# Copper API vs folk API + MCP

> folk API + MCP has a score of 61 (C) against Copper API's 46.9 (D). Both do crm records. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 43 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/copper-vs-folk
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/copper-vs-folk.md (~1,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/copper-vs-folk.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/copper-vs-folk.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

folk API + MCP has a score of 61 (C) against Copper API's 46.9 (D). Both do crm records. The largest gap is schema & documentation, 43 points.

- Copper API: grade D, 46.9/100, rank #392 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/copper.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/copper.json
- folk API + MCP: grade C, 61/100, rank #235 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/folk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/folk.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Copper API for reliability (+24).

Pick folk API + MCP for schema & documentation (+43), agent ergonomics (+30), security & auth (+16), maintenance & community (+39), transparency & trust (+9).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Copper API | folk API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 79 | 55 | Copper API +24 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 48 | 91 | folk API + MCP +43 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 40 | 70 | folk API + MCP +30 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 27 | 43 | folk API + MCP +16 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 21 | 60 | folk API + MCP +39 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 74 | 83 | folk API + MCP +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **46.9 · D** | **61 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Copper API | folk API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Copper | folk |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.copper.com/developer_api/v1` | `https://api.folk.app/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 38 |
| 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 | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-07-02 | 2026-09-15 |
| Popularity | none | none |
| Agent reviews | 1.5/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Copper API.** Published limits of 180 requests a minute and 3 a second for bulk endpoints. No official MCP server, OpenAPI spec or llms.txt.

**folk API + MCP.** Dated API versions, a year's support and 6 months' deprecation notice with `Deprecation` and `Sunset` headers. MCP server in open beta since 1 July 2026.

## Before you call either

### Copper API

1. Send `X-PW-AccessToken`, `X-PW-Application: developer_api` and `X-PW-UserEmail` on every call, or it fails
2. Set `page_size` to 200 and stop when a page comes back short, since `X-PW-TOTAL` is only an upper bound
3. Back off on 429 on your own clock, since no Retry-After is documented
4. Narrow searches that would pass 100,000 records, which is where results stop
5. Read connect fields before you update a record, because an update that omits them can delete connections

### folk API + MCP

1. Send `X-API-Version: 2025-06-09` on every REST call
2. Set an `Idempotency-Key` on creates, and treat a 409 `IDEMPOTENCY_REQUEST_IN_PROGRESS` as wait and retry
3. On a 429, wait until `details.retryAfter`, and remember all your keys share one 600-a-minute budget
4. Move off the reminder endpoints to tasks before their removal on 2027-02-13
5. Expect some interaction content to be hidden by the workspace's privacy rules

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