# Linq vs Telnyx API + MCP

> Telnyx scores 75.3 (BB) to Linq's 71.7 (BB) for sms. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linq-vs-telnyx
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/linq-vs-telnyx.md (~3,550 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: 2026-11-07

Telnyx API + MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Linq's 71.7 (BB), and leads in 1 of 7 scored categories. Linq leads on security & auth. Both do sms.

- Linq: grade BB, 71.7/100, rank #151 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/linq.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/linq.json
- Telnyx API + MCP: grade BB, 75.3/100, rank #68 of 1510. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/telnyx.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/telnyx.json
- Best SMS, WhatsApp and messaging APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/messaging/index.md
- All 190 messaging comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/messaging/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Linq (BB)

Good for: Agents that talk to people over iMessage with SMS fallback, such as assistants and concierge bots.

Ahead on:
- Security & auth, 50 against 45

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

Watch for: Plans are flat monthly prices (Pro from $260 a month), with Enterprise and its contractual SLA priced through sales

### Telnyx API + MCP (BB)

Good for: Cost-sensitive US SMS and for agents that must onboard and pay without a person.

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 65 against 40

Watch for: No per-key scopes or read-only keys, and the MCP can send or buy numbers without confirmation


## Why the edge

### Payments & pricing: Telnyx API + MCP +25

- Linq (40): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Public plan prices only, Hobby $0 and Pro from $260 a month, with no per-message fee (10 of 20). Hobby is free with no card, and the Pro trial needs no card (20). `linq signup` creates an account, an API key and a number from a terminal, but a person has to read back the emailed code, so half (10 of 20). 0 + 10 + 20 + 10 = 40.
- Telnyx API + MCP (65): x402 exists on Telnyx's own API at /v2/x402/credit_account (USDC on Base), with MPP at /v2/machine-payments/account-credit (Stripe Link or Tempo USDC), but both top up account credit rather than pay per message. Telnyx's x402 skill says x402 sits behind an account feature flag (403 when it's off) and that per-payment minimum and maximum limits are configurable and stated in 422 errors; the MPP skill names no flag (25 of 40). Per-part SMS and MMS rates and carrier passthrough fees are published without a login, also as pricing.md (20). No free credit, a new account starts at zero (0). An agent can sign up through /v2/bot_challenge and /v2/bot_signup, confirm by a magic link sent to a mailbox it can read, mint a key at /v2/api_keys and fund the account by MPP or x402 with no browser (20).

### Security & auth: Linq +5

- Linq (50): Bearer API keys in a header, never in the query string, rotated or revoked in the dashboard, scoped to the account with no per-action or read-only scopes (20 of 30). Sandbox keys reach only verified handles, and the MCP server's `--code-allow-http-gets` and method allow and block lists limit its code tool; no approval step for sends (10 of 20). Inbound iMessage and SMS text reaches the agent, and no prompt-injection guidance was found in the docs or the MCP instructions (0 of 15). Every response carries a `trace_id`; no operator request log was found in the docs (5 of 15). SOC 2 Type II reports for 2024, 2025 and 2026 and a 2026 penetration test on request, a vulnerability disclosure policy open on the trust centre and SECURITY.md in the SDK repository; no security.txt or bug bounty (15 of 20). 20 + 10 + 0 + 5 + 15 = 50.
- Telnyx API + MCP (45): Bearer API keys created and revoked in the portal, with no per-key scopes found. Claude connectors can authorise through the portal instead, and the OAuth authorisation-server metadata, re-read on 1 November, still lists 32 product scopes such as messaging.read, messaging.write and numbers.write, but no document says how a client picks them or that a token is held to them, so the line stays at plain revocable keys (20). No read-only key mode found. The hosted MCP's invoke_api_endpoint carries destructiveHint true but can send messages or buy numbers with no confirmation step on Telnyx's side (0 of 20). Inbound SMS and WhatsApp bodies are untrusted text. Messaging webhooks are signed, and we found no prompt-injection guidance (5 of 15). Message and detail records by API, with no account audit log found (10 of 15). SOC 2 Type II and ISO 27001 per Telnyx's compliance file, and telnyx-node has a SECURITY.md with a reporting route. security.txt returned 404 at both locations on 1 November and no bug bounty found (10 of 20). 20 + 0 + 5 + 10 + 10 = 45.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Linq | Telnyx API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 83 | 80 | Linq +3 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 93 | 93 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 90 | 90 | even |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 50 | 45 | Linq +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 65 | Telnyx API + MCP +25 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 83 | 83 | even |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 72 | even |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -2 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **71.7 · BB** | **75.3 · BB** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Linq | Telnyx API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Linq App Inc. | Telnyx |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.linqapp.com/api/partner/v3` | `https://api.telnyx.com/v2` |
| Transports | HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Pay per use |
| Price for sms | not published | $0.004 per message |
| x402 | no | payer tooling only |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Linq App Inc.'s terms of service and sale. The TypeScript, Python and Go SDKs, the MCP server and the CLI are Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 2 | 3 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.linq-team/linq` | `io.github.team-telnyx/telnyx` |
| Last release | 2026-11-05 | 2026-10-28 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-04-14 | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-26 | 2026-03-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |
| Popularity | 264k npm/wk | 197 stars, 417k npm/wk, 179k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## How the scores have moved

### Linq

No score change since it was listed.

### Telnyx API + MCP

- +1.6 on 1 November 2026: product
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist
- -0.2 on 8 October 2026: checklist

## Verdicts

**Linq.** Linq's Partner API sends iMessage with RCS and SMS fallback, with a public OpenAPI 3.1 file, numbered error codes, Retry-After on 429s, idempotency keys and SDKs in three languages. Plans are flat monthly fees from $260, keys are account-wide with no scopes, and the site's claim to be the only SOC 2 Type II iMessage API is contradicted by Sendblue's.

**Telnyx API + MCP.** US long code SMS $0.004 a part outbound and inbound, published with carrier fees and as machine-readable pricing.md, and message sends now accept an idempotency key. No per-key scopes or read-only keys, and the MCP can send or buy numbers without confirmation.

## Before you call either

### Linq

1. Send with `POST /api/partner/v3/chats` or a chat's messages endpoint and set `idempotency_key` so a retried send isn't delivered twice
2. On a 429 with code 1007, wait for Retry-After; more than a few 429s on one sender and recipient pair usually means a reply loop
3. Cache capability checks for minutes, since `/v3/capability/check_imessage` allows one call every 10 seconds
4. Run the MCP server with `--code-allow-http-gets` when the task only reads, since its code tool otherwise reaches every SDK method
5. Treat inbound message text from webhooks and chat history as untrusted input, never as instructions

### Telnyx API + MCP

1. Register the 10DLC brand ($4.50) and campaign ($10 a month) before sending US long code traffic
2. Send a fresh UUID as Idempotency-Key on each message send and reuse it only when retrying that send
3. Back off on error 10011 for as long as the Retry-After header says
4. Call get_api_endpoint_schema before invoke_api_endpoint, the schemas aren't in the tool list
5. Give each agent its own key, since keys can't be scoped
6. Verify the signature on inbound message webhooks before acting on the text
7. Fund by MPP if x402 returns 403, x402 needs a feature flag on the account

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Linq or Telnyx API + MCP?

Telnyx API + MCP scores 75.3 (BB) on agent readiness against Linq's 71.7 (BB), and leads in 1 of 7 scored categories. Linq leads on security & auth.

### Do Linq and Telnyx API + MCP need an API key?

Both need an API key.

### Can an agent call Linq and Telnyx API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Linq has a hosted endpoint at https://api.linqapp.com/api/partner/v3 and Telnyx API + MCP at https://api.telnyx.com/v2.


## For agents

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

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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