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Head to head · Seo keywords · October 2026 research run

Moz API vs SE Ranking API + MCP

SE Ranking API + MCP scores 50.9 (D) on agent readiness against Moz API's 45.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Moz API leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth. Both do seo keywords.

Moz APISEOmoz, Inc. · HTTP API E45.3/100#769 of 841 SE Ranking API + MCPSE Ranking (SER Acquisition Inc.) · HTTP API D50.9/100#681 of 841

Which one, for what

Moz API E

Good for Agents that need Domain Authority, backlink lists, link intersects, keyword volume and difficulty, search intent and ranking keywords at a low entry price, on a read-only data set.

Ahead on

  • Agent ergonomics, 74 against 58
  • Security & auth, 38 against 21

Watch for

No working public status page was found, and moz.statuspage.io reports the Moz Status page as inactive

SE Ranking API + MCP D

Good for An agent that needs keyword, backlink, domain and AI search visibility data at a published price per call, or that manages rank tracking projects for an SE Ranking customer.

Ahead on

  • Reliability, 51 against 42
  • Schema & documentation, 58 against 50
  • Payments & pricing, 40 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 79 against 28
  • Transparency & trust, 71 against 59

Watch for

No scoped or read-only keys. The MCP docs say a key has the same access as the account, including Project API deletes

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runMoz APISE Ranking API + MCPEdge
Reliability16%204251SE Ranking API + MCP +9
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25058SE Ranking API + MCP +8
Agent ergonomics13%16.27458Moz API +16
Security & auth14%17.53821Moz API +17
Payments & pricing10%12.52040SE Ranking API + MCP +20
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.82879SE Ranking API + MCP +51
Transparency & trust7%8.85971SE Ranking API + MCP +12
Negative events≤1500
Total45.3 · E50.9 · D

Facts side by side

FactMoz APISE Ranking API + MCP
KindHTTP APIHTTP API
VendorSEOmoz, Inc.SE Ranking (SER Acquisition Inc.)
Hosted endpointhttps://api.moz.com/jsonrpchttps://api.seranking.com
TransportsHTTP, Streamable HTTPHTTP, Streamable HTTP
AuthAPI keyOAuth or key
PricingFreemiumPay per use
Price for seo keywordsnot published$0.002 per record
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under the Moz API General Conditions (effective 12 August 2026 for new subscribers). Displaying Moz data to others requires attribution under the API legal pageProprietary service under the SE Ranking API Terms of Service. The OpenAPI file and the Claude skills on GitHub are MIT
Read-only variant documentednoyes
llms.txtnono
MCP registrynot listedcom.seranking/mcp
Last release2026-08-142026-09-28
Terms last updated2026-08-12no date given
Privacy policy last updated2025-04-082026-06-25
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot found in the text
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textyes
Terms restrict benchmarkingyesyes
Terms or service can change without noticeyesyes
Arbitration or class-action waiveryesnot found in the text
Popularitynone0 stars

Verdicts

Moz API

The JSON-RPC API documents every error code, its rate limits and the row cost of each method, and failed validation uses no quota. No working status page, SLA, machine-readable spec or official SDK was found. Tokens carry no scopes, and the free plan needs a credit card.

SE Ranking API + MCP

Every Data API endpoint has a published credit cost, credits sell from $50 for 250,000 with no expiry, and a 14-day trial needs no card. Keys carry full account access with no scopes or read-only mode, the key may travel in the URL, and no security page, SLA or llms.txt was found.

Before you call either

Moz API

  1. Send a request id of at least 24 characters (letters, numbers and hyphens). A UUID works. Shorter ids are rejected with -32654.
  2. Stop on a 401. Ten 401 or 403 responses in five minutes block the caller for 30 minutes.
  3. On 429 with code -32658 wait the Retry-After seconds. On code -32650 no wait time is given, so back off exponentially.
  4. Call quota.lookup (free) before large pulls. List methods charge one row per result, and limit is capped at 50 on link lists.
  5. Poll async.call.lookup for data.keyword.serp.generate, and collect the result within 20 seconds of first seeing it complete.

SE Ranking API + MCP

  1. Send the key as Authorization: Token <key>, not Bearer and not ?apikey=, so it stays out of URLs and logs
  2. Call GET /v1/account/subscription (0 credits) and read units_left before a large pull. A short balance returns Insufficient funds
  3. Set limit and cols on per-record endpoints. Backlink summaries cost 100 credits a target and keyword rows 10 credits each
  4. Stay under 10 requests a second on the Data API and 5 on the Project API per key. Repeated overruns block the Project API for 10 minutes
  5. Ask the owner before any Project API or PROJECT_* create, update or delete call. The key has no read-only mode and nothing confirms a delete

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Moz API or SE Ranking API + MCP?

SE Ranking API + MCP scores 50.9 (D) on agent readiness against Moz API's 45.3 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Moz API leads on agent ergonomics and security & auth.

Do Moz API and SE Ranking API + MCP need an API key?

Moz API needs an API key. SE Ranking API + MCP takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Moz API and SE Ranking API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Moz API has a hosted endpoint at https://api.moz.com/jsonrpc and SE Ranking API + MCP at https://api.seranking.com.

Other comparisons with Moz API or SE Ranking API + MCP

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