# Nansen x402 API vs Yield.xyz MCP server (slim)

> Yield.xyz scores 74 (BB) to Nansen x402's 64.4 (B) for crypto market data. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nansen-x402-api-vs-yield-xyz-mcp.md (~3,550 tokens) · this version ~2,030 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nansen-x402-api-vs-yield-xyz-mcp.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nansen-x402-api-vs-yield-xyz-mcp
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp · Updated: 2026-11-07
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)

Yield.xyz MCP server scores 74 (BB) on agent readiness against Nansen x402 API's 64.4 (B), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Nansen x402 API leads on maintenance & community. Both do crypto market data.

- Nansen x402 API: B 64.4, rank #470 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nansen-x402-api.min.md
- Yield.xyz MCP server: BB 74, rank #97 of 1510 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/yield-xyz-mcp.min.md
- Nansen x402 API, good for Agents that track wallets, token flows and Smart Money and want to pay per call without an account. Ahead on Maintenance & community, 75 against 60. Also No key needed to call it.
- Yield.xyz MCP server, good for Agents and wallets that need to find, compare and enter staking or DeFi yields, paying per call over x402 if they like. Ahead on Reliability, 65 against 45; Schema & documentation, 95 against 84; Security & auth, 56 against 45; Payments & pricing, 100 against 95. Also Agent-ready, a grade of BB or better; No incidents deducted, where Nansen x402 API loses 3 points for them.

| Category | Nansen x402 API | Yield.xyz MCP server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 45 | 65 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 84 | 95 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 86 | 82 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 45 | 56 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 95 | 100 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 75 | 60 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 51 | 53 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Nansen x402 API | Yield.xyz MCP server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | MCP server |
| Vendor | Nansen | Omni Ltd. (Yield.xyz) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.nansen.ai/api/v1/` | `https://mcp.yield.xyz/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Pay per use | Freemium |
| x402 | yes, from $0.01/call | yes, from $0.001/call |
| Licence | proprietary | none |
| Tools exposed | none | 22 |
| Last release | 2026-10-30 | none |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | not read yet |
| Privacy policy last updated | no document linked | not read yet |
| Agent reviews | 3.5/5 (2) | none |

Why the edge:
- Reliability, Yield.xyz MCP server +20: Nansen x402 API 45 (We found no status page. status.nansen.ai still doesn't resolve on 1 November, and neither the API docs, llms.txt nor the site link one (0). No readable incident history (5). Limits published, 15 a second and 300 a minute on Free, 75 and 1,500 on paid plans, and 5 a second and 60 a minute per wallet on x402, which the unpaid x402 call on 1 November echoed in `x-ratelimit-limit-second` and `-minute` headers (15). 429 carries `Retry-After` and a `retry_after` field plus `X-Nansen-RateLimit-Scope`, timeouts and upstream errors say to retry with backoff, and x402 calls that hit the rate limit aren't charged. Every call is a read (15). No SLA found (0). We found no beta or preview label on the x402 route (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 45.); Yield.xyz MCP server 65 (Status page at status.yield.xyz, all services online, with a notice on protocol-level Aave pauses (20). History not read (5). Plan rate limits with headers documented, and the MCP free quotas published with numbers (15). 429 with retry-after and a retry strategy documented; transactions are built unsigned and never broadcast (15). No SLA read (0). Not labelled beta (10). 20 + 5 + 15 + 15 + 0 + 10 = 65.)
- Maintenance & community, Nansen x402 API +15: Nansen x402 API 75 (Changelog entries on 30 October 2026, the newest of them a labelled breaking change to who-bought-sold (30). 32 dated entries in the 90 days from 3 August, from 24 August to 30 October (20). Public changelog and docs that answer questions through `?ask=`. We didn't test support (10). An MCP server with connectors for Claude, ChatGPT and Grok is documented. We didn't verify official SDKs (10). No public package to check (5). 30 + 20 + 10 + 10 + 5 = 75.); Yield.xyz MCP server 60 (Weekly changelog entries into November 2026 (30). More than three dated entries in 90 days (20). Docs, a trust page and support; issues not public (10 of 15). Not found in our import of the official registry (0). No package health read (0). 30 + 20 + 10 + 0 + 0 = 60. Registry presence read from Anchor Terminal's own daily import of the official MCP registry (/api/v1/registry.json, 6 November 2026), not the registry's API.)
- Schema & documentation, Yield.xyz MCP server +11: Nansen x402 API 84 (Each endpoint page embeds an OpenAPI 3.1 definition. We found no single downloadable spec (22). llms.txt at docs.nansen.ai, Markdown copies of every page and a `?ask=` query on the docs (10). Endpoint pages describe what each returns, but not when to prefer one endpoint over a similar one (12). Typed inputs with a chain enum, `buy_or_sell` enum, sortable-field lists, `per_page` from 1 to 1,000 and required fields marked (14). An error catalogue with stable codes, `request_id`, `doc_url` and `param`. The `who-bought-sold` page has no worked request or response example (11). Dated changelog with one page per change (15).); Yield.xyz MCP server 95 (22 tools read from tools/list with JSON Schema inputs and 14 enums (25). llms.txt (10). Descriptions with order of use, such as yields_get before actions_enter (18 of 20). Typed inputs with enums, ranges and defaults (15). A tool reference with inputs and returns for every tool (12 of 15). Weekly dated product changelog (15). 25 + 10 + 18 + 15 + 12 + 15 = 95.)
- Security & auth, Yield.xyz MCP server +11: Nansen x402 API 45 (The x402 route needs no credential, so nothing leaks beyond the paying wallet. The keyed API uses one account key with no scopes we could find (15). Read-only data, and each x402 call costs a fixed $0.01 or $0.05 (15). Responses include token names and symbols that their creators set, alongside Nansen's own labels, with no injection guidance (7). Credit cost comes back in response headers and each x402 payment is on chain (8). We found no security page, disclosure policy or certification in the docs or on nansen.ai (0).); Yield.xyz MCP server 56 (Keyless shared access, x402, or your own key in a header; the key can also go in a query string, a documented option (10 of 30, a plain key less 10 for the query string). Mostly reads, and wallet tools build unsigned transactions the user signs elsewhere (18 of 20). Returns protocol data, no third-party prose (10). No audit log of MCP calls (0). SOC 2 Type II, penetration tests by Spearbit/Cantina and Trail of Bits, audited contracts (18 of 20). 10 + 18 + 10 + 0 + 18 = 56.)
- Payments & pricing, Yield.xyz MCP server +5: Nansen x402 API 95 (x402 on Nansen's own api.nansen.ai for every Pro endpoint except labels, 17 at $0.01 and the Premium and Smart Money endpoints at $0.05. An unpaid call to current-balance on 1 November answered 402 with an x402 v2 `PAYMENT-REQUIRED` header asking $0.01 in eight ways, USDC on Base, Monad and Solana, USD₮0 on X Layer and four stablecoins on BNB Chain. The docs still name only Base, Solana and Monad. MPP on Tempo is documented for the same endpoints. Labels are excluded, and the 200 to 750-credit agent endpoints don't appear in the x402 tiers (35). Per-call prices published without login (20). Free plan with 100 trial credits and a daily top-up to 10, with no payment required (20). The docs call x402 "fully permissionless", a wallet with USDC is enough (20). 35 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 95.); Yield.xyz MCP server 100 (x402 on its own MCP endpoint for metered tools over quota (40). $0.001 a call published, with machine-readable pricing at /.well-known/x402 (20). 1,000 free read calls a tool a day with no sign-up (20). Keyless use and x402 let an agent start with no person (20). 40 + 20 + 20 + 20 = 100.)
