Head to head · CRM records · October 2026 research run
folk API + MCP vs Relaticle
Relaticle scores 59.6 (C) on agent readiness against folk API + MCP's 58.2 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. folk API + MCP leads on reliability, schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust. Both do crm records.
Best CRM and customer-platform tools for AI agents · All 190 crm comparisons
Which one, for what
Best for Small teams running a relationship CRM (founders, agencies, investors) who want an agent to keep contacts, notes and follow-ups current.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 55 against 40
- Schema & documentation, 91 against 86
- Agent ergonomics, 70 against 59
- Transparency & trust, 82 against 73
Watch for
Object create now fails outright when linking its people or companies fails, changed on 6 October 2026 inside API version 2025-06-09 and announced the same day
Best for Small teams who want an open-source CRM they can self-host and let an agent write to.
Ahead on
- Security & auth, 57 against 45
- Maintenance & community, 90 against 60
Also in its favour
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where folk API + MCP loses 3 points for them
Watch for
Writes over MCP apply immediately, and OAuth's single mcp:use scope authorises every tool
Why the edge
Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.
Maintenance & community Relaticle +30
folk API + MCP 60
Newest changelog entry on 25 October 2026 (task webhook events, reminder events deprecated) (30). 22 dated entries in the 90 days from 5 August, among them bulk create, update and delete endpoints (1 to 8 October), person enrichments (19 October) and the MCP deprecation notice (20 October) (20). Public changelog and support. We didn't test support (10 of 15). Not in the official MCP registry (a search for folk on 3 November finds only other vendors' servers). No official SDK (0). No packages to judge (0). 30 + 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 60.
Relaticle 90
v3.8.2 tagged on 5 November 2026 and commits on 6 November (30). Thirteen tags between 9 October and 5 November alone (20). More than 2,500 commits since 1 August and merged pull requests numbered past 1,100; the GitHub API did not answer, so open issues and reply times were not counted (15 of 25). Verified com.relaticle/crm namespace in the official MCP registry with the hosted remote (15). CI, tests, security-audit and Dependabot workflows, PHP 8.5 and Laravel 13 (10). 30 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 10 = 90.
Reliability folk API + MCP +15
folk API + MCP 55
Status page at status.folk.app runs on UptimeRobot. Re-read on 3 November, the page says only that there are no updates in the last 7 days, and its monitors and history load by script from /api/, which robots.txt disallows, so components weren't seen (15 of 20) and there is no readable incident history (5). Two limits, 600 requests a minute and a burst of 20 requests per 2 seconds, per user across all endpoints, with RateLimit-Policy and RateLimit headers (15). 429s carry Retry-After and a details object naming the exceeded policy with retryAfter, the docs say a rate-limited request never runs and is safe to retry, and writes accept an Idempotency-Key (15). No SLA found (0). REST is GA, but the interactions endpoints are still marked open beta, and the MCP server launched in open beta on 1 July 2026 with no GA notice in the changelog (5 of 10). 15 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 5 = 55.
Relaticle 40
Graded with the hosted lines on Relaticle Cloud's REST API and MCP server, the surface an outside agent calls; the software also self-hosts. No status page is linked and status.relaticle.com did not connect (0). With no readable history the incident line scores 5. Limits have numbers: 600 a minute per workspace and 300 reads or 60 writes a minute per token in the source, and 120 MCP calls a minute per user in the docs (15). 429 is in the OpenAPI responses and upserts by unique field give a safe retry for creates, but the backoff guidance sits on a docs section we read only as a heading (10 of 15). No SLA (0). Version 3.8, not labelled beta (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 40.
Security & auth Relaticle +12
folk API + MCP 45
REST keys are workspace Bearer keys with no scopes, and the authentication page, re-read on 3 November, says nothing on rotation or expiry. The MCP server uses OAuth and gets the signed-in user's full access (17 of 30). No read-only mode. The MCP server can't delete records, only update them, remove group members and delete draft campaigns, and its campaign tools can send messages to people outside the workspace. The docs urge human confirmation of each step (10 of 20). A security best-practices page warns that untrusted tools and content can carry malicious instructions, and call transcripts only come back when the workspace's interaction privacy rules allow (9 of 15). No audit log found. Errors carry a requestId (2 of 15). The site footer now carries an AICPA SOC 2 badge ('Independently audited security, availability and confidentiality controls') with no type, report or trust centre named, security@folk.app is the contact in the privacy policy, security.txt answered 404 on 3 November and no bug bounty was found. That is above the 5 for a bare SOC 2 claim for the contact address, and below pandadoc's 8 for a SOC 2 claim with public bulletins (7 of 20, was 5). 17 + 10 + 9 + 2 + 7 = 45.
Relaticle 57
Personal access tokens are bound to one workspace, take an expiry and per-method permissions (read, create, update, delete, plus read, draft and send email), and travel in headers. OAuth 2.1 through Passport is also offered, but the source says its single mcp:use scope authorises the whole toolset (25 of 30). A read-only token is possible; the docs say MCP writes apply immediately and leave confirmation to the client (10 of 20). Synced email reaches the model through the email tools, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0). Each record has an activity log of field changes and who made them, and admins see it across the workspace (12 of 15). security.txt valid to May 2027, a disclosure address with a 48-hour acknowledgement target and security-audit workflows in CI; the security page says there is no SOC 2 or ISO 27001 (10 of 20). 25 + 10 + 0 + 12 + 10 = 57.
Agent ergonomics folk API + MCP +11
folk API + MCP 70
60 MCP tools on the tools page on 3 November (six of them deprecated), with no toolsets or read-only subset (5). REST lists take a limit (3 more, 8 of 25). Paginated lists, people and company filters, notes search with date filters, and batch endpoints for up to 100 records (18 of 20). Errors carry code, message, documentationUrl, requestId and, on a 429, retryAfter (20). Idempotency-Key on writes, the MCP docs mark each tool read-only, destructive or idempotent, and no MCP tool deletes a person, company or object (only draft campaigns can be deleted) (18 of 20). Every call needs X-API-Version, and there's no official SDK (6 of 15). 8 + 18 + 20 + 18 + 6 = 70.
Relaticle 59
50 MCP tools, six schema resources and a prompt, with no toolsets or read-only subset (5). Filters combine native fields, custom fields and linked records with $and, $or and $not, plus sort, include, per_page (MCP maximum 25) and cursors (20). Errors come back as HTTP codes and inline MCP error responses such as Invalid ability provided.; no error catalogue was read (12 of 20). Base tool classes set readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint and openWorldHint, and upserts by unique field make creates safe to retry (17 of 20). One URL with OAuth or a token; no official SDK (5 of 15). 5 + 20 + 12 + 17 + 5 = 59.
Transparency & trust folk API + MCP +9
folk API + MCP 82
Closed service. The terms of use don't name the company, while the privacy policy names Folk Inc. of Delaware, per the 1 October check (12 of 15). Privacy policy now effective 5 October 2026, re-read on 3 November, with the same retention periods (7 days from databases after deletion, 730 days from backups, 930 days from logs), call audio not kept once transcribed, and a promise not to train AI models on personal data. The 24-processor table rests on the 1 October count (28 of 30). Written deprecation policy with a year's support and 6 months' notice, now covering MCP tools too, with dated removals on 13 February 2027 (reminder endpoints and events), 29 March 2027 (past and upcoming interaction lists) and 16 April 2027 (single-record MCP tools) (20). Processors listed with regions, and hosting on AWS in Ireland (20).
Relaticle 73
AGPL-3.0 source with an integration exception, and terms for the Cloud service (30). The privacy policy (4 November 2026) gives retention for server logs (90 days), contact forms (12 months) and paused trial workspaces (deleted after 60 days with notice), and names provider categories; no DPA was found (20 of 30). No deprecation policy or dated notices found (5 of 20). The security page lists each Cloud provider and what it receives, with hosting at Hetzner in Germany, and website analytics through Fathom without CRM content (17 of 20). 30 + 20 + 5 + 17 = 72.
Schema & documentation folk API + MCP +5
folk API + MCP 91
OpenAPI 3.1 spec per dated API version, 2025-06-09, with 57 paths and 94 operations on 3 November (25). llms.txt with 121 links and Markdown pages (10). Each MCP tool has a purpose, when-to-call guidance and badges for read-only, destructive and idempotent. We read the docs page, not the server's own tools/list (13 of 20). Typed inputs in the spec (13 of 15). Error table with codes, examples and a documentationUrl on every error, per the 1 October check (15). Dated versions in X-API-Version, endpoints kept at least a year, 6 months' notice with Deprecation and Sunset headers, the same policy now applied to MCP tools, and a public changelog (15). 25 + 10 + 13 + 13 + 15 + 15 = 91.
Relaticle 86
OpenAPI 3.1 at /openapi.json and /openapi.yaml with 34 operations (25). llms.txt with a when-to-use and when-not section, and developer pages (10). The llms.txt and MCP docs say what the API is for and what it doesn't do (no email over REST, no meetings), while only 5 of 34 operations carry a description (14 of 20). 114 required lists and typed MCP inputs, but few enums (11 of 15). 661 examples and responses for 401, 402, 403, 404, 409, 422 and 429 (14 of 15). /v1 and frequent tagged releases, with no changelog page (relaticle.com/changelog is 404) (12 of 15). 25 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 14 + 12 = 86.
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | folk API + MCP | Relaticle | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 55 | 40 | folk API + MCP +15 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 91 | 86 | folk API + MCP +5 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 70 | 59 | folk API + MCP +11 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 45 | 57 | Relaticle +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 30 | 30 | even |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 60 | 90 | Relaticle +30 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 82 | 73 | folk API + MCP +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| Total | C 58.2/100 | C 59.6/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | folk API + MCP | Relaticle |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | folk | Relaticle, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | https://api.folk.app/v1 | https://mcp.relaticle.com |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | AGPL-3.0 |
| Tools exposed | 60 | 50 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | com.relaticle/crm |
| Last release | 2026-10-25 | 2026-11-05 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-08-26 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-11-04 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | 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 | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 1.8k stars |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |
How the scores have moved
Relaticle
No score change since it was listed.
Verdicts
folk API + MCP
Dated API versions with a year's support and 6 months' deprecation notice, now applied to MCP tools too, plus Idempotency-Key and safe-retry guidance on writes. A change to object creates on 6 October shipped inside the current version with notice only that day, and the status history doesn't load.
Relaticle
Relaticle is an actively released AGPL CRM whose REST API and MCP server have an OpenAPI spec, annotated tools, workspace-bound tokens with per-method permissions and a free self-hosted route. MCP writes apply at once with no server-side confirmation, OAuth grants the whole toolset, and Cloud has no status page, SLA or certification.
Before you call either
folk API + MCP
- Send
X-API-Version: 2025-06-09on every REST call - Set an
Idempotency-Keyon creates, and treat a 409IDEMPOTENCY_REQUEST_IN_PROGRESSas wait and retry - On a 429, wait for
Retry-After, and keep under 10 requests a second, since all your keys share 600 a minute and 20 per 2 seconds - Move off reminder endpoints and events to tasks before 2027-02-13, and off single-record MCP tools to the bulk tools before 2027-04-16
- Check each record's
statusin batch and bulk MCP results, since one failed record doesn't fail the call
Relaticle
- Use a personal access token with only the read permission unless the task writes, since OAuth grants every tool
- Ask the user before create, update, delete or send tools; the server applies them at once
- Call
get-crm-schema-toolfor an entity before filtering on custom fields, which differ by workspace - Use
POST /v1/people/upsertor/v1/companies/upsertwith a unique field to avoid duplicates on retry - Keep MCP calls under 120 a minute per user and REST writes under 60 a minute per token on Cloud Pro
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, folk API + MCP or Relaticle?
Relaticle scores 59.6 (C) on agent readiness against folk API + MCP's 58.2 (C), and leads in 2 of 7 scored categories. folk API + MCP leads on reliability, schema & documentation, agent ergonomics and transparency & trust.
Do folk API + MCP and Relaticle need an API key?
Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.
Can an agent call folk API + MCP and Relaticle without installing anything?
Yes. folk API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.folk.app/v1 and Relaticle at https://mcp.relaticle.com.
Are folk API + MCP and Relaticle open source?
No open-source release is listed for folk API + MCP. Relaticle is open source (AGPL-3.0).
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/folk-vs-relaticle.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/folk.json·/api/v1/tools/relaticle.json - From a terminal
anchor compare folk relaticle(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "folk", "b": "relaticle"}at/mcp, no key