Head to head · Payroll run · October 2026 research run
Everee vs Zeal
Everee scores 55.1 (C) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community. Both do payroll run.
Which one, for what
Everee C
Good for A staffing, delivery or vertical software platform, or a single employer, that pushes hours and flat payments for W-2 and 1099 workers and lets admins approve in Everee's portal.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 87 against 42
- Security & auth, 43 against 34
- Payments & pricing, 10 against 0
- Transparency & trust, 56 against 51
Watch for
No preview or approval endpoint was found. Payments are approved by a payroll admin in the Everee portal, or automatically if Everee sets that up.
Zeal E
Good for A US staffing platform, marketplace or workforce product that will sign a partnership and run payroll for many employers under its own brand, including daily and on-demand pay.
Ahead on
- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 56
- Maintenance & community, 61 against 46
Watch for
No self-serve signup. Zeal's team creates the partner account after a demo request, and no price is published
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | Everee | Zeal | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 87 | 42 | Everee +45 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 67 | 68 | Zeal +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 56 | 63 | Zeal +7 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 43 | 34 | Everee +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 10 | 0 | Everee +10 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 46 | 61 | Zeal +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 56 | 51 | Everee +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | 55.1 · C | 45.4 · E |
Facts side by side
| Fact | Everee | Zeal |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Everee, Inc. | Puzzl Group Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.everee.com | https://api.zeal.com |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Everee's Terms and Conditions and Payroll & Payment Service Terms. No open-source client or SDK was found | Proprietary service. The npm SDK declares MIT. The SDK repositories on GitHub carry no licence file |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-10-06 | 2026-07-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-06-18 | 2026-01-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-01-03 | 2026-01-16 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 8 npm/wk |
Verdicts
Everee
Everee's API tokens are created in the admin portal of each company instance, and payments wait for a payroll admin's approval unless auto-approval is arranged. The API has no preview or approval endpoint, no single OpenAPI file, no SDK and no changelog, and a company instance starts with a sales call.
Zeal
Graded on the partner REST API at api.zeal.com, which is the only access route. Three OpenAPI specs, llms.txt, a test environment that moves no money, a preview endpoint and a per-cheque approval flag are documented. Access starts with a demo request, prices are not published, each environment has one unscoped key, and no status page or working changelog was found.
Before you call either
Everee
- Send two headers on every call,
authorization: basic <token>andx-everee-tenant-id. Base64-encode a token that starts withsk_first. - Derive each payable's
externalIdfrom stable data, never a timestamp or UUID, so a retried create is rejected instead of paying twice. - For contractors, call POST
/integration/v1/payables/payment-requestafter all payable items are sent and before admins approve. Without it contractors aren't paid. - Send hourly wages through the Timesheets API, not Payables, and assign
workLocationIdso tax is worked out for the right jurisdiction. - Don't expect the API to move money alone. Tell the user a payroll admin must approve in the portal unless auto-approval is enabled, and read Everee's terms on automated access first.
Zeal
- Use the Test API key until a person has approved live payroll. Error code 0 (403) means the account has no production access
- Send
companyIDon almost every call andpartnerIDon partner-level calls, in the body for POST and PATCH and the query for GET - Create cheques with
approval_required: true, run POST /preview/checks, then PATCH /employeeCheck withapproved: true. Without the flag Zeal processes pending cheques automatically - Send
x-idempotency-keyon every create so a retry within 24 hours doesn't pay twice - Previews and reports are jobs. Keep the
job_idand poll GET /preview or GET /reports, or wait for the Job Queue webhook - Check dates must be bank days and submitted before 2 PM Pacific two bank days ahead, or the call fails with code 89
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, Everee or Zeal?
Everee scores 55.1 (C) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community.
Do Everee and Zeal need an API key?
Both need an API key.
Can an agent call Everee and Zeal without installing anything?
Yes. Everee has a hosted endpoint at https://api.everee.com and Zeal at https://api.zeal.com.
Other comparisons with Everee or Zeal
Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/everee-vs-zeal.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/everee.json·/api/v1/tools/zeal.json - From a terminal
anchor compare everee zeal(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "everee", "b": "zeal"}at/mcp, no key