# Nevermined API + MCP vs Payman Genie MCP

> Nevermined API + MCP has a score of 71.1 (BB) against Payman Genie MCP's 53 (D). Both do payments x402. The largest gap is reliability, 47 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- Updated: 2026-10-05

Nevermined API + MCP has a score of 71.1 (BB) against Payman Genie MCP's 53 (D). Both do payments x402. The largest gap is reliability, 47 points.

- Nevermined API + MCP: grade BB, 71.1/100, rank #89 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nevermined.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nevermined.json
- Payman Genie MCP: grade D, 53/100, rank #337 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payman.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payman.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Nevermined API + MCP for reliability (+47), schema & documentation (+24), agent ergonomics (+6), payments & pricing (+30), maintenance & community (+29), transparency & trust (+6).

Pick Payman Genie MCP for security & auth (+17).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Nevermined API + MCP | Payman Genie MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 72 | 25 | Nevermined API + MCP +47 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 56 | Nevermined API + MCP +24 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 74 | 68 | Nevermined API + MCP +6 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 63 | 80 | Payman Genie MCP +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 65 | 35 | Nevermined API + MCP +30 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 89 | 60 | Nevermined API + MCP +29 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 54 | 48 | Nevermined API + MCP +6 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **71.1 · BB** | **53 · D** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Nevermined API + MCP | Payman Genie MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Nevermined | Payman AI |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.live.nevermined.app` | `https://genie.paymanai.com/mcp` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | Streamable HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | payer tooling only | payer tooling only |
| Licence | Apache-2.0 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 12 | 5 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| MCP registry | `io.github.nevermined-io/catalog` | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-29 | 2026-09-19 |
| Popularity | 17 stars, 468 npm/wk, 4.4k PyPI/wk | 0 stars, 33 npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Nevermined API + MCP.** Fees published without a login, 1% on stablecoins, 2% on cards and 2% for the Router. The x402 paywall settles Nevermined plan tokens, so generic x402 clients need its SDK or API to pay.

**Payman Genie MCP.** OAuth 2.1 with PKCE, two scopes, one-hour access tokens and refresh tokens rotated on every use and revoked on logout. No published pricing, status page, rate limits or changelog.

## Before you call either

### Nevermined API + MCP

1. Call `quote_service` before `pay_service`; quotes cost nothing
2. Ask the person to open the `setup_delegation` URL once; you can't mint the first key or budget yourself
3. Branch on the error `code` and retry only when `retryable` is true
4. Create a small, short delegation per task; cards stop at $10.00 across delegations unless the owner raises it
5. Use `sandbox:` keys and mcp.sandbox.nevermined.app until the flow works

### Payman Genie MCP

1. Pass the person's request to `ask_genie` in their own words; don't pick accounts or fill payment fields
2. On `needs_approval`, stop and tell the person; approval happens in their Genie account
3. Retry only after `NOTHING_RAN` or `BUSY`, never after `OUTCOME_UNKNOWN`
4. Treat `done` as acted, not settled; check the activity history before confirming a payment
5. Sign-ins from bridge 0.3.x lack `genie:self`; log out and sign in again to use the self-service tools

## Other comparisons with Nevermined API + MCP or Payman Genie MCP

- [Nevermined API + MCP vs Skyfire API + MCP](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nevermined-vs-skyfire.md)
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