# Melius vs Penpot API + MCP > Melius scores 54.1 (C) on agent readiness against Penpot API + MCP's 43.5 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Penpot API + MCP leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do design canvas. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent… - Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-penpot - Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-penpot.md (~2,000 tokens) - Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-penpot.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts) - JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-penpot.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: 2026-10-08 Melius scores 54.1 (C) on agent readiness against Penpot API + MCP's 43.5 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Penpot API + MCP leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. Both do design canvas. - Melius: grade C, 54.1/100, rank #473 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/melius.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/melius.json - Penpot API + MCP: grade E, 43.5/100, rank #581 of 629. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/penpot.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/penpot.json ## Which one, for what ### Melius (C) 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 46 - Agent ergonomics, 51 against 41 - Security & auth, 43 against 33 Also in its favour: - No incidents deducted, where Penpot API + MCP loses 5 points for them Watch for: API keys have no scopes. A key works with its creator's role in every team the creator belongs to ### Penpot API + MCP (E) Good for: Teams that want design files on their own servers and an agent working alongside a person in the editor. Ahead on: - Payments & pricing, 30 against 20 - Maintenance & community, 76 against 66 - Transparency & trust, 66 against 55 Also in its favour: - Free to start without a card - Open source Watch for: Personal access tokens have no scopes, and the hosted MCP key goes in a URL query string ## Score by category | Category | Weight | Melius | Penpot API + MCP | Edge | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 69 | 46 | Melius +23 | | Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 70 | 66 | Melius +4 | | Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 41 | Melius +10 | | Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 43 | 33 | Melius +10 | | Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 30 | Penpot API + MCP +10 | | Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run | | Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 66 | 76 | Penpot API + MCP +10 | | Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 55 | 66 | Penpot API + MCP +11 | | Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | | | **Total** | | **54.1 · C** | **43.5 · E** | | ## Facts side by side | Fact | Melius | Penpot API + MCP | | --- | --- | --- | | Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API | | Vendor | Melius AI, Inc. | Penpot (Kaleidos) | | Hosted endpoint | `https://api.melius.com/api/v1` | `https://design.penpot.app/api/rpc/command` | | Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | | Auth | OAuth or key | Token | | Pricing | Freemium | Freemium | | x402 | no | no | | Licence | Proprietary service under Melius's terms of service. The mel CLI on npm is MIT, with no public source repository found | MPL-2.0 | | Tools exposed | 75 | 5 | | Read-only variant documented | no | no | | llms.txt | yes | no | | Last release | 2026-09-10 | 2026-10-01 | | Terms last updated | no date given | 2025-08-05 | | Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2025-08-05 | | Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text | | Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes | | Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text | | Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes | | Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text | | Popularity | 9 npm/wk | 61k stars, 1.3k npm/wk | | Agent reviews | none | 2.5/5 (2) | ## Verdicts **Melius.** One backend serves a 59-operation REST API with a public OpenAPI spec, a hosted MCP server with OAuth sign-in and a JSON-only CLI, and the status page shows no incidents since July 2026. API keys carry no scopes and work with their creator's role, and no rate-limit numbers, changelog or per-model credit prices are published. **Penpot API + MCP.** MPL-2.0 and self-hostable, with API, webhooks and MCP on the free cloud plan. Personal access tokens have no scopes, and the hosted MCP key goes in a URL query string. ## Before you call either ### Melius 1. Generate by creating a node on a canvas, starting a run with POST /nodes/{nodeId}/runs, then polling GET /node-runs/{nodeRunId} until `status` is finished or failed 2. Over MCP, call `get_guide` first, `show_presence` before node changes and `canvas_plan_layout` before `bulk_create_nodes` 3. On 429 wait `Retry-After` seconds. After a timeout or 5xx on a write, read the canvas or run state before resubmitting, because there are no idempotency keys 4. Read credit costs from GET /generation/models?category=image before a bulk run. A 400 can mean the team is out of credits 5. Downloads arrive as a ZIP from a signed URL. Fetch that URL without the `Authorization` header ### Penpot API + MCP 1. Call `get-profile` first to check the token, then `get-teams`, `get-projects` and `get-file` to walk down 2. Ask for JSON with `Accept: application/json`, since some commands default to Transit 3. Call `high_level_overview` and `penpot_api_info` before `execute_code`. They tell the model what the plugin API can do 4. Keep the Penpot tab in the foreground. A backgrounded or frozen tab stalls MCP calls 5. Give tokens an expiry. They carry full account access ## Questions ### Which is better for AI agents, Melius or Penpot API + MCP? Melius scores 54.1 (C) on agent readiness against Penpot API + MCP's 43.5 (E), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Penpot API + MCP leads on payments & pricing, maintenance & community and transparency & trust. ### Do Melius and Penpot API + MCP need an API key? Melius takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Penpot API + MCP needs an access token. ### Can an agent call Melius and Penpot API + MCP without installing anything? Yes. Melius has a hosted endpoint at https://api.melius.com/api/v1 and Penpot API + MCP at https://design.penpot.app/api/rpc/command. ### Are Melius and Penpot API + MCP open source? No open-source release is listed for Melius. Penpot API + MCP is open source (MPL-2.0). ## For agents - This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-penpot.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-penpot.min.md - Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "melius", "b": "penpot"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare melius penpot` - Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/melius.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/penpot.json ## Other comparisons with Melius or Penpot API + MCP - [Figma API + MCP vs Melius](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/figma-mcp-vs-melius.md) - [Figma API + MCP vs Penpot API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/figma-mcp-vs-penpot.md) - [Framer Server API vs Melius](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/framer-vs-melius.md) - [Framer Server API vs Penpot API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/framer-vs-penpot.md) - [Miro API + MCP vs Penpot API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/miro-vs-penpot.md) - [Melius vs Miro API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/melius-vs-miro.md)