet |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | not read yet |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not read yet |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not read yet |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not read yet |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not read yet |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not read yet |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- Payments & pricing, Yield.xyz MCP server +100: CoinDesk Data API 0 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Pricing at developers.coindesk.com renders only by script, and data.coindesk.com asks new customers to book a call for a trial, so no published per-unit or plan prices we could read (0 of 20). The free tier was retired on 21 May 2026, announced on 17 April, and nothing replaced it (0). A person signs up and generates a key in the dashboard, per the 13 May connector post (0). The 2 October keyless request to the API is struck as a request to the product's own endpoint, and no score rested on it alone. 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0.); Yield.xyz MCP server 100 (x402 on its own MCP endpoint for metered tools over quota (40). $0.001 a call published, with machine-readable pricing at /.well-known/x402 (20). 1,000 free read calls a tool a day with no sign-up (20). Keyless use and x402 let an agent start with no person (20). 40 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 100.)
- Schema & documentation, Yield.xyz MCP server +95: CoinDesk Data API 0 (The OpenAPI 3.0.3 file at data-api.coindesk.com/info/v1/openapi sits on the product's own API host, and the docs portal at developers.coindesk.com, which would link it, is drawn by script (the introduction page and llms.txt both returned the same 7,680-byte app shell on 5 November). A file no readable page links isn't a published contract, so the 1 October readings taken from it are struck. Contract 0. llms.txt is an app shell (0). Descriptions, typed inputs and documented errors had no other readable source (0, 0, 0). The versioned paths came from the same file, and the blog's monthly product updates stopped after July 2025, so no versioning or changelog we could read (0). 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 0 = 0.); Yield.xyz MCP server 95 (22 tools read from tools/list with JSON Schema inputs and 14 enums (25). llms.txt (10). Descriptions with order of use, such as yields_get before actions_enter (18 of 20). Typed inputs with enums, ranges and defaults (15). A tool reference with inputs and returns for every tool (12 of 15). Weekly dated product changelog (15). 25 + 10 + 18 + 15 + 12 + 15 = 95.)
- Agent ergonomics, Yield.xyz MCP server +67: CoinDesk Data API 15 (Field groups, limits and paging were read on 1 October from a third-party reconstruction of the spec on GitHub, which isn't a first-hand source, and error objects from the struck OpenAPI file and third-party probes, so those lines are struck (0, 0, 0). The licence agreement and product pages describe a service that returns licensed data and nothing in them writes, so safe retries hold on read-only access (15 of 20, held). No official SDK found, and the defaults credit came from the struck file (0). 0 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 15.); Yield.xyz MCP server 82 (22 tools, about 61 KB (15). limit and offset with documented ranges (20). 429 and the x402 gate documented (15 of 20). All 22 annotated, 18 read-only; transactions unsigned (20). Optional inputs default sensibly; SDKs listed in the docs (12 of 15). 15 + 20 + 15 + 20 + 12 = 82.)
- Reliability, Yield.xyz MCP server +50: CoinDesk Data API 15 (Graded as a hosted API. status.coindesk.com, linked as System Status from data.coindesk.com, is drawn by script, and on 5 November its robots.txt answered with the same HTML app page, so the host is unread and no component history was ever shown (0, as a script-drawn status page scores elsewhere). No incident history we could read (5). The 1 October rate-limit (5) and 429 (8) awards came from the OpenAPI file served by the API host itself, which no readable page links, so they are struck (0 and 0). The API licence agreement of 22 April 2026 names no SLA, and the pricing page where a plan SLA would sit renders only by script (0). Generally available, sold for more than ten years per CoinDesk's 25 August post (10). 0 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 15.); Yield.xyz MCP server 65 (Status page at status.yield.xyz, all services online, with a notice on protocol-level Aave pauses (20). History not read (5). Plan rate limits with headers documented, and the MCP free quotas published with numbers (15). 429 with retry-after and a retry strategy documented; transactions are built unsigned and never broadcast (15). No SLA read (0). Not labelled beta (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 65.)
- Maintenance & community, Yield.xyz MCP server +47: CoinDesk Data API 13 (No public changelog. The newest dated product post is the Gemini Enterprise for Financial Services post of 25 August 2026, which says the existing hosted MCP server is now available in that client with a CoinDesk API key. It lists the server in another client and records no change to the API or the server, so it doesn't set recency, read the same way as Streak's 4 August Claude connector post. The last published API change is the free-tier retirement of 21 May 2026, after which accounts without a subscription stopped receiving data, 168 days before this check (10, to 0 after 17 November). No dated API change since 7 August (0). A contact page and account managers, and no public channel where questions get answers (3 of 15, held). No official SDK found (0). No package to judge (0). 10 + 0 + 3 + 0 + 0 = 13.); Yield.xyz MCP server 60 (Weekly changelog entries into November 2026 (30). More than three dated entries in 90 days (20). Docs, a trust page and support; issues not public (10 of 15). Not found in our import of the official registry (0). No package health read (0). 30 + 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 60. Registry presence read from Anchor Terminal's own daily import of the official MCP registry (/api/v1/registry.json, 6 November 2026), not the registry's API.)
- Security & auth, Yield.xyz MCP server +11: CoinDesk Data API 45 (A plain account key, generated from the account dashboard at developers.coindesk.com per CoinDesk's 13 May 2026 connector post, with no scopes found (20). The earlier 10 off for an `api_key` query parameter rested on the 26 September listing note, whose source was a third-party reconstruction of the spec on GitHub, and on the 1 October reading of the struck OpenAPI file, so no readable page documents a URL option and nothing comes off. Read-only data (15 of 20, held). News articles from the CoinDesk newsroom are third-party text returned to the agent, and no guidance on treating them as untrusted was found (5 of 15). No request log or usage view found (0). data.coindesk.com cites ISO 27001 certificate 23073 with no disclosure route we could read. The Bugcrowd link was read on 1 October from the privacy notice on www.coindesk.com, whose robots.txt now disallows ClaudeBot, Claude-Web and anthropic-ai, so that reading is struck. A bare certification claim scores 5 on the programme line (5 of 20). 20 + 15 + 5 + 0 + 5 = 45.); Yield.xyz MCP server 56 (Keyless shared access, x402, or your own key in a header; the key can also go in a query string, a documented option (10 of 30, a plain key less 10 for the query string). Mostly reads, and wallet tools build unsigned transactions the user signs elsewhere (18 of 20). Returns protocol data, no third-party prose (10). No audit log of MCP calls (0). SOC 2 Type II, penetration tests by Spearbit/Cantina and Trail of Bits, audited contracts (18 of 20). 10 + 18 + 10 + 0 + 18 = 56.)