# Melius vs pen.dev (slim)

> Melius scores 54.1 (C) on agent readiness against pen.dev's 47.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. pen.dev leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do design canvas. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-pen-dev.md (~2,050 tokens) · this version ~680 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-pen-dev.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-pen-dev
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Melius scores 54.1 (C) on agent readiness against pen.dev's 47.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. pen.dev leads on agent ergonomics and payments & pricing. Both do design canvas.

- Melius: C 54.1, rank #621 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/melius.min.md
- pen.dev: D 47.6, rank #740 of 842 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pen-dev.min.md
- Melius, good for An agent producing batches of ad creative, product images or short videos on a shared canvas that people then review, with many models behind one key. Ahead on Reliability, 69 against 33; Schema & documentation, 70 against 61; Security & auth, 43 against 33; Maintenance & community, 66 against 59. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.
- pen.dev, good for A coding agent that designs screens beside the code and keeps them in Git, including in CI. Ahead on Agent ergonomics, 66 against 51; Payments & pricing, 38 against 20. Also Runs on your own machine.

| Category | Melius | pen.dev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 69 | 33 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 70 | 61 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 51 | 66 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 43 | 33 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 20 | 38 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 66 | 59 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 55 | 53 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Melius | pen.dev |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Melius AI, Inc. | High Agency, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.melius.com/api/v1` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | stdio |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Melius's terms of service. The mel CLI on npm is MIT, with no public source repository found | Proprietary. The CLI package on npm carries a proprietary licence file, and the apps fall under the vendor's EULA |
| Tools exposed | 75 | 6 |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-10 | 2026-10-08 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-10-06 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 9 npm/wk | 3.5k npm/wk |