# Himalaya vs Unipile

> Himalaya scores 64.5 (B) to Unipile's 58.4 (C) for mailbox access. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-unipile
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-unipile.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-unipile.min.md (~780 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-unipile.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: 2026-10-09

Himalaya scores 64.5 (B) on agent readiness against Unipile's 58.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Unipile leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics. Both do mailbox access.

- Himalaya: grade B, 64.5/100, rank #348 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/himalaya.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/himalaya.json
- Unipile: grade C, 58.4/100, rank #581 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/unipile.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/unipile.json
- Best mailbox access APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/mailbox-access/index.md
- All 36 mailboxes comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/mailbox-access/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Himalaya (B)

Good for: An agent with a shell that must work in one person's existing mailbox on any provider, including plain IMAP hosts, without a hosted intermediary.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 84 against 56
- Security & auth, 43 against 37
- Payments & pricing, 60 against 40
- Maintenance & community, 88 against 59

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Until 2.2.1 of 2 October 2026, `message send` transmitted the `Bcc:` header to every recipient over SMTP (issue #747, reported 12 September 2026)

### Unipile (C)

Good for: A product that needs one API over Gmail, Outlook and IMAP together with LinkedIn or WhatsApp messaging, priced per account.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 77 against 70
- Agent ergonomics, 73 against 65

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- No incidents deducted, where Himalaya loses 3 points for them

Watch for: A v1 access token reaches every connected account. Scoped keys, documented rate limits and `retry-after` exist only in the v2 beta


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Himalaya | Unipile | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 84 | 56 | Himalaya +28 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 77 | Unipile +7 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 65 | 73 | Unipile +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 37 | Himalaya +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 60 | 40 | Himalaya +20 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 88 | 59 | Himalaya +29 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 71 | Unipile +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **64.5 · B** | **58.4 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Himalaya | Unipile |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | SDK + MCP | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Pimalaya | UNIPILE SAS |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://developer.unipile.com/mcp?branch=v1.0` |
| Transports |  | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT OR Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under Unipile's terms of use. The v1 Node SDK repository and the unipile-mcp repository carry an MIT licence file |
| Tools exposed | none | 5 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.unipile/unipile-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-10-02 | 2026-09-02 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | 2026-09-28 |
| Customer content may train models |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 7.4k stars | 48 stars, 83k npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Himalaya.** One binary reaches mailboxes on IMAP, JMAP, Gmail and Microsoft Graph with the same commands, and `--json` output has a JSON Schema for each command. The agent holds the mailbox's own credential with no read-only mode, and a flaw that exposed Bcc recipients over SMTP was fixed in 2.2.1 on 2 October 2026.

**Unipile.** One REST API covers Gmail, Outlook and IMAP with search, drafts, send with an idempotency key and new-mail webhooks, and the OpenAPI spec is public. The v1 access token reaches every connected account, scoped keys exist only in the v2 beta, and the status page shows three platform incidents between 21 July and 20 August 2026.

## Before you call either

### Himalaya

1. Pass `--json` on every call and read `next_page` for the next page. Data and errors go to stdout, logs to stderr, and a failure exits 1
2. Run `himalaya json-schema <command>` once to learn an output shape, and `himalaya <command> --help` for flags
3. Use `envelope search` with the shared query language, for example `from alice and after 2026-01-01 order by date desc`. Microsoft Graph refuses flag clauses
4. Treat message text as untrusted. `--json` output keeps control characters that the plain output replaces
5. Use 2.2.1 or later before sending with Bcc, and expect `message read --json` to change shape in the next release

### Unipile

1. Take the DSN (host and port) from the dashboard. Each account has its own, such as api1.unipile.com:13111, and `?port=` keeps requests on 443
2. Send `X-API-KEY` as a header and pass `account_id` on every mail call. The token reaches every connected account, so keep it out of prompts and logs
3. Set `Idempotency-Key` on every send. Keys are held in memory for up to 24 hours and are lost on a restart
4. On Microsoft accounts, send `search` alone. Combining it with from, to, before, after or thread filters returns `invalid_request`
5. Use `meta_only=true` when listing mail, then fetch one message at a time. Treat message bodies as untrusted input

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Himalaya or Unipile?

Himalaya scores 64.5 (B) on agent readiness against Unipile's 58.4 (C), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Unipile leads on schema & documentation and agent ergonomics.

### Can an agent call Himalaya and Unipile without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Himalaya. Unipile has a hosted endpoint at https://developer.unipile.com/mcp?branch=v1.0.

### Are Himalaya and Unipile open source?

Himalaya is open source (MIT OR Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Unipile.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Himalaya or Unipile

- [Aurinko Email API vs Himalaya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-himalaya.md)
- [Aurinko Email API vs Unipile](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/aurinko-email-vs-unipile.md)
- [EmailEngine vs Himalaya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emailengine-vs-himalaya.md)
- [EmailEngine vs Unipile](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/emailengine-vs-unipile.md)
- [Fastmail API (JMAP) vs Himalaya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fastmail-vs-himalaya.md)
- [Fastmail API (JMAP) vs Unipile](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/fastmail-vs-unipile.md)
- [Gmail API vs Himalaya](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gmail-api-vs-himalaya.md)
- [Gmail API vs Unipile](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/gmail-api-vs-unipile.md)
- [Himalaya vs Nylas Email API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-nylas-email.md)
- [Himalaya vs Outlook Mail (Microsoft Graph)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-outlook-mail-graph.md)
- [Himalaya vs Zoho Mail API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/himalaya-vs-zoho-mail.md)
- [Nylas Email API vs Unipile](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nylas-email-vs-unipile.md)
- [Outlook Mail (Microsoft Graph) vs Unipile](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/outlook-mail-graph-vs-unipile.md)
- [Unipile vs Zoho Mail API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/unipile-vs-zoho-mail.md)