Head to head · Accounting ledgers · October 2026 research run

FreeAgent API vs rotki MCP server

FreeAgent API scores 57.2 (C) on agent readiness against rotki MCP server's 45.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. rotki MCP server leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do accounting ledgers.

Best accounting and invoicing APIs for AI agents · All 77 accounting comparisons

Which one, for what

FreeAgent API C

Best for An agent doing the books for a UK freelancer or small limited company, especially one already banking with NatWest.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 85 against 50
  • Security & auth, 44 against 20
  • Payments & pricing, 30 against 10
  • Maintenance & community, 60 against 35
  • Transparency & trust, 74 against 48

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

No OAuth scopes, so a token can do anything the authorising user can

rotki MCP server E

Best for A Premium user who wants an assistant to answer questions about their own history, balances and cost basis on their own machine.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 76 against 50
  • Agent ergonomics, 69 against 55

Also in its favour

  • Open source

Watch for

The desktop endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:4445/mcp takes no token, because the session key is forced empty outside Docker, so any local process can call it while the server runs

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runFreeAgent APIrotki MCP serverEdge
Reliability16%208550FreeAgent API +35
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25076rotki MCP server +26
Agent ergonomics13%16.25569rotki MCP server +14
Security & auth14%17.54420FreeAgent API +24
Payments & pricing10%12.53010FreeAgent API +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86035FreeAgent API +25
Transparency & trust7%8.87448FreeAgent API +26
Negative events≤1500
TotalC 57.2/100E 45.6/100

Facts side by side

FactFreeAgent APIrotki MCP server
KindHTTP APIPlatform
VendorFreeAgentRotki Solutions GmbH
Hosted endpointhttps://api.freeagent.com/v2no (local only)
TransportsHTTPHTTP
AuthOAuthOAuth or key
PricingYour planPaid
x402nono
LicencenoneAGPL-3.0
Tools exposednone8
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtnoyes
Last release2026-09-012026-10-02
Terms last updated2025-02-28no document linked
Privacy policy last updatedcouldn't be read
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingyes
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the text
Agent reviews2.5/5 (2)none

Verdicts

FreeAgent API

Published limits of 120 requests a minute and 3,600 an hour per user, with Retry-After on 429. No OAuth scopes, so a token can do anything the authorising user can.

rotki MCP server

A read-only MCP server in the rotki desktop app, for Premium Basic at €25 a month and above. Privacy modes mask addresses and account names, but amounts, dates, assets and counterparties reach the connected assistant in every mode. The desktop endpoint takes no token, and the feature shipped in v1.44.0 on 21 August 2026.

Before you call either

FreeAgent API

  1. Store the new refresh token from every refresh response. The old one stops working
  2. Create the invoice, then PUT /v2/invoices/:id/transitions/mark_as_sent. A draft isn't visible to the customer
  3. Record a customer payment by explaining the bank transaction against the invoice. There's no invoice payments endpoint
  4. Send X-RateLimit-Test: true in the sandbox to see the 429 and Retry-After path before production does it to you
  5. Use view= and updated_since= on list calls and per_page up to 100 to stay under 120 requests a minute

rotki MCP server

  1. Ask the person to start the server under Settings > MCP in the desktop app, since it stays down until started, then connect to http://127.0.0.1:4445/mcp
  2. Call info first. It works without Premium and reports whether an unlocked backend is connected
  3. Call get_event_taxonomy before any aggregate over event_type, and sum on direction or event_group, since informational rows double count MEV and block rewards
  4. Call refresh_analytics_data before query_sql, and check source.completeness and unpriced_rows before reporting any total
  5. Check the privacy mode before answering from the data. Strict keeps amounts and dates, and raw sends addresses, hashes and notes verbatim

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, FreeAgent API or rotki MCP server?

FreeAgent API scores 57.2 (C) on agent readiness against rotki MCP server's 45.6 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. rotki MCP server leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics.

Can an agent call FreeAgent API and rotki MCP server without installing anything?

FreeAgent API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.freeagent.com/v2. No hosted endpoint is listed for rotki MCP server.

Are FreeAgent API and rotki MCP server open source?

No open-source release is listed for FreeAgent API. rotki MCP server is open source (AGPL-3.0).

Other comparisons with FreeAgent API or rotki MCP server

Machine-readable

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