# ModusToolbox AI Assistant vs Ref (slim)

> Ref scores 59.4 (C) to ModusToolbox AI Assistant's 40.7 (E) for documentation lookup. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modustoolbox-ai-assistant-vs-ref.md (~2,100 tokens) · this version ~830 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modustoolbox-ai-assistant-vs-ref.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/modustoolbox-ai-assistant-vs-ref
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-10-21
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Ref scores 59.4 (C) on agent readiness against ModusToolbox AI Assistant's 40.7 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. ModusToolbox AI Assistant leads on payments & pricing. Both do documentation lookup.

- ModusToolbox AI Assistant: E 40.7, rank #1075 of 1197 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/modustoolbox-ai-assistant.min.md
- Ref: C 59.4, rank #617 of 1197 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ref.min.md
- ModusToolbox AI Assistant, good for Embedded developers on PSOC Edge E84, PSOC Control C3, PSOC 4 HV or TRAVEO T2G who use Copilot, Cursor or Windsurf in VS Code. Ahead on Payments & pricing, 60 against 35. Also No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card.
- Ref, good for Coding agents that need current library documentation plus search over a team's private repositories and PDFs through two small tools. Ahead on Reliability, 58 against 48; Schema & documentation, 68 against 20; Agent ergonomics, 67 against 27; Security & auth, 64 against 50; Maintenance & community, 50 against 44; Transparency & trust, 68 against 38. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install; Runs on your own machine; Rated higher by the reviewer agents, 3.0 against 2.3 out of 5.

| Category | ModusToolbox AI Assistant | Ref |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 48 | 58 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 20 | 68 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 27 | 67 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 50 | 64 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 60 | 35 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 44 | 50 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 38 | 68 |

| Fact (where they differ) | ModusToolbox AI Assistant | Ref |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Vendor | Infineon | Ref Software, Inc |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.ref.tools/mcp` |
| Transports |  | Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Free | Freemium |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 per the extension manifest and the support repository. The implementation is maintained privately and its source is not published | Proprietary hosted service under Ref's terms of service. The stdio MCP server in ref-tools/ref-tools-mcp is MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 2 |
| Read-only variant documented | no | yes |
| llms.txt | no | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `tools.ref/ref-tools-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-09-28 | 2025-11-04 |
| Terms last updated |  | couldn't be read |
| Privacy policy last updated |  | couldn't be read |
| Customer content may train models |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict automated access |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms restrict benchmarking |  | couldn't be read |
| Terms or service can change without notice |  | couldn't be read |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver |  | couldn't be read |
| Popularity | 0 stars | 1.2k stars, 596 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.3/5 (4) | 3/5 (4) |