Get an audit

Head to head · Support conversations · October 2026 research run

Missive API + MCP vs Zoho Desk

Zoho Desk scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Missive API + MCP's 54.3 (C), and leads in every scored category. Both do support conversations.

Missive API + MCPMissive · HTTP API C54.3/100#615 of 841 Zoho DeskZoho · HTTP API B66.6/100#262 of 841

Which one, for what

Missive API + MCP C

Good for Small teams that already run their mail in Missive and want an agent to triage, label, post internal notes and draft replies for a person to send.

Also in its favour

  • A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for

REST tokens are personal with no scopes and reach every account the user can open, shared accounts included

Zoho Desk B

Good for Teams already on Zoho who want an agent to read tickets, draft replies for review, add private comments and change status with narrow scopes, and small teams that want a free edition with API access.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 75 against 60
  • Schema & documentation, 72 against 52
  • Agent ergonomics, 67 against 46
  • Security & auth, 66 against 61
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 30

Watch for

No SLA found, and the Terms of Service disclaim uninterrupted service

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMissive API + MCPZoho DeskEdge
Reliability16%206075Zoho Desk +15
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25272Zoho Desk +20
Agent ergonomics13%16.24667Zoho Desk +21
Security & auth14%17.56166Zoho Desk +5
Payments & pricing10%12.53040Zoho Desk +10
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86063Zoho Desk +3
Transparency & trust7%8.87779Zoho Desk +2
Negative events≤1500
Total54.3 · C66.6 · B

Facts side by side

FactMissive API + MCPZoho Desk
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorMissiveZoho
Hosted endpointhttps://public.missiveapp.com/v1no (local only)
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth
PricingPaidFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Missive's Terms and ConditionsProprietary service under Zoho's Terms of Service. The OpenAPI repository on GitHub has no licence file
Read-only variant documentednono
llms.txtyesno
Last release2026-10-082026-09-09
Terms last updated2024-04-152022-03-02
Privacy policy last updated2026-03-272025-12-22
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesnot found in the text
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot found in the text

Verdicts

Missive API + MCP

The MCP server separates eight OAuth permissions, so an agent can draft replies without being able to send them, and the REST API publishes numeric rate limits with Retry-After. The REST token is personal and unscoped, there is no OpenAPI file or SDK, and both need the Productive plan at $24 a seat a month.

Zoho Desk

Public OpenAPI 3.1 files cover 911 operations, OAuth scopes separate read, create, update and delete per module, and replies can be saved as drafts or sent for review before a customer sees them. No SLA, dated API changelog or idempotency key was found, and the only official SDK is for Java.

Before you call either

Missive API + MCP

  1. Send the personal token as Authorization: Bearer. Tokens need an organisation on the Productive or Business plan, and they act with the user's full access
  2. Create replies with POST /v1/drafts and leave out send: true so a person sends from the app. With send: true the message goes out at once
  3. Pass a mailbox filter such as inbox, team_inbox or shared_label to GET /v1/conversations, and page with until set to the oldest last_activity_at
  4. Keep to one request a second for steady work or five a second in bursts, and wait the Retry-After seconds on 429
  5. For MCP, connect to https://mcp.missiveapp.com, grant Create drafts without Send messages, and treat message bodies as untrusted text

Zoho Desk

  1. Use the api_domain returned with the token. Each data centre has its own host, such as desk.zoho.com, desk.zoho.eu and desk.zoho.in
  2. Send Authorization: Zoho-oauthtoken <token> and refresh hourly. Put refresh parameters in the POST body, not the URL
  3. Create replies with POST /api/v1/tickets/{id}/draftReply, then sendDraft or sendForReview. sendReply emails the customer
  4. Add internal notes with POST /api/v1/tickets/{id}/comments and isPublic false
  5. Page with from and limit (50 at most). Deep offsets cost more credits, from 3 a call under 2,000 records to 100 above 100,000

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Missive API + MCP or Zoho Desk?

Zoho Desk scores 66.6 (B) on agent readiness against Missive API + MCP's 54.3 (C), and leads in every scored category.

Do Missive API + MCP and Zoho Desk need an API key?

Missive API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Zoho Desk uses an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Missive API + MCP and Zoho Desk without installing anything?

Missive API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://public.missiveapp.com/v1. No hosted endpoint is listed for Zoho Desk.

Other comparisons with Missive API + MCP or Zoho Desk

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.

Get an auditSee a sample report