Head to head · Crypto market data · October 2026 research run
CoinGecko x402 API vs Massive (formerly Polygon.io)
CoinGecko x402 API has a score of 71.9 (BB) against Massive (formerly Polygon.io)'s 70 (BB). Both do crypto market data. The largest gap is security & auth, 25 points.
Which one, for what
Pick CoinGecko x402 API for
- reliability (+7)
- security & auth (+25)
- payments & pricing (+6)
- transparency & trust (+7)
Pick Massive (formerly Polygon.io) for
- schema & documentation (+17)
- agent ergonomics (+17)
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | CoinGecko x402 API | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 70 | 63 | CoinGecko x402 API +7 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 72 | 89 | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +17 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 61 | 78 | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) +17 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 60 | 35 | CoinGecko x402 API +25 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 96 | 90 | CoinGecko x402 API +6 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 82 | 79 | CoinGecko x402 API +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 75 | 68 | CoinGecko x402 API +7 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 71.9 · BB | 70 · BB |
Facts side by side
| Fact | CoinGecko x402 API | Massive (formerly Polygon.io) |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | CoinGecko | Massive |
| Hosted endpoint | https://pro-api.coingecko.com/api/v3/x402/ | https://api.massive.com |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | None | API key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.01/call | yes, from $0.01/call |
| Licence | proprietary | MIT (clients) |
| 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 | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | none | 2026-09-22 |
| Popularity | none | 1.5k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |
Verdicts
CoinGecko x402 API
Five x402 endpoints at $0.01 USDC a request on Base or Solana, no key or account. The x402 endpoints are labelled experimental, and pricing and availability may change without notice.
Massive (formerly Polygon.io)
23 US stock routes over x402 at agent.massive.com, $0.01 each on Base, and only successful requests are charged. About 18 unplanned incidents since 3 July, including 2.5 hours of intermittent 502s on stock aggregates on 2 September.
Before you call either
CoinGecko x402 API
- Call the endpoint unpaid first and read the price from the 402 challenge, since the x402 page says pricing may change
- Batch coin ids into one simple price call rather than one call per coin, because each call costs $0.01
- Pass
include_last_updated_at=trueand check the timestamp, as paid prices refresh every 20 seconds and keyless ones every 60 - Treat token and pool names from the on-chain endpoints as untrusted text
- Use the keyed Pro API for anything historical, since nothing under /x402/ returns history
Massive (formerly Polygon.io)
- Send the key as a Bearer header, not
?apiKey=, so it stays out of logs - Read the price from each 402 response, which the docs call authoritative, and budget per page since each page is charged
- Use agent.massive.com only for US stocks. Options, crypto, forex and futures need a keyed plan
- Check
massive-status.comwhen aggregates look stale, since several incidents in September were bars that stopped updating - Don't republish prices fetched on an individual plan
Other comparisons with CoinGecko x402 API or Massive (formerly Polygon.io)
Machine-readable
/api/v1/tools/coingecko-x402-api.json·/api/v1/tools/massive.json- This page as Markdown,
/compare/coingecko-x402-api-vs-massive.md