# Mapbox APIs + MCP vs TomTom Maps APIs + MCP

> Mapbox APIs + MCP has a score of 75.2 (BB) against TomTom Maps APIs + MCP's 55.1 (C). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is reliability, 52 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

Mapbox APIs + MCP has a score of 75.2 (BB) against TomTom Maps APIs + MCP's 55.1 (C). Both do geo geocode. The largest gap is reliability, 52 points.

- Mapbox APIs + MCP: grade BB, 75.2/100, rank #39 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/mapbox.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/mapbox.json
- TomTom Maps APIs + MCP: grade C, 55.1/100, rank #318 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tomtom.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tomtom.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Mapbox APIs + MCP for reliability (+52), schema & documentation (+14), agent ergonomics (+10), security & auth (+20), payments & pricing (+5), transparency & trust (+25).

Pick TomTom Maps APIs + MCP for maintenance & community (+6).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Mapbox APIs + MCP | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 82 | 30 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +52 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 71 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +14 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 88 | 78 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +10 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 71 | 51 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +20 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 25 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 80 | 86 | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP +6 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 86 | 61 | Mapbox APIs + MCP +25 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **75.2 · BB** | **55.1 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Mapbox APIs + MCP | TomTom Maps APIs + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Mapbox | TomTom |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.mapbox.com` | `https://api.tomtom.com` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | MIT (MCP server) | Apache-2.0 (MCP server) |
| Tools exposed | 29 | 15 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | `io.github.mapbox/mcp-server` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-07-30 | 2026-09-23 |
| Popularity | 353 stars, 2k npm/wk | 55 stars, 996 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3.6/5 (8) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Mapbox APIs + MCP.** Official MCP server, hosted at mcp.mapbox.com with OAuth or run locally, listed in the MCP registry. Storing geocodes needs the Permanent tier at $5 per 1,000, about 6.7 times the temporary rate.

**TomTom Maps APIs + MCP.** No-card free allowance of 20,000 geocodes, 20,000 reverse geocodes and 20,000 routes a month. Terms, rate limits and deprecation policy render client-side, so storage rules and notice periods are unverified.

## Before you call either

### Mapbox APIs + MCP

1. Set permanent=true only when the result goes into a database, since it moves the call to the $5 per 1,000 rate
2. Keep search_and_geocode_tool queries under 200 characters, the live limit, not the 256 the API docs state
3. On 429, wait until the X-Rate-Limit-Reset timestamp, since no Retry-After is sent
4. Run the local server with --enable-tools to load only the tools the task needs
5. Use category_search_tool for generic place types like coffee shops, not search_and_geocode_tool

### TomTom Maps APIs + MCP

1. Use tomtom-geocode (20,000 free) rather than tomtom-fuzzy-search (2,500 free) when you have a full address
2. Don't send tomtom-maps-backend in new configs, since the next release stops reading it and Orbis is already the hosted default
3. Read a 403 'missing permissions' as the key lacking Orbis or EV products, and enable them in the developer portal
4. Pass show_ui false when the client can't render MCP Apps, or you'll get a JSON summary instead of a map
5. Redact the key parameter before logging REST URLs

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