{ "data": { "a": { "slug": "instacart", "name": "Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP", "vendor": "Maplebear Inc. (Instacart)", "vendorUrl": "https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api.md", "kind": "http-api", "category": "shopping", "summary": "The Instacart Developer Platform API and its hosted MCP server turn a recipe or shopping list into an Instacart Marketplace page, where the person picks a store and checks out. It also finds nearby retailers by postal code.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instacart.json", "license": "Proprietary service under the Instacart Developer Platform Terms and Conditions", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp", "packages": [], "auth": "api-key", "authNotes": "A Bearer API key from the Instacart Developer Dashboard, separate for development and production, with read-only, read-write or admin permission levels. Access starts with an application on www.instacart.com. A production key stays pending until Instacart reviews a screen-recorded demo of the integration (https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api/guide/concepts/launch_activities/approval_process.md). The MCP server takes the same key as a Bearer header.", "pricing": "free", "pricingNotes": "No fee for the API was found. Approved partners can join an affiliate programme on Impact.com that pays commission on attributed orders, with terms shared by email. The developer terms let Instacart add fees for previously free functions (https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api/guide/terms_and_policies/developer_terms.md, checked 14 October 2026).", "priceSummary": "Free", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Developer Platform docs, the MCP tool list or the developer terms (checked 14 October 2026).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 2, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": null, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-14" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api.md", "llmsTxt": "https://docs.instacart.com/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "shopping.affiliate", "commerce.cart" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "mcp", "api-key", "llms-txt", "grocery", "affiliate", "approval-required" ], "lastRelease": "2026-06-18", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 48.5, "grade": "D", "agentReady": false, "rank": 990, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1239, "categoryRank": 5, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 71, "maintenance": 20, "payments": 20, "reliability": 22, "schema": 80, "security": 61, "transparency": 53 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-14" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "Two compact MCP tools and a small REST API with structured errors let an agent turn a list into an Instacart cart link. The agent cannot search products, see prices, place an order or follow one, and production keys need a demo review that Instacart puts at 30 to 40 days. No status page or published rate figure was found.", "bestFor": "Grocery list and recipe hand-off for meal planning and recipe agents in the US and Canada.", "strengths": [ "Hosted MCP server at https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp with two tools, create-recipe and create-shopping-list, each with typed JSON Schema inputs", "Errors return an HTTP code, an internal error code and a meta key naming the field, with per-endpoint error tables", "Separate development and production hosts and keys, with key rotation and revocation documented", "Line items accept UPCs, brand filters and health filters such as ORGANIC and GLUTEN_FREE for product matching", "Dated changelog on docs.instacart.com, with entries from 18 September 2025 to 18 June 2026" ], "weaknesses": [ "No product search, price, order, order status or return endpoint. The person picks the store and checks out on Instacart", "Production keys need a screen-recorded demo and review, and Instacart puts access request to production at about 30 to 40 days", "No status page and no rate limit figure, only a 429 with advice to retry later", "The MCP tool schema still uses quantity and unit, which the REST API deprecated on 18 March 2026", "www.instacart.com disallows our crawler in robots.txt, so the privacy policy and application page were not read" ], "agentNotes": [ "Connect to https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp over Streamable HTTP with Authorization: Bearer and an Instacart Developer Platform key. Test against https://mcp.dev.instacart.tools/mcp with a development key", "Give the person the returned products_link_url to choose a store and check out. No call places or tracks an order", "Cache each generated link and create a new one only when the list changes, as the docs advise", "Send line_item_measurements rather than quantity and unit on the REST shopping list endpoint, since those fields are deprecated", "Do not show priced items from more than one retailer on one screen or move items between retailer baskets. The developer terms forbid both" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "D", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 48.5 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 71, "maintenance": 20, "payments": 20, "reliability": 22, "schema": 80, "security": 61, "transparency": 28 }, "provenanceScore": 77, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-10-14", "maintenance": "2026-10-14", "payments": "2026-10-14", "reliability": "2026-10-14", "schema": "2026-10-14", "security": "2026-10-14", "transparency": "2026-10-14" }, "last": "2026-10-14", "lastMoved": "2026-10-27", "oldest": "2026-10-14", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "http": "curl --request POST --url 'https://connect.dev.instacart.tools/idp/v1/products/products_link' --header 'Authorization: Bearer \u003cAPI-key\u003e' --header 'Content-Type: application/json' --data '{\"title\":\"Groceries\",\"line_items\":[{\"name\":\"eggs\"}]}'", "config": { "mcpServers": { "instacart": { "headers": { "Authorization": "Bearer \u003cAPI-key\u003e" }, "type": "http", "url": "https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp" } } } }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/shopping.affiliate", "tool": "https://letme.dev/instacart" }, "area": "everyday", "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Maplebear Inc. dba Instacart", "domain": "instacart.com", "domainRegistered": "1996-10-31", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api/guide/terms_and_policies/developer_terms.md", "privacy": "https://www.instacart.com/company/privacy", "statusPage": "", "changelog": "https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api/api/changelog.md", "securityTxt": "unknown", "checked": "2026-10-14", "notes": [ "The developer terms, last updated 3 July 2024, are entered into by Maplebear Inc. dba Instacart and name the privacy policy at https://www.instacart.com/company/privacy.", "www.instacart.com robots.txt disallows every path for agents it does not name, including ours, so the privacy policy and security.txt on that host were not read.", "docs.instacart.com/.well-known/security.txt returned 404. status.instacart.com did not answer and no other status page was found.", "RDAP gives instacart.com a registration date of 31 October 1996." ], "score": 77 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.json", "live": { "slug": "instacart", "probe": { "target": "https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-31T01:12:06.400575051Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 337, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 343, "p95ms24h": 448, "samples24h": 249, "samples30d": 4204, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-14", "probes": 166, "ok": 166 }, { "date": "2026-10-15", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-16", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-17", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-18", "probes": 256, "ok": 256 }, { "date": "2026-10-19", "probes": 255, "ok": 255 }, { "date": "2026-10-20", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-21", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-22", "probes": 253, "ok": 253 }, { "date": "2026-10-23", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-24", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-25", "probes": 250, "ok": 250 }, { "date": "2026-10-26", "probes": 252, "ok": 252 }, { "date": "2026-10-27", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-28", "probes": 251, "ok": 251 }, { "date": "2026-10-29", "probes": 248, "ok": 248 }, { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 249, "ok": 249 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 } ] }, "securityTxt": { "url": "https://instacart.com/.well-known/security.txt", "state": "valid", "expires": "Thu, 31 Dec 2026 23:59 -0700", "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T15:37:45.608842493Z" }, "llmsTxt": { "url": "https://docs.instacart.com/llms.txt", "ok": true, "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T15:07:44.612029149Z" }, "domain": { "domain": "instacart.com", "registered": "1996-10-31", "source": "https://rdap.verisign.com/com/v1/domain/instacart.com", "checkedAt": "2026-10-25T13:48:48.092246936Z" }, "pages": [ { "url": "https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api/api/changelog.md", "kind": "changelog", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T05:37:37.602081623Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" }, { "url": "https://www.instacart.com/company/privacy", "kind": "privacy", "status": 0, "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T05:56:41.314611576Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z", "blockedByRobots": true }, { "url": "https://docs.instacart.com/developer_platform_api/guide/terms_and_policies/developer_terms.md", "kind": "terms", "status": 200, "checkedAt": "2026-10-30T05:37:39.768923993Z", "changedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z" } ], "updatedAt": "2026-10-31T01:12:06.400575051Z" } }, "answer": "opencommerce scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP's 48.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "b": { "slug": "opencommerce", "name": "opencommerce", "vendor": "Agentcard", "vendorUrl": "https://opencommerce.sh", "kind": "sdk", "category": "shopping", "summary": "opencommerce is Agentcard's Commerce SDK, a TypeScript package that gives an agent one `buy` tool. Agentcard searches stores, builds the cart and places the order after the shopper approves payment with a card saved in Agentcard's Vault.", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencommerce", "markdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencommerce.md", "slimMarkdownUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencommerce.min.md", "jsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencommerce.json", "license": "Proprietary. `@agent-cards/commerce-sdk` and the `agent-cards` CLI ship a licence of Agentcard Corporation that allows running them only to use Agentcard's services and forbids copying, reverse engineering and benchmarking a competing product. The repository they name is private", "transports": [ "http" ], "remoteUrl": "https://api.agentcard.sh", "packages": [ { "registry": "npm", "name": "@agent-cards/commerce-sdk" }, { "registry": "npm", "name": "agent-cards" } ], "auth": "oauth", "authNotes": "Company client credentials. `AgentcardClient` exchanges a client ID and secret for a platform token that lasts one hour and renews it a minute before expiry. Sandbox and production use separate credentials on one host. A buy tool can instead carry one shopper's own Agentcard access token. Each shopper connects through a Vault link and approves payments with a passkey. The CLI README says sign-ups are by invitation (https://docs.agentcard.com/api-reference/commerce-sdk/agentcard-client.md, checked 2026-10-30).", "pricing": "usage", "pricingNotes": "Standard is 1 per cent of each completed order, charged to the integrating company from a prefunded balance or a saved card, with no API access. Enterprise adds API access at custom fees. Sandbox purchases are never billed (https://opencommerce.sh/#pricing, https://docs.agentcard.com/commerce-sdk/quickstart.md, checked 2026-10-30).", "priceSummary": "1% fee", "where": "hosted", "x402": { "level": "no", "evidence": "No x402, MPP or L402 in the Commerce SDK docs, the package or the opencommerce.sh pricing. Purchases are paid with the shopper's card from Agentcard's Vault, and agentcard.com's FAQ answers Not yet on x402, AP2 and other agent payment protocols (https://agentcard.com/, checked 2026-10-30).", "endpoints": [] }, "toolCount": 1, "popularity": { "githubStars": null, "npmWeekly": 2716, "pypiWeekly": null, "asOf": "2026-10-30" }, "docsUrl": "https://docs.agentcard.com/commerce-sdk/quickstart", "llmsTxt": "https://opencommerce.sh/llms.txt", "capabilities": [ "shopping.search", "shopping.orders", "shopping.prices", "commerce.cart", "commerce.checkout", "shopping.returns" ], "tags": [ "hosted", "closed-source", "sdk", "typescript", "oauth", "sandbox", "webhooks", "llms-txt", "approvals", "pre-1.0", "new", "cli" ], "lastRelease": "2026-10-30", "graded": true, "anchor": { "graded": true, "score": 62, "grade": "B", "agentReady": false, "rank": 528, "ranked": true, "rankOf": 1239, "categoryRank": 3, "methodology": "0.7", "run": "2026-10-01", "scores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 75, "payments": 40, "reliability": 43, "schema": 81, "security": 68, "transparency": 63 }, "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "assessment": { "confidence": "medium", "date": "2026-10-30" }, "negative": 0, "verdict": "One strictly typed buy tool covers search, cart, checkout and order updates, and every payment not covered by an auto-approval rule waits for the shopper's passkey. The tool's description runs to about 14.5 KB, the purchase API under it is undocumented, the monitoring page reports test passes rather than uptime, and the CLI says sign-ups are by invitation.", "bestFor": "A company building a chat agent that buys for US shoppers at many online stores, restaurants and airlines through one tool, with payments approved by the shopper's passkey.", "strengths": [ "The buy tool takes five required fields under a strict JSON Schema, and the shopper and delivery address are fixed when the tool is built", "Every payment not covered by an auto-approval rule waits for the shopper's passkey on an approval link that works for about 15 minutes", "`forModel` strips every link from an answer, and links reach the shopper through `sendLink` without passing through the model", "Errors carry stable codes with a documented next step, and a timeout comes with advice to read the conversation before resending", "The SDK has no dependencies, and 19 versions shipped between 16 and 30 October 2026", "A public monitoring page reports per-merchant test results, success rates, last run and first-response times" ], "weaknesses": [ "The tool description is 57 rules and about 14,500 characters, read on every call", "The purchase endpoints the SDK calls are not in the API reference or the OpenAPI file, and API access is Enterprise only", "The monitoring history started on 23 October 2026, 52 of 84 merchants had no results, and it measures test passes rather than uptime", "The CLI README says sign-ups are by invitation, while the quickstart says `init` creates the account", "Neither Agentcard's terms nor the docs address stores whose terms bar automated buyers. The changelog records checkouts finished behind a bot wall", "TypeScript only, at 0.18.6, two weeks after its first release" ], "agentNotes": [ "Call `buy` with the shopper's words in `ask`, and set `confirm` true only after the shopper says yes to the cart you showed", "After a `timeout`, `unreachable` or `invalid_answer` error, read the conversation before sending the turn again, since the order may have gone through", "Show the cart's `max_charge` beside its total, because the approval holds up to that amount", "Use sandbox credentials for tests. `init` writes production credentials by default, and they place real orders", "Check a store with `GET /buy/merchants` before sending a shopper there, and suggest another store when it is `held_back` or `supported` is false" ], "metrics": { "kind": "remote", "measured": false }, "reviewCount": 0, "avgRating": 0, "history": [ { "basis": "public evidence", "confidence": "medium", "grade": "B", "methodology": "0.7", "pending": [ "performance", "tasks" ], "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "score": 62 } ], "editorialScores": { "ergonomics": 69, "maintenance": 75, "payments": 40, "reliability": 43, "schema": 81, "security": 68, "transparency": 42 }, "provenanceScore": 83, "checked": { "categories": { "ergonomics": "2026-10-30", "maintenance": "2026-10-30", "payments": "2026-10-30", "reliability": "2026-10-30", "schema": "2026-10-30", "security": "2026-10-30", "transparency": "2026-10-30" }, "last": "2026-10-30", "oldest": "2026-10-30", "stale": false, "staleAfterDays": 90 } }, "connect": { "install": "npm install @agent-cards/commerce-sdk", "http": "curl \"https://api.agentcard.sh/buy/merchants?kind=catalog\u0026q=target.com\" -H \"Authorization: Bearer $AGENTCARD_TOKEN\"" }, "letme": { "capability": "https://letme.dev/shopping.search", "tool": "https://letme.dev/opencommerce" }, "sameCompany": [ "agentcard" ], "area": "everyday", "unitPrices": [ { "item": "Completed order fee, Standard plan", "unit": "pct", "usd": 1, "note": "Charged to the integrating company per live purchase. Sandbox not billed. https://opencommerce.sh/#pricing" } ], "provenance": { "legalEntity": "Agentcard Corporation", "domain": "opencommerce.sh", "domainRegistered": "", "endpointOnVendorDomain": true, "terms": "https://agentcard.com/terms", "privacy": "https://agentcard.com/privacy", "statusPage": "https://monitoring.opencommerce.sh", "changelog": "https://agentcard.com/updates", "securityTxt": "valid", "checked": "2026-10-30", "notes": [ "opencommerce.sh's footer reads © 2026 Agentcard, Inc. and links agentcard.com's terms and privacy policy. The terms of use (last updated 10 July 2026) and the npm packages' licence name Agentcard Corporation, a Delaware corporation (File No. 10619012).", "The terms of use cover the MCP server, CLI, dashboard and API and do not name the Commerce SDK, opencommerce or the 1 per cent fee. The privacy policy was last updated 21 October 2026.", "The SDK calls api.agentcard.sh, an Agentcard domain, not opencommerce.sh.", "The status page is the monitoring page the footer links as Status. It reports per-merchant test results, not the availability of Agentcard's API.", "opencommerce.sh/.well-known/security.txt returns 404. agentcard.com/.well-known/security.txt is valid, with security@agentcard.com and an expiry of 1 October 2027.", "rdap.org returned 404 for opencommerce.sh, so its registration date is unknown. The first package version, 0.0.0-stage, was published on 16 October 2026.", "The changelog at agentcard.com/updates covers all of Agentcard's products. Its newest entry on 30 October 2026 was dated 27 October." ], "score": 83 }, "pageJsonUrl": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencommerce.json", "live": { "slug": "opencommerce", "probe": { "target": "https://api.agentcard.sh", "method": "get", "lastAt": "2026-10-31T01:12:14.249888793Z", "lastOk": true, "lastStatus": 404, "lastMs": 142, "authRequired": false, "uptime24h": 100, "uptime30d": 100, "p50ms24h": 121, "p95ms24h": 269, "samples24h": 15, "samples30d": 15, "days": [ { "date": "2026-10-30", "probes": 2, "ok": 2 }, { "date": "2026-10-31", "probes": 13, "ok": 13 } ] }, "vendorStatus": { "page": "https://monitoring.opencommerce.sh", "indicator": "unknown", "summary": "no machine-readable status found", "checkedAt": "2026-10-31T00:10:14.604856983Z" }, "updatedAt": "2026-10-31T01:12:14.249888793Z" } }, "facts": [ { "a": "HTTP API", "b": "SDK + MCP", "name": "Kind" }, { "a": "Maplebear Inc. (Instacart)", "b": "Agentcard", "name": "Vendor" }, { "a": "https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp", "b": "https://api.agentcard.sh", "name": "Hosted endpoint" }, { "a": "HTTP", "b": "HTTP", "name": "Transports" }, { "a": "API key", "b": "OAuth", "name": "Auth" }, { "a": "Free", "b": "Pay per use", "name": "Pricing" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "x402" }, { "a": "Proprietary service under the Instacart Developer Platform Terms and Conditions", "b": "Proprietary. `@agent-cards/commerce-sdk` and the `agent-cards` CLI ship a licence of Agentcard Corporation that allows running them only to use Agentcard's services and forbids copying, reverse engineering and benchmarking a competing product. The repository they name is private", "name": "Licence" }, { "a": "2", "b": "1", "name": "Tools exposed" }, { "a": "no", "b": "no", "name": "Read-only variant documented" }, { "a": "yes", "b": "yes", "name": "llms.txt" }, { "a": "2026-06-18", "b": "2026-10-30", "name": "Last release" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "2026-07-10", "name": "Terms last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "2026-10-21", "name": "Privacy policy last updated" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Customer content may train models" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Terms restrict automated access" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms restrict benchmarking" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "not found in the text", "name": "Terms or service can change without notice" }, { "a": "couldn't be read", "b": "yes", "name": "Arbitration or class-action waiver" }, { "a": "none", "b": "2.7k npm/wk", "name": "Popularity" } ], "faq": [ { "answer": "opencommerce scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP's 48.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.", "question": "Which is better for AI agents, Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP or opencommerce?" }, { "answer": "Yes. Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp and opencommerce at https://api.agentcard.sh.", "question": "Can an agent call Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP and opencommerce without installing anything?" } ], "goodFor": [ { "aheadOn": null, "also": null, "goodFor": "Grocery list and recipe hand-off for meal planning and recipe agents in the US and Canada.", "slug": "instacart", "watchFor": "No product search, price, order, order status or return endpoint. The person picks the store and checks out on Instacart" }, { "aheadOn": [ "Reliability, 43 against 22", "Security \u0026 auth, 68 against 61", "Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20", "Maintenance \u0026 community, 75 against 20", "Transparency \u0026 trust, 63 against 53" ], "also": null, "goodFor": "A company building a chat agent that buys for US shoppers at many online stores, restaurants and airlines through one tool, with payments approved by the shopper's passkey.", "slug": "opencommerce", "watchFor": "The tool description is 57 rules and about 14,500 characters, read on every call" } ], "job": { "capability": "commerce.cart", "name": "Commerce cart" }, "others": [ { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-creators-api-vs-opencommerce.json", "title": "Amazon Creators API vs opencommerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-creators-api-vs-opencommerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/best-buy-vs-opencommerce.json", "title": "Best Buy Developer API vs opencommerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/best-buy-vs-opencommerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/etsy-vs-opencommerce.json", "title": "Etsy Open API v3 vs opencommerce", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/etsy-vs-opencommerce" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-shop-mcp.json", "title": "opencommerce vs Shop MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-shop-mcp" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-walmart-affiliate-api.json", "title": "opencommerce vs Walmart Affiliate Marketing API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-walmart-affiliate-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-walmart-agent-gateway.json", "title": "opencommerce vs Walmart Agent Gateway", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-walmart-agent-gateway" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-zillow-claude.json", "title": "opencommerce vs Zillow in Claude", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-zillow-claude" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-creators-api-vs-instacart.json", "title": "Amazon Creators API vs Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-creators-api-vs-instacart" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-walmart-affiliate-api.json", "title": "Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP vs Walmart Affiliate Marketing API", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-walmart-affiliate-api" }, { "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-shop-mcp.json", "title": "Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP vs Shop MCP", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-shop-mcp" } ], "scores": [ { "by": 21, "edge": "opencommerce", "instacart": 22, "key": "reliability", "name": "Reliability", "opencommerce": 43, "weight": 16 }, { "key": "performance", "name": "Performance", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 1, "edge": "opencommerce", "instacart": 80, "key": "schema", "name": "Schema \u0026 documentation", "opencommerce": 81, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 2, "edge": "instacart", "instacart": 71, "key": "ergonomics", "name": "Agent ergonomics", "opencommerce": 69, "weight": 13 }, { "by": 7, "edge": "opencommerce", "instacart": 61, "key": "security", "name": "Security \u0026 auth", "opencommerce": 68, "weight": 14 }, { "by": 20, "edge": "opencommerce", "instacart": 20, "key": "payments", "name": "Payments \u0026 pricing", "opencommerce": 40, "weight": 10 }, { "key": "tasks", "name": "Task success", "pending": true, "weight": 10 }, { "by": 55, "edge": "opencommerce", "instacart": 20, "key": "maintenance", "name": "Maintenance \u0026 community", "opencommerce": 75, "weight": 7 }, { "by": 10, "edge": "opencommerce", "instacart": 53, "key": "transparency", "name": "Transparency \u0026 trust", "opencommerce": 63, "weight": 7 } ], "summary": "opencommerce scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP's 48.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do commerce cart.", "tutorials": [], "verdicts": { "instacart": "Two compact MCP tools and a small REST API with structured errors let an agent turn a list into an Instacart cart link. The agent cannot search products, see prices, place an order or follow one, and production keys need a demo review that Instacart puts at 30 to 40 days. No status page or published rate figure was found.", "opencommerce": "One strictly typed buy tool covers search, cart, checkout and order updates, and every payment not covered by an auto-approval rule waits for the shopper's passkey. The tool's description runs to about 14.5 KB, the purchase API under it is undocumented, the monitoring page reports test passes rather than uptime, and the CLI says sign-ups are by invitation." } }, "kind": "anchor.page", "links": { "api": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json", "html": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce", "json": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce.json", "llms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt", "markdown": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce.md", "mcp": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp", "slim": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce.min.md" }, "markdown": "opencommerce scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP's 48.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do commerce cart.\n\n- Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP: grade D, 48.5/100, rank #990 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/instacart.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instacart.json\n- opencommerce: grade B, 62/100, rank #528 of 1239. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/opencommerce.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencommerce.json\n- Best shopping and order APIs for AI agents buying for a person: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/shopping/index.md\n- All 32 shopping comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/shopping/index.md\n\n## Which one, for what\n\n### Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP (D)\n\nGood for: Grocery list and recipe hand-off for meal planning and recipe agents in the US and Canada.\n\nWatch for: No product search, price, order, order status or return endpoint. The person picks the store and checks out on Instacart\n\n### opencommerce (B)\n\nGood for: A company building a chat agent that buys for US shoppers at many online stores, restaurants and airlines through one tool, with payments approved by the shopper's passkey.\n\nAhead on:\n- Reliability, 43 against 22\n- Security \u0026 auth, 68 against 61\n- Payments \u0026 pricing, 40 against 20\n- Maintenance \u0026 community, 75 against 20\n- Transparency \u0026 trust, 63 against 53\n\nWatch for: The tool description is 57 rules and about 14,500 characters, read on every call\n\n\n## Score by category\n\n| Category | Weight | Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP | opencommerce | Edge |\n| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |\n| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 22 | 43 | opencommerce +21 |\n| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Schema \u0026 documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 81 | opencommerce +1 |\n| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 69 | Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP +2 |\n| Security \u0026 auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 68 | opencommerce +7 |\n| Payments \u0026 pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 40 | opencommerce +20 |\n| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |\n| Maintenance \u0026 community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 20 | 75 | opencommerce +55 |\n| Transparency \u0026 trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 53 | 63 | opencommerce +10 |\n| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |\n| **Total** | | **48.5 · D** | **62 · B** | |\n\n## Facts side by side\n\n| Fact | Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP | opencommerce |\n| --- | --- | --- |\n| Kind | HTTP API | SDK + MCP |\n| Vendor | Maplebear Inc. (Instacart) | Agentcard |\n| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp` | `https://api.agentcard.sh` |\n| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |\n| Auth | API key | OAuth |\n| Pricing | Free | Pay per use |\n| x402 | no | no |\n| Licence | Proprietary service under the Instacart Developer Platform Terms and Conditions | Proprietary. `@agent-cards/commerce-sdk` and the `agent-cards` CLI ship a licence of Agentcard Corporation that allows running them only to use Agentcard's services and forbids copying, reverse engineering and benchmarking a competing product. The repository they name is private |\n| Tools exposed | 2 | 1 |\n| Read-only variant documented | no | no |\n| llms.txt | yes | yes |\n| Last release | 2026-06-18 | 2026-10-30 |\n| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-07-10 |\n| Privacy policy last updated | couldn't be read | 2026-10-21 |\n| Customer content may train models | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |\n| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | yes |\n| Popularity | none | 2.7k npm/wk |\n\n## Verdicts\n\n**Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP.** Two compact MCP tools and a small REST API with structured errors let an agent turn a list into an Instacart cart link. The agent cannot search products, see prices, place an order or follow one, and production keys need a demo review that Instacart puts at 30 to 40 days. No status page or published rate figure was found.\n\n**opencommerce.** One strictly typed buy tool covers search, cart, checkout and order updates, and every payment not covered by an auto-approval rule waits for the shopper's passkey. The tool's description runs to about 14.5 KB, the purchase API under it is undocumented, the monitoring page reports test passes rather than uptime, and the CLI says sign-ups are by invitation.\n\n## Before you call either\n\n### Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP\n\n1. Connect to https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp over Streamable HTTP with Authorization: Bearer and an Instacart Developer Platform key. Test against https://mcp.dev.instacart.tools/mcp with a development key\n2. Give the person the returned products_link_url to choose a store and check out. No call places or tracks an order\n3. Cache each generated link and create a new one only when the list changes, as the docs advise\n4. Send line_item_measurements rather than quantity and unit on the REST shopping list endpoint, since those fields are deprecated\n5. Do not show priced items from more than one retailer on one screen or move items between retailer baskets. The developer terms forbid both\n\n### opencommerce\n\n1. Call `buy` with the shopper's words in `ask`, and set `confirm` true only after the shopper says yes to the cart you showed\n2. After a `timeout`, `unreachable` or `invalid_answer` error, read the conversation before sending the turn again, since the order may have gone through\n3. Show the cart's `max_charge` beside its total, because the approval holds up to that amount\n4. Use sandbox credentials for tests. `init` writes production credentials by default, and they place real orders\n5. Check a store with `GET /buy/merchants` before sending a shopper there, and suggest another store when it is `held_back` or `supported` is false\n\n## Questions\n\n### Which is better for AI agents, Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP or opencommerce?\n\nopencommerce scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP's 48.5 (D), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.\n\n### Can an agent call Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP and opencommerce without installing anything?\n\nYes. Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.instacart.com/mcp and opencommerce at https://api.agentcard.sh.\n\n\n## For agents\n\n- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce.min.md\n- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {\"a\": \"instacart\", \"b\": \"opencommerce\"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare instacart opencommerce`\n- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/instacart.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/opencommerce.json\n\n## Other comparisons with Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP or opencommerce\n\n- [Amazon Creators API vs opencommerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-creators-api-vs-opencommerce.md)\n- [Best Buy Developer API vs opencommerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/best-buy-vs-opencommerce.md)\n- [Etsy Open API v3 vs opencommerce](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/etsy-vs-opencommerce.md)\n- [opencommerce vs Shop MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-shop-mcp.md)\n- [opencommerce vs Walmart Affiliate Marketing API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-walmart-affiliate-api.md)\n- [opencommerce vs Walmart Agent Gateway](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-walmart-agent-gateway.md)\n- [opencommerce vs Zillow in Claude](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opencommerce-vs-zillow-claude.md)\n- [Amazon Creators API vs Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/amazon-creators-api-vs-instacart.md)\n- [Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP vs Walmart Affiliate Marketing API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-walmart-affiliate-api.md)\n- [Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP vs Shop MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-shop-mcp.md)\n", "meta": { "attribution": "Anchor Terminal (https://www.anchorterminal.com)", "attributionRequired": true, "credit": "CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link the page or API address you took it from (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)", "docs": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/docs/", "generatedAt": "2026-10-31", "license": "CC-BY-4.0", "method": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/", "methodology": "0.7", "openapi": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/openapi.json", "preview": false, "run": "2026-10-01", "runLabel": "October 2026 research run", "terms": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data" }, "page": { "breadcrumbs": [ { "name": "Home", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/" }, { "name": "Compare", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/" }, { "name": "Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP vs opencommerce", "url": "" } ], "description": "opencommerce scores 62 (B) to Instacart Developer Platform's 48.5 (D) for commerce cart. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.", "facts": [ "Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP D 48.5", "opencommerce B 62", "scores" ], "h1": "Instacart Developer Platform API + MCP vs opencommerce", "image": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/assets/og/compare-instacart-vs-opencommerce.png", "path": "/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce", "published": "2026-10-01", "section": "tools", "title": "Instacart Developer Platform vs opencommerce for AI agents (2026)", "toc": null, "updated": "2026-10-30", "url": "https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/instacart-vs-opencommerce" }, "tokens": { "markdown": 2300, "slim": 780 }, "version": 1 }