# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-zeal
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-zeal.md (~2,150 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-zeal.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/everee-vs-zeal.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: 2026-10-08

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.

- Everee: grade C, 55.1/100, rank #519 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/everee.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/everee.json
- Zeal: grade E, 45.4/100, rank #658 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeal.json

## 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 | Everee | Zeal | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 87 | 42 | Everee +45 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 68 | Zeal +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 56 | 63 | Zeal +7 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 34 | Everee +9 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 0 | Everee +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 46 | 61 | Zeal +15 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 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

1. Send two headers on every call, `authorization: basic <token>` and `x-everee-tenant-id`. Base64-encode a token that starts with `sk_` first.
2. Derive each payable's `externalId` from stable data, never a timestamp or UUID, so a retried create is rejected instead of paying twice.
3. For contractors, call POST `/integration/v1/payables/payment-request` after all payable items are sent and before admins approve. Without it contractors aren't paid.
4. Send hourly wages through the Timesheets API, not Payables, and assign `workLocationId` so tax is worked out for the right jurisdiction.
5. 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

1. Use the Test API key until a person has approved live payroll. Error code 0 (403) means the account has no production access
2. Send `companyID` on almost every call and `partnerID` on partner-level calls, in the body for POST and PATCH and the query for GET
3. Create cheques with `approval_required: true`, run POST /preview/checks, then PATCH /employeeCheck with `approved: true`. Without the flag Zeal processes pending cheques automatically
4. Send `x-idempotency-key` on every create so a retry within 24 hours doesn't pay twice
5. Previews and reports are jobs. Keep the `job_id` and poll GET /preview or GET /reports, or wait for the Job Queue webhook
6. 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.


## For agents

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

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