# Karrio vs Sendcloud

> Sendcloud scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on reliability. Both do shipping rates. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-sendcloud
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-sendcloud.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-sendcloud.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-sendcloud.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

Sendcloud scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on reliability. Both do shipping rates.

- Karrio: grade D, 48.7/100, rank #617 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/karrio.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/karrio.json
- Sendcloud: grade B, 62/100, rank #352 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendcloud.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sendcloud.json

## Which one, for what

### Karrio (D)

Good for: A team that wants to host its own multi-carrier API with its own carrier contracts and can maintain a Django and PostgreSQL stack.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 76 against 68

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No release since 2026.1.32 on 23 June 2026, 107 days before this check, and fix pull requests opened in September 2026 were still open

### Sendcloud (B)

Good for: An agent shipping parcels for a European shop that wants many carriers behind one account, including its own carrier contracts on paid plans.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 68
- Agent ergonomics, 71 against 57
- Security & auth, 49 against 44
- Maintenance & community, 67 against 29
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 56

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: One OAuth scope, `api`, and key pairs with full account access. No read-only credential was found in the reviewed documentation


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Karrio | Sendcloud | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 76 | 68 | Karrio +8 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 68 | 89 | Sendcloud +21 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 71 | Sendcloud +14 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 44 | 49 | Sendcloud +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 37 | Karrio +3 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 29 | 67 | Sendcloud +38 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 56 | 72 | Sendcloud +16 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -7 | -3 | |
| **Total** | | **48.7 · D** | **62 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Karrio | Sendcloud |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Karrio, Inc. | Sendcloud B.V. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://mcp.sendcloud.com/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | API key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | LGPL-3.0 for the server, SDK and modules. Code under `ee/` is under the Karrio Enterprise licence and needs a subscription for production use. The MCP package in `packages/mcp` is Apache-2.0 | Proprietary service under Sendcloud's terms and conditions |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| Last release | 2026-06-23 | 2026-10-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2025-04-08 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-04-08 | no date given |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 799 stars, 338 PyPI/wk | none |

## Verdicts

**Karrio.** A current OpenAPI 3.0.3 contract with 65 paths, a free LGPL-3.0 server and 30 carrier connectors suit a team that hosts it. The last release was 23 June 2026, the `@karrio/mcp` package the docs install is absent from npm, and `api.karrio.io` didn't resolve on 8 October 2026.

**Sendcloud.** API v3 has 29 public OpenAPI 3.1 specs, an llms.txt index, a dated changelog and a hosted MCP server with toolset filtering. OAuth has one scope, `api`, so a credential can't be limited to reading. The changelog records response fields removed from tracking events on 25 September 2026 with no earlier deprecation entry.

## Before you call either

### Karrio

1. Run your own instance with Docker Compose and call it at `http://localhost:5002`. Don't rely on `api.karrio.io`, which didn't resolve on 8 October 2026
2. Don't run `npx karrio-mcp` or `npx -y @karrio/mcp`. Neither name is published on npm, so build the server from `packages/mcp` in the repository
3. Change the default `admin@example.com` and `demo` login before the instance is reachable, and upgrade to 2026.1.32 or later so passwords aren't stored as MD5
4. Don't blind-retry `POST /v1/shipments` with a `service` set or `POST /v1/shipments/{id}/purchase`. Fetch the shipment and check its status first, since no idempotency key exists
5. Use a test-mode API key while building. Send it as the HTTP Basic username or as `Authorization: Token key_...`

### Sendcloud

1. Use API v3 at https://panel.sendcloud.sc/api/v3. The v2 create-parcel endpoint is closed to accounts created from April 2026
2. Test with `shipping_option_code` `sendcloud:letter` (returns use `sendcloud:letterreturn`). Any other label is billed unless cancelled within the carrier's deadline
3. Set `external_reference_id` on every shipment so a retry returns the existing shipment (409) instead of a second label
4. Read the `errors` array on synchronous announce responses. A carrier failure can arrive inside a success status
5. Connect MCP with `?toolsets=shipments,shipping-options,parcel-tracking,returns` to keep the tool list short. Create and cancel tools act on the live account

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Karrio or Sendcloud?

Sendcloud scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Karrio's 48.7 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Karrio leads on reliability.

### Do Karrio and Sendcloud need an API key?

Karrio needs an API key. Sendcloud takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Karrio and Sendcloud without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for Karrio. Sendcloud has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.sendcloud.com/mcp.

### Are Karrio and Sendcloud open source?

Karrio is open source (LGPL-3.0 for the server, SDK and modules. Code under `ee/` is under the Karrio Enterprise licence and needs a subscription for production use. The MCP package in `packages/mcp` is Apache-2.0). No open-source release is listed for Sendcloud.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Karrio or Sendcloud

- [EasyPost vs Karrio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-karrio.md)
- [EasyPost vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [Easyship vs Karrio](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easyship-vs-karrio.md)
- [Easyship vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easyship-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [Karrio vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-shipbob.md)
- [Karrio vs Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-shippo.md)
- [Karrio vs ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-shipstation.md)
- [Sendcloud vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-shipbob.md)
- [Sendcloud vs Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-shippo.md)
- [Sendcloud vs ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-shipstation.md)
- [Karrio vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-ship24.md)
- [Sendcloud vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24.md)