# 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. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/missive-vs-zoho-desk
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/missive-vs-zoho-desk.md (~2,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/missive-vs-zoho-desk.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/missive-vs-zoho-desk.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: 2026-10-09

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 + MCP: grade C, 54.3/100, rank #615 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/missive.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/missive.json
- Zoho Desk: grade B, 66.6/100, rank #262 of 842. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zoho-desk.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoho-desk.json

## 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

| Category | Weight | Missive API + MCP | Zoho Desk | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 60 | 75 | Zoho Desk +15 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 52 | 72 | Zoho Desk +20 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 46 | 67 | Zoho Desk +21 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 61 | 66 | Zoho Desk +5 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 30 | 40 | Zoho Desk +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 63 | Zoho Desk +3 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 77 | 79 | Zoho Desk +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **54.3 · C** | **66.6 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Missive API + MCP | Zoho Desk |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Missive | Zoho |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://public.missiveapp.com/v1` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Missive's Terms and Conditions | Proprietary service under Zoho's Terms of Service. The OpenAPI repository on GitHub has no licence file |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-09-09 |
| Terms last updated | 2024-04-15 | 2022-03-02 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-03-27 | 2025-12-22 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not 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.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/missive-vs-zoho-desk.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/missive-vs-zoho-desk.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "missive", "b": "zoho-desk"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare missive zoho-desk`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/missive.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zoho-desk.json

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