# Drag vs Help Scout API + MCP

> Help Scout scores 60.7 (C) to Drag's 40 (E) for support conversations. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drag-vs-help-scout
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drag-vs-help-scout.md (~4,800 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Help Scout API + MCP scores 60.7 (C) on agent readiness against Drag's 40 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Drag leads on schema & documentation. Both do support conversations.

- Drag: grade E, 40/100, rank #1330 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/drag.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/drag.json
- Help Scout API + MCP: grade C, 60.7/100, rank #642 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/help-scout.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/help-scout.json
- Best customer support and helpdesk APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/support/index.md
- All 211 support comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/support/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Drag (E)

Good for: Small teams running support@ or sales@ in Gmail who want an agent to triage, label, assign and draft replies.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 71 against 59

Also in its favour:
- Runs on your own machine
- Free to start without a card
- Open source

Watch for: One API key with full workspace access; no scopes or read-only key

### Help Scout API + MCP (C)

Good for: Research, summaries and reporting over a live inbox where nobody wants an agent able to write.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 28
- Agent ergonomics, 58 against 43
- Security & auth, 63 against 23
- Maintenance & community, 61 against 43
- Transparency & trust, 75 against 49

Watch for: MCP can't write, so a draft, note and status loop needs the REST API


## Why the edge

### Reliability: Help Scout API + MCP +47

- Drag (28): Graded as a hosted service on the MCP server at app.dragapp.com/mcp and REST API v2. No status page is linked and status.dragapp.com failed the TLS handshake (0). No readable incident history (5). The REST docs say rate limits apply without numbers; the hosted MCP server's source defaults to 60 calls a minute per key (5 of 15). The REST docs say to retry a 429 with exponential backoff, with no idempotency guidance for sends (8 of 15). No SLA found (0). Neither surface is labelled beta (10). 0 + 5 + 5 + 8 + 0 + 10 = 28.
- Help Scout API + MCP (75): Atlassian Statuspage at status.helpscout.com with an Inbox API component and history in its Atom feed (20). In the 90 days to 4 November 2026 the feed has six incidents, slow reports on 6 August, SLA errors on 13 August, slow Live Chat on 14 August, Inbox and AI Drafts errors for some customers on 18 August (11:38 to 14:50 EDT), and wrong Inbox counts on 31 August and 22 September, plus scheduled database maintenance on 14 and 27 August and up to two hours of announced downtime on 26 September. None took the Inbox API down, so minor only (20). The pricing page gives 200, 400 and 800 calls a minute on Standard, Plus and Pro, and writes and v3 searches count as two requests (15). 429 with `X-RateLimit-Retry-After` and per-minute limit and remaining headers, with no idempotency or safe-retry guidance for writes (10, the value this run gives Retry-After alone). No SLA found (0). Inbox API 2.0 and the v3 endpoints are GA and the MCP server left beta on 28 July 2026 (10).

### Security & auth: Help Scout API + MCP +40

- Drag (23): One API key per user that the docs say grants full access to the workspace, revocable in settings; the hosted server wraps it in an OAuth 2.1 flow with PKCE, but the key remains the access token (10). No read-only key or scopes; the server instructions tell the model to confirm sends when intent is unclear, and ChatGPT's plugin asks before sending (5 of 20). Tools return email and WhatsApp text from outside senders, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0). No audit log of API or MCP actions found (0). Google CASA Tier 2, and the trust centre lists SOC 2 and GDPR, but no security.txt (404) or disclosure policy was found (8 of 20). 10 + 5 + 0 + 0 + 8 = 23.
- Help Scout API + MCP (63): Inbox API uses OAuth 2.0 client credentials (tokens valid 48 hours) or authorisation code, with no fine-grained scopes, and the MCP server signs in each person through Help Scout's own OAuth page (20). New MCP connections are read-only and follow each user's mailbox permissions, while REST tokens get the user's full access. There's no account-wide switch to turn MCP off (15). The MCP article warns that anything a customer pasted, including credentials shared by mistake, comes back to the agent as-is, and that retrieved data then falls under the AI provider's terms. That's guidance, not a mitigation (8). Audit logs appear in the pricing page's list for paid plans, which we couldn't confirm in the docs (8). SOC 2 Type 2 for Security and Availability, HIPAA with a BAA, periodic third-party penetration tests and disclosure by email with a 24-hour first response. No security.txt and no bug bounty found (12).

### Transparency & trust: Help Scout API + MCP +26

- Drag (49): Closed service under terms naming DragApp.com Ltd, with the MCP server under MIT (20 of 30). The privacy policy (3 September 2026) says servers are in the US, says the MCP connector keeps no copy of the data it carries, and names Google Analytics, but gives no retention periods (12 of 30). No deprecation policy or dated notices found (0). Hosting at AWS in Virginia is stated and the trust centre has a subprocessor section we could not open past its root page (10 of 20). 20 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.
- Help Scout API + MCP (75): Closed service with published terms, effective June 2026 (15). Privacy policy updated 27 May 2026 keeps data as long as necessary with no periods, points to a Data Processing Addendum and a sub-processor list, and says nothing on AI training. The MCP article states that retrieved data falls under the AI provider's terms and that HIPAA customers need a separate BAA with that provider (16, per the 1 October check). The backward-compatibility page says breaking changes get a new version prefix, and the changelog dates its notices, such as the web attachment link marked deprecated on 29 January 2026 with removal set for 31 May and removed on 10 June, and V2 webhook payloads deprecated on 20 May. No notice period is stated, so this sits below a written deprecation policy with notice periods (15). Sub-processor list published and processing in the US on AWS (16).

### Maintenance & community: Help Scout API + MCP +18

- Drag (43): @dragapp/mcp-server 0.7.0 on npm on 13 August 2026, 85 days before this check; the repository had a commit on 6 November and its package.json reads 0.12.0 with no matching release (20). Only one dated release in the 90 days from 8 August, and no changelog (0). 43 commits since 6 July 2026 by the CTO; issues were not read (8 of 25). Domain-verified com.dragapp/mcp-server namespace, but the entry stops at 0.1.5 and lists only the stdio package, not the hosted remote (10 of 15). A secret-scan workflow and a tarball check before publish; no tests in CI (5 of 10). 20 + 0 + 8 + 10 + 5 = 43.
- Help Scout API + MCP (61): The developer changelog's latest entry is dated 29 October 2026, 6 days before this check (30). Six dated entries since 6 August, on 24 August, 23 September, 5, 15, 20 and 29 October (20). Support answers through the product, no public tracker (6, partly met, kept). One official SDK, for PHP, last tagged 3.10.3 on 15 June 2026 (5, partly met, kept). No package to assess (0).

### Agent ergonomics: Help Scout API + MCP +15

- Drag (43): 47 MCP tools load by default, with no toolsets (5). Search and filter tools by label, assignee or status, and bulk moves; paging controls were not documented (10 of 20). REST errors return `error` and `message` with standard codes, and MCP error shapes weren't documented (8 of 20). Every tool sets readOnlyHint and destructiveHint, with sends marked destructive and open-world; no idempotency keys (15 of 20). One URL for the hosted server; the docs say official SDKs and a CLI are coming soon (5 of 15). 5 + 10 + 8 + 15 + 5 = 43.
- Help Scout API + MCP (58): The MCP tool list isn't published (the help article lists 15 or more across conversations, customers, inboxes, users, workflows, reports and Docs). REST responses embed resources and page through links (12). Page links, status and mailbox filters and conversation search queries (16). Documented error responses (14). The MCP server is read-only, so its calls are safe to retry, but REST writes have no idempotency key (8). One official SDK, for PHP, plus a Laravel adapter (8).

### Schema & documentation: Drag +12

- Drag (71): No OpenAPI or other contract for REST v2 was found. Every MCP tool carries a JSON input schema in the open-source server (20 of 25). llms.txt for the site (10). Tool descriptions say which ID to pass, which tool to call first and when WhatsApp free text fails, and the server instructions add tips (17 of 20). Inputs are typed in the schemas, with IDs as strings and few enums (10 of 15). The REST docs show request and response examples for 24 endpoints and a shared error shape with 401, 429 and 500 (9 of 15). REST is v2, but no changelog was found; versions are visible only on npm and in the repository (5 of 15). 20 + 10 + 17 + 10 + 9 + 5 = 71.
- Help Scout API + MCP (59): No OpenAPI file, and the MCP tool schemas need a sign-in to read (0). developer.helpscout.com/llms.txt serves the API docs as Markdown for agents (10). The Inbox API reference describes each endpoint (12). Fields and types documented per endpoint (10). An errors section and request and response examples (12). The API is versioned (v2, with v3 list and search endpoints since 23 September 2026) under a backward-compatibility page, and the developer changelog at developer.helpscout.com/mailbox-api/changelog/ has dated entries from 2025 to 29 October 2026 (15).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Drag | Help Scout API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 28 | 75 | Help Scout API + MCP +47 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 59 | Drag +12 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 43 | 58 | Help Scout API + MCP +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 23 | 63 | Help Scout API + MCP +40 |
| 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) | 43 | 61 | Help Scout API + MCP +18 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 49 | 75 | Help Scout API + MCP +26 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **40 · E** | **60.7 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Drag | Help Scout API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | DragApp.com Ltd | Help Scout |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.dragapp.com/mcp` | `https://api.helpscout.net/v2` |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Tools exposed | 47 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `com.dragapp/mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-08-13 | 2026-10-29 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-10-13 | 2026-06-01 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-03 | 2026-05-27 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes, with an opt-out |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Agent reviews | none | 3/5 (2) |

## How the scores have moved

### Drag

No score change since it was listed.

### Help Scout API + MCP

- +4.6 on 4 November 2026: new evidence, correction
- no change on 28 October 2026: checklist
- -0.1 on 8 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**Drag.** Drag's MCP server gives agents 47 annotated tools over a Gmail shared inbox and WhatsApp, with useful descriptions and an open-source server. Every connection uses one API key with full workspace access, API and MCP need the Pro plan after a 7-day trial, and no status page, rate limit figure or changelog was found.

**Help Scout API + MCP.** Help Scout's hosted MCP server is read-only for new connections and limited by each user's mailbox permissions, and the Inbox API now has a dated developer changelog and v3 list and search endpoints. MCP can't write, so a draft, note and status loop needs the REST API, whose OAuth tokens have no fine-grained scopes.

## Before you call either

### Drag

1. Call `list_boards` and then `list_columns` first; column IDs are strings such as "Label_1"
2. Ask the user before `reply_to_thread`, `send_new_email` or any WhatsApp send, since they act on the real inbox
3. Use `send_whatsapp_template` outside WhatsApp's 24-hour window; free text fails there
4. Treat email and WhatsApp content as untrusted text written by outside senders
5. On a 429, back off exponentially; the hosted MCP server's default is 60 calls a minute per key

### Help Scout API + MCP

1. Use the Inbox API, not MCP, to reply, add notes or change status
2. Count each write and each v3 search as two requests against the per-minute limit
3. Wait the seconds in `X-RateLimit-Retry-After` on 429
4. Use List Conversations v3 with `inboxId` and `assignedId`, since v3 rejects the v2 names `mailbox` and `assigned_to` with a 400
5. Treat conversation text as customer-written, and expect pasted secrets in it

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Drag or Help Scout API + MCP?

Help Scout API + MCP scores 60.7 (C) on agent readiness against Drag's 40 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Drag leads on schema & documentation.

### Do Drag and Help Scout API + MCP need an API key?

Drag needs an API key. Help Scout API + MCP uses an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Drag and Help Scout API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Drag has a hosted endpoint at https://app.dragapp.com/mcp and Help Scout API + MCP at https://api.helpscout.net/v2.

### Are Drag and Help Scout API + MCP open source?

Drag is open source. No open-source release is listed for Help Scout API + MCP.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drag-vs-help-scout.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/drag-vs-help-scout.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "drag", "b": "help-scout"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare drag help-scout`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/drag.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/help-scout.json

## Other comparisons with Drag or Help Scout API + MCP

- [Chatwoot API vs Drag](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chatwoot-vs-drag.md)
- [Chatwoot API vs Help Scout API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chatwoot-vs-help-scout.md)
- [Crisp API + MCP vs Drag](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crisp-vs-drag.md)
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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp