{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "commerce-layer", "name": "Commerce Layer API + MCP", "vendor": "Commerce Layer", "vendorUrl": "https://commercelayer.io", "kind": "http-api", "category": "commerce", "summary": "Commerce backend API for building custom storefronts and checkout experiences.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/commerce-layer", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/commerce-layer.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/commerce-layer.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/commerce-layer.json", "transports": [ "http", "streamable-http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://core.commercelayer.io/api/public/resources", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@commercelayer/sdk" } ], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "OAuth 2.0 tokens from https://auth.commercelayer.io/oauth/token. Integration credentials (client ID and secret, role-bound) for server-side agents, sales channel credentials (client ID only, scoped to a market) for storefront calls, authorisation code for user tokens. API calls go to https://\u003cyour-org\u003e.commercelayer.io/api. The Core MCP takes the same bearer token, or runs the OAuth flow in clients that support it.", "pricing": "freemium", "pricingNotes": "Developer plan is free with no time limit, 100 live orders a month, 1,000 SKUs, 2 markets, 2 users, unlimited test orders and the Core API only. Enterprise is quoted by sales (custom yearly order volume, unlimited SKUs, adds the Metrics and Provisioning APIs and SLAs). Distributed OMS, promotion engine and metrics dashboard are add-ons. No transaction fees; payment gateway fees are separate (https://commercelayer.io/pricing).", "priceSummary": "Freemium", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402 in the docs, pricing or MCP pages (checked 2026-09-30).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 11, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 7323, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-09-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.commercelayer.io", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.commercelayer.io/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://data.commercelayer.app/schemas/openapi.json", "capabilities": [ "commerce.products", "commerce.cart", "commerce.checkout", "commerce.orders", "commerce.headless" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "freemium", "mcp", "llms-txt", "openapi", "typescript", "webhooks", "enterprise", "closed-source" ], "lastRelease": "2026-09-29", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 63.7, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 399, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1076, "categoryRank": 11, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 64, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 25, "reliability": 70, "schema": 79, "security": 64, "transparency": 57 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-01" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Public OpenAPI 3.0 file and llms.txt. No price between the free plan and a sales-quoted Enterprise contract.", "bestFor": "Teams that want a hosted headless backend and an agent that can work across every commerce object with scoped OAuth roles.", "strengths": [ "Public OpenAPI 3.0 file and llms.txt", "OAuth roles per resource and per operation, and market-scoped sales channel tokens", "Hosted Core MCP with 11 tools and preflight validation before writes", "Free Developer plan with no card and unlimited test orders", "Published per-IP rate limits for reads, writes and tokens" ], "weaknesses": [ "No price between the free plan and a sales-quoted Enterprise contract", "No API versioning, and four breaking changes between 8 May and 2 September 2026", "429s carry no Retry-After or reset header", "Privacy policy last updated October 2020, with no DPA or subprocessor list linked", "No MCP tool annotations and no confirmation step for delete_resource" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call `get_resource_schema` before any write. Preflight rejects bad filter shapes before they reach the API", "Give the agent an integration credential tied to a narrow role rather than an admin role", "On a 429, wait out the sliding window. No Retry-After is sent, and the IP stays blocked while the rate stays high", "Place an order by PATCHing it with `_place: true` once line items, addresses, shipping and payment are set", "Move reads of `mode`, `organization_id` and `trace_id` to root-level meta before 5 October 2026" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 2, "avgRating": 3.5, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 63.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 64, "maintenance": 82, "payments": 25, "reliability": 70, "schema": 79, "security": 64, "transparency": 42 }, "provenanceScore": 71 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST https://auth.commercelayer.io/oauth/token -H \"Content-Type: application/json\" \\\n -d \"{\\\"grant_type\\\":\\\"client_credentials\\\",\\\"client_id\\\":\\\"$CL_CLIENT_ID\\\",\\\"client_secret\\\":\\\"$CL_CLIENT_SECRET\\\"}\"\ncurl \"https://$CL_ORG.commercelayer.io/api/skus?page[size]=5\" -H \"Accept: application/vnd.api+json\" \\\n -H \"Authorization: Bearer $CL_ACCESS_TOKEN\"", "claudeCode": "claude mcp add --transport http commercelayer-core https://core-mcp.commercelayer.io/mcp --header \"Authorization: Bearer $CL_ACCESS_TOKEN\"", "config": { "mcpServers": { "commercelayer-core": { "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer ${CL_ACCESS_TOKEN}" }, "url": "https://core-mcp.commercelayer.io/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/commerce.products", "tool": "https://letme.dev/commerce-layer" }, "area": "business", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Developer plan", "unit": "month", "usd": 0, "note": "100 live orders a month, 1,000 SKUs, unlimited test orders" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Commerce Layer, Inc.", "domain": "commercelayer.io", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://commercelayer.io/legal/terms-of-service", "privacy": "https://commercelayer.io/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "https://status.commercelayer.io", "changelog": "https://docs.commercelayer.io/changelog", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-09-30", "notes": [ "rdap.org has no RDAP service for .io, so the registration date is blank." ], "score": 71 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/commerce-layer.json", "live": { "slug": "commerce-layer", "probe": { "target": "https://core.commercelayer.io/api/public/resources", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-14T09:41:46.951447041Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 200, "lastMs": 25, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 29, "p95ms24h": 420, "samples24h": 248, "samples30d": 3525, "days": [ { "date": "2026-09-30", "probes": 35, "ok": 35 }, { "date": "2026-10-01", "probes": 276, "ok": 276 }, { "date": "2026-10-02", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-03", "probes": 271, "ok": 271 }, { "date": "2026-10-04", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-05", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-06", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-07", "probes": 272, "ok": 272 }, { "date": "2026-10-08", "probes": 268, "ok": 268 }, { "date": "2026-10-09", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-10", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-11", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-12", "probes": 247, "ok": 247 }, { "date": "2026-10-13", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 100, "ok": 100 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://status.commercelayer.io", "indicator": "none", "summary": "All Systems Operational", "checkedAt": "2026-10-14T09:39:03.181351557Z" }, "versions": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@commercelayer/sdk", "version": "8.0.3", "seenAt": "2026-10-13T22:50:27.280524246Z" } ], "npmWeekly": 5760, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://commercelayer.io/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "none", "checkedAt": "2026-10-13T15:45:16.074923155Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.commercelayer.io/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-13T14:11:18.45960665Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "commercelayer.io", "checkedAt": "2026-10-11T13:26:48.294810215Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.commercelayer.io/changelog", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-13T20:14:28.526665749Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-13T20:14:28.526665749Z", "fingerprint": "5dc19a233641" }, { "url": "https://commercelayer.io/pricing", "kind": "pricing", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-13T20:11:53.012203161Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:03:38.904280664Z", "fingerprint": "e3367b1bb377" }, { "url": "https://commercelayer.io/legal/privacy-policy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-13T20:11:48.994819574Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:03:34.402907975Z", "fingerprint": "3803de1040c2" }, { "url": "https://commercelayer.io/legal/terms-of-service", "kind": "terms", "status": 304, "checkedAt": "2026-10-13T20:11:51.017625962Z", "changedAt": "2026-10-07T18:03:36.639863076Z", "fingerprint": "5a7da38cba38" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-14T09:41:46.951447041Z" } }, "answer": "Commerce Layer API + MCP scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Fabric's 43.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "fabric", "name": "Fabric", "vendor": "Commerce Fabric, Inc.", "vendorUrl": "https://fabric.inc", "kind": "http-api", "category": "commerce", "summary": "Commerce software from Commerce Fabric, Inc. for brands and retailers, now sold as Merchandising Studio (product data for AI shopping) and Dropship. Its REST APIs, documented as v3, cover orders, inventory, catalogue, pricing, carts and dropship.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fabric", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fabric.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fabric.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fabric.json", "license": "Proprietary SaaS under Fabric's Terms and Conditions (last updated 1 January 2026) and an order form", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.fabric.inc/v3", "packages": [], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "Server-to-server calls use a System App with the OpenID Connect client credentials flow. A merchant admin creates the app in the Copilot console, picks one role (Admin, Developer Admin, Developer Viewer, Editor, Viewer or a module editor) and receives a client ID and secret. System tokens last 10 minutes and have no refresh token. User Apps use the authorisation code flow with PKCE for shoppers, with 30-minute user tokens and rotating refresh tokens. Every call also carries an x-fabric-tenant-id header. The Product Agent API uses its own client credentials token, valid for 60 minutes.", "pricing": "paid", "pricingNotes": "No public prices. fabric.inc/pricing returns 404, the developer docs say to reach out for a trial account, and the sites link to a demo request. Services run under an order form. The terms say beta services are free of charge (checked 14 October 2026).", "priceSummary": "Paid", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in llms.txt, the 69 OpenAPI files listed there, the terms or the site pages read on 14 October 2026.", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": null, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-14" }, "docsUrl": "https://developer.fabric.inc/v3/home", "llmsTxt": "https://developer.fabric.inc/llms.txt", "openapi": "https://developer.fabric.inc/openapi/orders/v3/orders.openapi.yaml", "capabilities": [ "commerce.orders", "commerce.products", "commerce.cart", "commerce.checkout", "commerce.headless" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "enterprise", "closed-source", "oauth", "openapi", "llms-txt", "webhooks", "sales-led", "sla", "soc2" ], "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 43.7, "grade": "E", "agentReady": false, "rank": 949, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1076, "categoryRank": 18, "methodology": "0.4", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 57, "maintenance": 15, "payments": 0, "reliability": 23, "schema": 79, "security": 62, "transparency": 55 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-14" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Public OpenAPI files for about 980 operations, llms.txt, client credentials with role-limited system apps, and a published 99.9 per cent SLA. Access needs a sales contract, with no public price or self-serve trial. The commerce docs are labelled legacy, the newest release notes date from July 2025, and no status page was found.", "bestFor": "A merchant-side API for retailers already on Fabric's order management, catalogue or dropship products.", "strengths": [ "69 public OpenAPI files covering orders, inventory, catalogue, carts, pricing and dropship, listed in llms.txt", "System apps take one of ten roles, including Viewer and module-only editors, and tokens expire after 10 minutes", "Standardised JSON error codes with service and endpoint context for the Orders and Inventory APIs", "Published SLA of 99.9 per cent monthly availability with service credits up to 40 per cent" ], "weaknesses": [ "No public price, free tier or self-serve signup. A trial account is arranged with Fabric", "The v3 and v2 commerce docs are labelled legacy, and the newest dated release notes are from July 2025", "No status page, rate-limit figures, Retry-After guidance or idempotency keys were found", "No official SDKs and no MCP server for the commerce APIs. The docs MCP server only searches documentation" ], "agentNotes": [ "Get the tenant ID and a System App client ID and secret from the merchant's Copilot admin, with the narrowest role the task needs", "Request a new system token from {authURL}/v1/token every 10 minutes, since system apps receive no refresh token", "Send x-fabric-tenant-id on every call, and x-fabric-channel-id where the merchant sells in more than one channel", "Page order searches with offset and limit, because the default response returns 10 orders", "Read errorCode and context.endpoint in Orders and Inventory errors, and check for duplicates before retrying a write" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "E", "methodology": "0.4", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 43.7 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 57, "maintenance": 15, "payments": 0, "reliability": 23, "schema": 79, "security": 62, "transparency": 35 }, "provenanceScore": 74 }, "connect": { "http": "curl -X POST '{authURL}/v1/token' \\\n -H 'content-type: application/x-www-form-urlencoded' \\\n --data-urlencode 'grant_type=client_credentials' \\\n --data-urlencode 'scope=s2s' \\\n --data-urlencode 'client_id={clientId}' \\\n --data-urlencode 'client_secret={clientSecret}'\ncurl https://api.fabric.inc/v3/product-attributes \\\n -H 'Authorization: Bearer {token}' \\\n -H 'x-fabric-tenant-id: {tenantId}'" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/commerce.orders", "tool": "https://letme.dev/fabric" }, "area": "business", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Commerce Fabric, Inc.", "domain": "fabric.inc", "domainRegistered": "2019-08-08", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://fabric.inc/legal/terms-and-conditions", "privacy": "https://fabric.inc/legal/privacy-policy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://developer.fabric.inc/v3/release-notes/july2025/release-summary", "securityTxt": "none", "checked": "2026-10-14", "notes": [ "The Terms and Conditions (last updated 1 January 2026) and the website terms of use name Commerce Fabric, Inc., 455 Market St. PMB 66768 Suite 1940, San Francisco, California 94105-2448. The site footer reads Fabric, Inc., San Francisco and Toronto.", "The privacy policy is dated 14 January 2021. The Data Processing Addendum it and the terms link at https://fabric.inc/data-processing-addendum returned 404, as did https://fabric.inc/api-license, named as the API licence in the OpenAPI files.", "No status page was found. status.fabric.inc does not resolve.", "fabric.inc/.well-known/security.txt and api.fabric.inc/.well-known/security.txt return 404.", "RDAP for fabric.inc gives a registration date of 8 August 2019 and GoDaddy.com, LLC as registrar." ], "score": 74 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fabric.json", "live": { "slug": "fabric", "probe": { "target": "https://api.fabric.inc/v3", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-14T09:41:50.740446708Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 255, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 259, "p95ms24h": 360, "samples24h": 17, "samples30d": 17, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 17, "ok": 17 } ] }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-14T09:41:50.740446708Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "HTTP API", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Commerce Layer", "b": "Commerce Fabric, Inc.", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://core.commercelayer.io/api/public/resources", "b": "https://api.fabric.inc/v3", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP, Streamable HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "OAuth", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Freemium", "b": "Paid", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "none", "b": "Proprietary SaaS under Fabric's Terms and Conditions (last updated 1 January 2026) and an order form", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "11", "b": "none", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-09-29", "b": "none", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "2026-05-01", "b": "2026-01-01", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "no date given", "b": "2021-01-14", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "not found in the text", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "7.3k npm/wk", "b": "none", "name": "Popularity" }, { "a": "3.5/5 (2)", "b": "none", "name": "Agent reviews" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "Commerce Layer API + MCP scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Fabric's 43.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Commerce Layer API + MCP or Fabric?" }, { "answer": "Both use an OAuth sign-in.", "question": "Do Commerce Layer API + MCP and Fabric need an API key?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Commerce Layer API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://core.commercelayer.io/api/public/resources and Fabric at https://api.fabric.inc/v3.", "question": "Can an agent call Commerce Layer API + MCP and Fabric without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 70 against 23", "Agent ergonomics, 64 against 57", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 25 against 0", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 82 against 15" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "Teams that want a hosted headless backend and an agent that can work across every commerce object with scoped OAuth roles.", "slug": "commerce-layer", "watchFor": "No price between the free plan and a sales-quoted Enterprise contract" }, { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "A merchant-side API for retailers already on Fabric's order management, catalogue or dropship products.", "slug": "fabric", "watchFor": "No public price, free tier or self-serve signup. A trial account is arranged with Fabric" } ], "job": { "capability": "commerce.products", "name": "Commerce catalogues" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-commerce-layer.json", "title": "Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs Commerce Layer API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-commerce-layer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-fabric.json", "title": "Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs Fabric", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-fabric" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentzon-vs-commerce-layer.json", "title": "Agentzon vs Commerce Layer API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentzon-vs-commerce-layer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentzon-vs-fabric.json", "title": "Agentzon vs Fabric", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentzon-vs-fabric" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigcommerce-vs-commerce-layer.json", "title": "BigCommerce API + MCP vs Commerce Layer API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigcommerce-vs-commerce-layer" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigcommerce-vs-fabric.json", "title": "BigCommerce API + MCP vs Fabric", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigcommerce-vs-fabric" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-commercetools.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs commercetools", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-commercetools" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-ecwid.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Ecwid by Lightspeed", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-ecwid" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-elastic-path.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Elastic Path API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-elastic-path" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-medusa.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Medusa API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-medusa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-saleor.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Saleor API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-saleor" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-shopify.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Shopify API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-shopify" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-shopware.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Shopware", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-shopware" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-snipcart.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Snipcart API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-snipcart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-spree-commerce.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Spree Commerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-spree-commerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-square.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Square", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-square" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-swell.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Swell", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-swell" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-vendure.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Vendure", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-vendure" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-wix.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Wix Stores and eCommerce API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-wix" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-woocommerce.json", "title": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs WooCommerce API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-woocommerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commercetools-vs-fabric.json", "title": "commercetools vs Fabric", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commercetools-vs-fabric" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-fabric.json", "title": "Ecwid by Lightspeed vs Fabric", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-fabric" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elastic-path-vs-fabric.json", "title": "Elastic Path API + MCP vs Fabric", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elastic-path-vs-fabric" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-medusa.json", "title": "Fabric vs Medusa API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-medusa" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-saleor.json", "title": "Fabric vs Saleor API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-saleor" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-shopify.json", "title": "Fabric vs Shopify API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-shopify" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-shopware.json", "title": "Fabric vs Shopware", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-shopware" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-snipcart.json", "title": "Fabric vs Snipcart API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-snipcart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-spree-commerce.json", "title": "Fabric vs Spree Commerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-spree-commerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-square.json", "title": "Fabric vs Square", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-square" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-swell.json", "title": "Fabric vs Swell", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-swell" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-vendure.json", "title": "Fabric vs Vendure", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-vendure" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-wix.json", "title": "Fabric vs Wix Stores and eCommerce API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-wix" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-woocommerce.json", "title": "Fabric vs WooCommerce API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-woocommerce" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 47, "commerce-layer": 70, "edge": "commerce-layer", "fabric": 23, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 0, "commerce-layer": 79, "edge": "", "fabric": 79, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "commerce-layer": 64, "edge": "commerce-layer", "fabric": 57, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "weight": 13 }, { "by": 2, "commerce-layer": 64, "edge": "commerce-layer", "fabric": 62, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "weight": 14 }, { "by": 25, "commerce-layer": 25, "edge": "commerce-layer", "fabric": 0, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 67, "commerce-layer": 82, "edge": "commerce-layer", "fabric": 15, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "weight": 7 }, { "by": 2, "commerce-layer": 57, "edge": "commerce-layer", "fabric": 55, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "Commerce Layer API + MCP scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Fabric's 43.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do commerce catalogues.", "verdicts": { "commerce-layer": "Public OpenAPI 3.0 file and llms.txt. No price between the free plan and a sales-quoted Enterprise contract.", "fabric": "Public OpenAPI files for about 980 operations, llms.txt, client credentials with role-limited system apps, and a published 99.9 per cent SLA. Access needs a sales contract, with no public price or self-serve trial. The commerce docs are labelled legacy, the newest release notes date from July 2025, and no status page was found." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric.md", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric.min.md" }, "markdown": "Commerce Layer API + MCP scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Fabric's 43.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do commerce catalogues.\n\n- Commerce Layer API + MCP: grade B, 63.7/100, rank #399 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/commerce-layer.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/commerce-layer.json\n- Fabric: grade E, 43.7/100, rank #949 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/fabric.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fabric.json\n- Best commerce platforms and checkout APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/commerce/index.md\n- All 171 commerce comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Commerce Layer API + MCP (B)\n\nGood for: Teams that want a hosted headless backend and an agent that can work across every commerce object with scoped OAuth roles.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 70 against 23\n- Agent ergonomics, 64 against 57\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 25 against 0\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 82 against 15\n\nWatch for: No price between the free plan and a sales-quoted Enterprise contract\n\n### Fabric (E)\n\nGood for: A merchant-side API for retailers already on Fabric's order management, catalogue or dropship products.\n\nWatch for: No public price, free tier or self-serve signup. A trial account is arranged with Fabric\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Commerce Layer API + MCP | Fabric | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 70 | 23 | Commerce Layer API + MCP +47 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 79 | even |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 64 | 57 | Commerce Layer API + MCP +7 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 64 | 62 | Commerce Layer API + MCP +2 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 25 | 0 | Commerce Layer API + MCP +25 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 15 | Commerce Layer API + MCP +67 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 57 | 55 | Commerce Layer API + MCP +2 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **63.7 · B** | **43.7 · E** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Commerce Layer API + MCP | Fabric |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |\n| Vendor | Commerce Layer | Commerce Fabric, Inc. |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://core.commercelayer.io/api/public/resources` | `https://api.fabric.inc/v3` |\n| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | OAuth | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | none | Proprietary SaaS under Fabric's Terms and Conditions (last updated 1 January 2026) and an order form |\n| Tools exposed | 11 | none |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-09-29 | none |\n| Terms last updated | 2026-05-01 | 2026-01-01 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2021-01-14 |\n| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |\n| Popularity | 7.3k npm/wk | none |\n| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Commerce Layer API + MCP.** Public OpenAPI 3.0 file and llms.txt. No price between the free plan and a sales-quoted Enterprise contract.\n\n**Fabric.** Public OpenAPI files for about 980 operations, llms.txt, client credentials with role-limited system apps, and a published 99.9 per cent SLA. Access needs a sales contract, with no public price or self-serve trial. The commerce docs are labelled legacy, the newest release notes date from July 2025, and no status page was found.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Commerce Layer API + MCP\n\n1. Call `get_resource_schema` before any write. Preflight rejects bad filter shapes before they reach the API\n2. Give the agent an integration credential tied to a narrow role rather than an admin role\n3. On a 429, wait out the sliding window. No Retry-After is sent, and the IP stays blocked while the rate stays high\n4. Place an order by PATCHing it with `_place: true` once line items, addresses, shipping and payment are set\n5. Move reads of `mode`, `organization_id` and `trace_id` to root-level meta before 5 October 2026\n\n### Fabric\n\n1. Get the tenant ID and a System App client ID and secret from the merchant's Copilot admin, with the narrowest role the task needs\n2. Request a new system token from {authURL}/v1/token every 10 minutes, since system apps receive no refresh token\n3. Send x-fabric-tenant-id on every call, and x-fabric-channel-id where the merchant sells in more than one channel\n4. Page order searches with offset and limit, because the default response returns 10 orders\n5. Read errorCode and context.endpoint in Orders and Inventory errors, and check for duplicates before retrying a write\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Commerce Layer API + MCP or Fabric?\n\nCommerce Layer API + MCP scores 63.7 (B) on agent readiness against Fabric's 43.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Do Commerce Layer API + MCP and Fabric need an API key?\n\nBoth use an OAuth sign-in.\n\n### Can an agent call Commerce Layer API + MCP and Fabric without installing anything?\n\nYes. Commerce Layer API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://core.commercelayer.io/api/public/resources and Fabric at https://api.fabric.inc/v3.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"commerce-layer\", \"b\": \"fabric\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare commerce-layer fabric`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/commerce-layer.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/fabric.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Commerce Layer API + MCP or Fabric\n\n- [Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs Commerce Layer API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-commerce-layer.md)\n- [Adobe Commerce (Magento) vs Fabric](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/adobe-commerce-vs-fabric.md)\n- [Agentzon vs Commerce Layer API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentzon-vs-commerce-layer.md)\n- [Agentzon vs Fabric](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agentzon-vs-fabric.md)\n- [BigCommerce API + MCP vs Commerce Layer API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigcommerce-vs-commerce-layer.md)\n- [BigCommerce API + MCP vs Fabric](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/bigcommerce-vs-fabric.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs commercetools](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-commercetools.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Ecwid by Lightspeed](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-ecwid.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Elastic Path API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-elastic-path.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Medusa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-medusa.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Saleor API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-saleor.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Shopify API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-shopify.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Shopware](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-shopware.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Snipcart API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-snipcart.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Spree Commerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-spree-commerce.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Square](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-square.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Swell](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-swell.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Vendure](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-vendure.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Wix Stores and eCommerce API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-wix.md)\n- [Commerce Layer API + MCP vs WooCommerce API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-woocommerce.md)\n- [commercetools vs Fabric](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commercetools-vs-fabric.md)\n- [Ecwid by Lightspeed vs Fabric](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ecwid-vs-fabric.md)\n- [Elastic Path API + MCP vs Fabric](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/elastic-path-vs-fabric.md)\n- [Fabric vs Medusa API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-medusa.md)\n- [Fabric vs Saleor API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-saleor.md)\n- [Fabric vs Shopify API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-shopify.md)\n- [Fabric vs Shopware](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-shopware.md)\n- [Fabric vs Snipcart API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-snipcart.md)\n- [Fabric vs Spree Commerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-spree-commerce.md)\n- [Fabric vs Square](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-square.md)\n- [Fabric vs Swell](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-swell.md)\n- [Fabric vs Vendure](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-vendure.md)\n- [Fabric vs Wix Stores and eCommerce API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-wix.md)\n- [Fabric vs WooCommerce API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fabric-vs-woocommerce.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-14", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.4", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Fabric", "url": "" } ], "description": "Commerce Layer scores 63.7 (B) to Fabric's 43.7 (E) for commerce catalogues. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Commerce Layer API + MCP B 63.7", "Fabric E 43.7", "scores" ], "h1": "Commerce Layer API + MCP vs Fabric", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-commerce-layer-vs-fabric.png", "path": "/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Commerce Layer vs Fabric for AI agents in 2026: scores and prices", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-14", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/commerce-layer-vs-fabric" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2650, "slim": 580 }, "version": 1 }