# Microsoft Advertising API vs Refersion MCP (slim)

> Microsoft Advertising scores 60.4 (C) to Refersion MCP's 52.4 (D) for ad reporting. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

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- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-02
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Microsoft Advertising API scores 60.4 (C) on agent readiness against Refersion MCP's 52.4 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Refersion MCP leads on reliability. Both do ad reporting.

- Microsoft Advertising API: C 60.4, rank #542 of 1266 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/microsoft-advertising-api.min.md
- Refersion MCP: D 52.4, rank #900 of 1266 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/refersion.min.md
- Microsoft Advertising API, good for Agents that manage or report on Microsoft Advertising accounts, including Google Ads imports. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 79 against 46; Agent ergonomics, 63 against 50; Payments & pricing, 30 against 12.
- Refersion MCP, good for A brand or agency running an affiliate or influencer programme on Refersion who wants an assistant to review conversions, credit missing orders, approve applicants and compare affiliates across client accounts. Ahead on Reliability, 72 against 60.

| Category | Microsoft Advertising API | Refersion MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 60 | 72 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 79 | 46 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 63 | 50 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 60 | 58 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 12 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 61 | 58 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 65 | 65 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Microsoft Advertising API | Refersion MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Microsoft | Refersion Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://campaign.api.bingads.microsoft.com/CampaignManagement/v13` | `https://api.refersion.com/mcp` |
| Pricing | Free | Paid |
| Licence | Proprietary service. The .NET, Java, Python and PHP SDKs are MIT | Proprietary hosted service under Refersion's Terms of Service (last updated 21 November 2024), which name Refersion Inc., a New Jersey corporation. No source code or package is published for the MCP server |
| Tools exposed | 7 | none |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-10-26 |
| Terms last updated | couldn't be read | 2024-11-21 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-01 | 2024-11-21 |
| Customer content may train models | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | couldn't be read | not found in the text |
| Popularity | 128 stars, 19k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (4) | none |

Why the edge:
- Schema & documentation, Microsoft Advertising API +33: Microsoft Advertising API 79 (A public WSDL for each of the six SOAP services, and REST URLs with JSON templates on every operation page. No public OpenAPI file was found, only a generated `openapi_client` inside the SDKs (15). learn.microsoft.com/llms.txt returns 404, but every page is returned as Markdown for `Accept: text/markdown` (10). Reference pages state each element's purpose, limits and required headers, with guides per service (15). Typed data objects and value sets, required elements marked (13). Request and response templates in SOAP and JSON with ValueHere placeholders, code examples in four languages and an operation error code list (11). Version 13 with dated monthly release notes (15).); Refersion MCP 46 (The MCP tool definitions can be read only after signing in, which this run didn't do. Refersion says each tool maps to an endpoint of API v2026-08, whose OpenAPI 3.1 file is public at refersion.dev with 36 paths and 44 operations. That counts in part, since it's the API's contract and not the tools' (12 of 25). No llms.txt on refersion.com or refersion.dev (both 404) and no Markdown docs for agents (0 of 10). The OpenAPI descriptions run 240 to 1,221 characters and state behaviour and preconditions (an affiliate with unpaid conversions can't be deleted, `topics` replaces rather than merges), with little on when not to call, and the MCP descriptions weren't read (8 of 20). 315 required markers, but only 5 enums, and statuses such as PENDING or APPROVED are listed in prose rather than as enums (6 of 15). 615 examples and documented 401, 402, 403, 404, 422 and 429 responses in the API file, none readable for the MCP tools (10 of 15). A dated API version with a no-breaking-change commitment and dated product posts on the blog. The changelog site wasn't read (its robots.txt disallows agents) and the MCP server has no version of its own (10 of 15). Total 46.)
- Payments & pricing, Microsoft Advertising API +18: Microsoft Advertising API 30 (No x402, MPP or L402 (0). No fee for API access was found, and none is stated as waived. Ad spend is set by auction, so no unit price is published (10). The sandbox needs no payment method and takes a shared developer token (20). A person signs up, registers an Entra app and grants consent in a browser (0).); Refersion MCP 12 (No machine payment protocol (0 of 40). Plan prices are public without a login, Launch $39 and Growth $199 a month plus 3 or 2 per cent of affiliate-driven sales, but nothing says which plan includes the MCP server, and Scale is through sales (10 of 20). The free Marketplace Listing only publishes an offer, no trial is published, and API access is ticked for Growth only (0 of 20). A merchant signs up in a browser and approves the assistant at consent. Clients can identify themselves by a client ID metadata document with no manual registration, which earns 2 (2 of 20). Total 12.)
- Agent ergonomics, Microsoft Advertising API +13: Microsoft Advertising API 63 (Reports take a chosen column list and Get operations take IDs and `ReturnAdditionalFields`, but entity responses return whole objects (15). `PageInfo` paging and predicates on Search operations, report filters and scopes, and entity selection on bulk downloads (17). Numeric and symbolic error codes, a `TrackingId` on every response and `PartialErrors` per item, though SOAP faults arrive as HTTP 500 and some failures are an unmapped internal error (15). No idempotency key or validate-only mode found. Partial update on most campaign objects is the only retry aid (5). SDKs for .NET, Java, Python and PHP. Each call needs a token and up to three more headers (11).); Refersion MCP 50 (Tool count and definition size couldn't be read. Refersion says each tool maps to an endpoint of an API with 44 operations, which points to more than 30 tools, so this takes the more-than-30 reading (5 of 25). The API has page and limit, a cursor on webhook endpoints, sorting and many range filters on affiliates and conversions; whether the tools pass all of them through wasn't seen (15 of 20). Documented 422 validation errors, 402 plan-limit messages such as 'Your plan does not include webhook access.', and a 429 body with `retryAfter` (14 of 20). Refersion says every tool is marked as reading, changing or deleting, so clients can confirm a delete, but the annotations weren't read and no idempotency keys exist (8 of 20). No API key or SDK is needed for the MCP server, and Refersion's examples are plain requests. Required inputs couldn't be read (8 of 15). Total 50.)
- Reliability, Refersion MCP +12: Microsoft Advertising API 60 (Graded on the public API, read with the hosted lines. Platform health blog at status.ads.microsoft.com with areas for each API and dated posts (20). 40 posts from 20 July to 7 October 2026, 21 tagged Reporting API and all of those for delayed data, from three hours to six days. None reports the Campaign Management, Bulk, Customer Management or Ad Insight APIs down. Scored between minor and major for the frequency (15). Throttling is documented without numbers, and the Bulk and Reporting limits are called internal and subject to change (5). Wait 60 seconds after error 117 and up to 15 minutes after Bulk error 4204, with partial success on writes, but no idempotency key found (10). No SLA found (0). Version 13 is generally available. The MCP server is in open beta and isn't the surface graded (10).); Refersion MCP 72 (Read with the hosted lines, for the remote server at api.refersion.com/mcp. status.refersion.com is an Atlassian Statuspage with components for the dashboards, click and conversion tracking, REST API and GraphQL API, though none for the MCP server (20). The last 90 days hold one incident, on 1 September 2026, when the marketing website didn't load for about two hours while tracking and the app stayed up. The one before was a cloud-provider degradation on 20 October 2025 (20 of 30). API v2026-08 publishes 300 reads, 60 writes and 30 webhook-endpoint requests a minute per account. The tools map to that API per Refersion, but no limit is stated for the MCP server itself (12 of 15). 429 responses carry Retry-After with the wait in the body, and a few operations are documented as idempotent, but there are no idempotency keys for writes such as manual credits (10 of 15). No SLA found (0 of 10). The server isn't labelled beta or preview on the product page or the launch post (10). Total 72.)