# Gauge CLI vs Respan API + MCP

> Respan scores 72 (BB) to Gauge CLI's 60.4 (C) for evaluations. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gauge-cli-vs-respan
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gauge-cli-vs-respan.md (~4,850 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: 2026-11-06

Respan API + MCP scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Gauge CLI's 60.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Gauge CLI leads on payments & pricing. Both do evaluations.

- Gauge CLI: grade C, 60.4/100, rank #590 of 1354. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/gauge-cli.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/gauge-cli.json
- Respan API + MCP: grade BB, 72/100, rank #128 of 1354. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/respan.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/respan.json
- Best agent tracing, monitoring and evaluation tools: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/agent-observability/index.md
- All 250 evals comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-observability/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Gauge CLI (C)

Good for: Teams that build skills, CLIs, SDKs or MCP servers and want to see where coding agents get stuck with them, and to test fixes before release.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 30

Also in its favour:
- No key needed to call it
- Open source
- No incidents deducted, where Respan API + MCP loses 3 points for them

Watch for: Collects anonymous command usage by default, with an opt-out

### Respan API + MCP (BB)

Good for: Teams that want a gateway and tracing in one integration and an agent that can read logs and manage prompts, datasets and evaluators over MCP, read-only or not.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 83 against 60
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 60
- Agent ergonomics, 90 against 75
- Security & auth, 74 against 55
- Transparency & trust, 59 against 53

Also in its favour:
- Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: Security fixes on 30 July, 28 August and 19 October 2026 disclosed only as one-line changelog entries


## Why the edge

### Schema & documentation: Respan API + MCP +29

- Gauge CLI (60): CLI reading. No machine-readable contract, -o json on read commands (10 of 25). No llms.txt; instructions bundled in the CLI for agents (5). The README says what it finds and when local or hosted fits (16 of 20). Commands with help text; typed flags (9 of 15). Worked examples, no error reference (8 of 15). Dated changelog and semver tags (12 of 15). 10 + 5 + 16 + 9 + 8 + 12 = 60.
- Respan API + MCP (89): OpenAPI 3.1 at respan.ai/docs/openapi.json with 40 or more paths, and every MCP tool takes a zod schema (25). llms.txt, per-section llms.txt and `.md` for every page (10). MCP descriptions say when to use a tool and when not to. `list_logs` tells the model to filter server-side rather than fetch everything and to call `get_log_detail` for full data, and `delete_dataset` says it can't be undone (17). Typed inputs with operator enums, but `page_size` bounds sit in the description rather than the schema and filter values are `any` (11). Worked JSON examples in descriptions, and the spec documents 400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 424, 429 and 503 responses (14). Weekly dated changelog. API paths mix `/api/` and `/api/v1/` with no version policy (12).

### Reliability: Respan API + MCP +23

- Gauge CLI (60): Local package. Installs from npm as @withgauge/cli with Node 22.13 or later and Docker stated (20). checks.yml runs npm run check on push and pull request across a matrix, and the repository has 76 test files; whether main passes wasn't read (20 of 25). Issues weren't read (5, unchecked). A dated changelog with Added sections per release (15). Version 0.28.0 (0). 20 + 20 + 5 + 15 + 0 = 60.
- Respan API + MCP (83): Better Stack page at status.respan.ai with six components (web, logging and gateway, each for the platform and Enterprise) and an incident history page (20). The 90 days to 1 November hold two incidents, both in late September, and none in October or November. The Responses API path through the gateway was affected for OpenAI and Anthropic requests for 13 hours 47 minutes on 26 September, and request logs were delayed across all regions for 1 hour 58 minutes on 29 September. The first affected about 0.5 per cent of OpenAI and Anthropic requests on that path. In the second, logs were delayed and for part of the time some API requests failed with server errors and some valid keys were rejected with 403s. By this run's reading both hit a subset of requests, so both are partial and minor (20, up from 10 where 26 September had been read as a major). Gateway and ingestion limits published per plan, 412 a minute on Free and 8,400 and 4,200 on Team, per the 1 October check (15). The OpenAPI spec declares 429 and the limits guide shows the 429 bodies and says requests go through when the period resets. We found no `Retry-After` or backoff guidance (10). The pricing page listed a 99.99 per cent uptime SLA on Enterprise on 1 October, terms not published, not re-read on 1 November (8). Gateway, logging and MCP are GA (10). 20 + 20 + 15 + 10 + 8 + 10 = 83.

### Security & auth: Respan API + MCP +19

- Gauge CLI (55): Local tool. Agent credentials stay on your machine in local mode; hosted login with a device flow (20 of 30). Test agents run in fresh Docker sessions with injected inputs, and the gateway brokers credentials in hosted mode (12 of 20). Agents under test read your product's docs and outputs, with no prompt-injection guidance (5 of 15). Local transcripts and SQLite evidence per run (10 of 15). No security policy found (8 of 20). 20 + 12 + 5 + 10 + 8 = 55.
- Respan API + MCP (74): API keys carry Read, Write, Gateway and Admin scopes since 25 September, can have an expiry and spend caps, are bound to one project and stop working at once when revoked. The MCP server also takes OAuth, now with `mcp:read` and `mcp:write` scopes (30). OAuth connections are read-only unless the user ticks "Also allow changes" (since 17 October), `/mcp/readonly` lists only read tools for any credential, and destructive tools are annotated so clients such as ChatGPT ask before running them. No confirmation step inside Respan itself (18, as exa-mcp). Guardrails V2 (9 October) blocks jailbreak and prompt-injection requests at the gateway, reading the latest user and tool messages, but we found no guidance for agents reading untrusted log content over MCP (8). Every gateway call is logged against its key. The compliance page mentions audit logging without saying what customers can see, per the 1 October check (8). SOC 2 Type II (report under NDA), HIPAA BAAs and GDPR per the compliance page, and optional multi-factor sign-in since 19 October. No security.txt or SECURITY.md, and security fixes appear in the changelog as one-liners (10). 30 + 18 + 8 + 8 + 10 = 74.

### Agent ergonomics: Respan API + MCP +15

- Gauge CLI (75): CLI reading for an agent driving it. Bundled instructions match the installed version, and output is filterable with -o json (20 of 25). Run summaries and Findings with queryable fields (15 of 20). Errors not documented as a reference (10 of 20). Reruns from checkpoints and a recheck command with a confirm step (15 of 20). Four commands to start, Node only (15 of 15). 20 + 15 + 10 + 15 + 15 = 75.
- Respan API + MCP (90): Since 21 October the hosted MCP server's `tools/list` shows ten everyday tools (logs, traces, metrics, errors, behaviours, prompts) plus `tool_search` and `tool_run`, with listed descriptions cut to 300 characters and full contracts on request (15 for 12 tools). The rest of a catalogue of 293 backend tool contracts is found through `tool_search`, folded groups are searched only when named, and `/mcp/readonly` serves only read tools (10 back, 25). `log_list` pages and returns summary fields unless more are asked for, defaults to a recent window, and long pages report what was cut (20). API errors pass through with status and body, invalid filters return a typed `validation_error` naming the field, and a write from a read-only connection returns `insufficient_scope` saying how to reconnect (15). Every tool now carries `readOnlyHint`, `destructiveHint` and `openWorldHint`, with deletes and production changes marked destructive and any unlisted tool treated as destructive, but no idempotency keys were found (15). Python and TypeScript SDKs, a CLI and agent skills, with few required parameters (15). 25 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 15 = 90.

### Payments & pricing: Gauge CLI +10

- Gauge CLI (40): Scored on the hosted option. No payment protocol (0). Credit prices weren't found on the pages read (0). Local mode is free with no card (20). Local mode needs no sign-up (20). 0 + 0 + 20 + 20 = 40.
- Respan API + MCP (30): No x402 or other machine payment (0). Overage prices published without login, $8 per 100,000 logs and $1 per 1,000 scores on Team (20). The Free plan has 100,000 logs and unlimited seats. The pricing page doesn't say whether a card is needed, so half (10). Keys can be minted by API, but only with an existing Admin key, so a person still signs up in a browser first (0).

### Transparency & trust: Respan API + MCP +6

- Gauge CLI (53): MIT (30). Local data stays in .gauge/ and telemetry fields are listed; hosted data handling wasn't read (18 of 30). Dated changelog, no deprecation policy (10 of 20). Telemetry on by default, disclosed with an opt-out (20). 30 + 18 + 10 + 20 = 78.
- Respan API + MCP (59): Closed platform. The SDK monorepo is Apache-2.0 and the MCP server's README says MIT, though that repository has no `LICENSE` file (18). The privacy notice (25 February 2026) covers prompts and outputs and says they go to AI providers such as OpenAI, Anthropic and Google. Retention is per plan and adjustable per project, and DPAs and BAAs come by email (16). No deprecation policy found. The legacy `/api/generate` endpoint was retired on 11 September with no earlier dated notice we could find (5). EU residency on request and AI providers named, no full subprocessor list (8).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Gauge CLI | Respan API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 83 | Respan API + MCP +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 60 | 89 | Respan API + MCP +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 75 | 90 | Respan API + MCP +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 55 | 74 | Respan API + MCP +19 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 30 | Gauge CLI +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 82 | 85 | Respan API + MCP +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 59 | Respan API + MCP +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **60.4 · C** | **72 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Gauge CLI | Respan API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | cli | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Gauge | Respan (formerly Keywords AI) |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.respan.ai/api` |
| Transports |  | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT | Apache-2.0 (SDKs only, platform closed source) |
| Tools exposed | none | 12 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-11-04 | 2026-10-19 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2026-02-25 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-02-25 |
| Customer content may train models | not read yet | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not read yet | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not read yet | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not read yet | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not read yet | yes |
| Popularity | none | 270 npm/wk, 13k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) |

## How the scores have moved

### Gauge CLI

No score change since it was listed.

### Respan API + MCP

- +6.3 on 1 November 2026 (B to BB): product, correction
- +0.2 on 27 October 2026: checklist
- -0.4 on 8 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**Gauge CLI.** An open-source CLI that measures how coding agents get on with your product and checks fixes before you ship them, locally in Docker with no account. It's young and pre-1.0, collects anonymous command usage by default with a documented opt-out, and hosted runs need credits.

**Respan API + MCP.** Project-bound API keys with Read, Write, Gateway and Admin scopes, and since October a hosted MCP server that lists twelve tools, annotates every tool and connects read-only by default. Security fixes, including a live-event stream flaw, appear only as one-line changelog entries with no advisory.

## Before you call either

### Gauge CLI

1. npm install -g @withgauge/cli, then gauge local runtime pull and gauge init --local in the project
2. Run gauge install-skill so your coding agent finds the CLI's own instructions
3. Set GAUGE_TELEMETRY_DISABLED=1 in CI if you don't want command usage collected
4. Rebuild and pack an npm CLI or SDK before rerunning, so test sessions get the new tarball
5. Keep .gauge/ private; it holds measurements and analyses

### Respan API + MCP

1. Connect to https://mcp.respan.ai/mcp/readonly for agents that only analyse logs, or use a key with only the Read scope
2. Call `tool_search` with resource and action words to find tools that aren't listed, then `tool_run` with the returned schema
3. Pass `filters` to `log_list` rather than paging through everything. The default window is recent
4. Call `project_list` first when results look empty over OAuth. Every tool acts on the active project only
5. Append `.md` to any docs URL for clean Markdown

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Gauge CLI or Respan API + MCP?

Respan API + MCP scores 72 (BB) on agent readiness against Gauge CLI's 60.4 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Gauge CLI leads on payments & pricing.

### Can an agent call Gauge CLI and Respan API + MCP without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Gauge CLI. Respan API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.respan.ai/api.

### Are Gauge CLI and Respan API + MCP open source?

Gauge CLI is open source (MIT). No open-source release is listed for Respan API + MCP.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Gauge CLI or Respan API + MCP

- [Agent Tree vs Respan API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agent-tree-vs-respan.md)
- [agents-tree vs Respan API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/agents-tree-vs-respan.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