# Nutshell vs Relaticle

> Relaticle scores 59.6 (C) to Nutshell's 49.4 (D) for crm records. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nutshell-vs-relaticle
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nutshell-vs-relaticle.md (~4,400 tokens)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (the key docs and every listing in one file, at most 16 MB, about 4 million tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (the whole catalogue as tools, no key)
- DNS: dig +short TXT <slug>.grade.anchorterminal.com (the grade as a DNS TXT record, for a sandbox with no HTTP where names still resolve; also top., best.<category>. and <a>.vs.<b>. under the zone, and the same under grade.letme.dev)
- Licence: CC BY 4.0, credit Anchor Terminal and link this page (https://www.anchorterminal.com/terms/#data)
- Updated: 2026-11-07

Relaticle scores 59.6 (C) on agent readiness against Nutshell's 49.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Nutshell leads on reliability and payments & pricing. Both do crm records.

- Nutshell: grade D, 49.4/100, rank #1086 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nutshell.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nutshell.json
- Relaticle: grade C, 59.6/100, rank #694 of 1486. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/relaticle.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/relaticle.json
- Best CRM and customer-platform tools for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/crm/index.md
- All 190 crm comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/crm/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Nutshell (D)

Good for: Small sales teams already on Nutshell who want an agent to read and update pipeline data over MCP or REST at a low seat price.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 45 against 40
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 30

Watch for: No rate limit numbers, 429 handling or Retry-After found for the REST API

### Relaticle (C)

Good for: Small teams who want an open-source CRM they can self-host and let an agent write to.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 86 against 57
- Agent ergonomics, 59 against 44
- Maintenance & community, 90 against 36

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: Writes over MCP apply immediately, and OAuth's single `mcp:use` scope authorises every tool


## Why the edge

### Maintenance & community: Relaticle +54

- Nutshell (36): The MCP server help article, updated 27 October 2026, documents create and update tools that the 8 October reading did not find, a dated change to a listed surface 8 days before the check (30 of 30). The REST reference pages carry update stamps, the newest 21 August 2026, but the stamps record no API change, and the product updates page is undated, so no other dated entry counts. One dated change in the 90 days from 6 August (0). No API changelog. Live support on every plan per the pricing page, untested (6 of 25). No current official SDK, and the MCP registry was not checked (0). No packages to judge (0). 30 + 0 + 6 + 0 + 0 = 36.
- Relaticle (90): v3.8.2 tagged on 5 November 2026 and commits on 6 November (30). Thirteen tags between 9 October and 5 November alone (20). More than 2,500 commits since 1 August and merged pull requests numbered past 1,100; the GitHub API did not answer, so open issues and reply times were not counted (15 of 25). Verified com.relaticle/crm namespace in the official MCP registry with the hosted remote (15). CI, tests, security-audit and Dependabot workflows, PHP 8.5 and Laravel 13 (10). 30 + 20 + 15 + 15 + 10 = 90.

### Schema & documentation: Relaticle +29

- Nutshell (57): Each of the 114 REST reference pages carries the OpenAPI 3.0 definition of its operation, but whole-spec download is disabled (18 of 25). `llms.txt` and Markdown for every docs page (10). 78 of 114 operations have a description, and the newer ones state scope and visibility rules (11 of 20). Enums on sort fields and patterns on IDs, but filters and custom fields are open objects and `page[limit]` is typed as a string on some operations (9 of 15). Schema examples are present, and error responses appear on 9 operations with no error body schema (5 of 15). The spec is version 2.0.0 and pages carry update stamps, with no dated API changelog (4 of 15).
- Relaticle (86): OpenAPI 3.1 at /openapi.json and /openapi.yaml with 34 operations (25). llms.txt with a when-to-use and when-not section, and developer pages (10). The llms.txt and MCP docs say what the API is for and what it doesn't do (no email over REST, no meetings), while only 5 of 34 operations carry a description (14 of 20). 114 required lists and typed MCP inputs, but few enums (11 of 15). 661 examples and responses for 401, 402, 403, 404, 409, 422 and 429 (14 of 15). /v1 and frequent tagged releases, with no changelog page (relaticle.com/changelog is 404) (12 of 15). 25 + 10 + 14 + 11 + 14 + 12 = 86.

### Agent ergonomics: Relaticle +15

- Nutshell (44): The MCP server has about 18 groups of search and report tools and six groups of create and update tools per the help centre, updated 27 October 2026. The tool definitions sit behind OAuth and were not read. REST lists take `page[limit]` with no field selection (13 of 25). `page[page]`, `sort`, `q` and `filter[...]` keys, with field lists from `/accounts/list/fields`, and no stated maximum page size (16 of 20). Error responses appear on 9 of 114 operations with no error body schema, partly met (4 of 20). No idempotency keys. Deletes can be undone within 30 days, and the MCP server cannot delete records, partly met (6 of 20). Few required fields, and no official REST SDK. The only client is a PHP JSON-RPC sample last pushed in 2023 (5 of 15).
- Relaticle (59): 50 MCP tools, six schema resources and a prompt, with no toolsets or read-only subset (5). Filters combine native fields, custom fields and linked records with $and, $or and $not, plus sort, include, `per_page` (MCP maximum 25) and cursors (20). Errors come back as HTTP codes and inline MCP error responses such as `Invalid ability provided.`; no error catalogue was read (12 of 20). Base tool classes set readOnlyHint, destructiveHint, idempotentHint and openWorldHint, and upserts by unique field make creates safe to retry (17 of 20). One URL with OAuth or a token; no official SDK (5 of 15). 5 + 20 + 12 + 17 + 5 = 59.

### Reliability: Nutshell +5

- Nutshell (45): Read with the hosted lines. Status page at status.nutshell.com with 12 components and history back to 2017. None is named for the REST API or the MCP server, and the Nutshell application component is the CRM app as a whole, read as a vendor page with no component for the product (15). The incident line is re-read from the page's history feed. In the 90 days from 6 August one incident touched the product, a database cluster fault on 28 September 2026 that left Nutshell unavailable for some customers, partial, so minor (20 of 30). The 21 October PHP2Shell response disabled landing pages, email link tracking and scheduler pages on custom domains, not the API, and the 12 August and 16 October entries are announced maintenance. No rate limit numbers for REST, and the JSON-RPC docs say only that limits vary (0). No 429, Retry-After, backoff or idempotency guidance found (0). No SLA found, and the terms supply the service as is (0). The REST API is GA and the MCP server carries no beta label (10). 15 + 20 + 0 + 0 + 0 + 10 = 45.
- Relaticle (40): Graded with the hosted lines on Relaticle Cloud's REST API and MCP server, the surface an outside agent calls; the software also self-hosts. No status page is linked and status.relaticle.com did not connect (0). With no readable history the incident line scores 5. Limits have numbers: 600 a minute per workspace and 300 reads or 60 writes a minute per token in the source, and 120 MCP calls a minute per user in the docs (15). 429 is in the OpenAPI responses and upserts by unique field give a safe retry for creates, but the backoff guidance sits on a docs section we read only as a heading (10 of 15). No SLA (0). Version 3.8, not labelled beta (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 10 + 0 + 10 = 40.

### Payments & pricing: Nutshell +5

- Nutshell (35): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices are public, $13 to $79 a seat a month billed yearly, with nothing per call (10). 14-day trial with no card, and the API is included (20). A person signs up in a browser and an admin creates the key. The docs publish sandbox credentials for a shared demo account, which lets an agent test calls with no signup but not reach its own data (5 of 20).
- Relaticle (30): No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Cloud prices are public per workspace with nothing per call (10). A 14-day Cloud Pro trial with no card, and self-hosting is free (20). A person signs up in a browser behind a Cloudflare check, or deploys a server (0). 0 + 10 + 20 + 0 = 30.

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Nutshell | Relaticle | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 45 | 40 | Nutshell +5 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 86 | Relaticle +29 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 44 | 59 | Relaticle +15 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 57 | Nutshell +1 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 30 | Nutshell +5 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 36 | 90 | Relaticle +54 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 73 | Relaticle +1 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.4 · D** | **59.6 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Nutshell | Relaticle |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Nutshell, Inc. | Relaticle, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.nutshell.com/rest` | `https://mcp.relaticle.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Nutshell's Terms of Service | AGPL-3.0 |
| Tools exposed | none | 50 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.relaticle/crm` |
| Last release | 2026-10-27 | 2026-11-05 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-02 | 2026-08-26 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-02 | 2026-11-04 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 1.8k stars |

## How the scores have moved

### Nutshell

- -0.3 on 4 November 2026: product, correction
- +0.1 on 27 October 2026: checklist

### Relaticle

No score change since it was listed.

## Verdicts

**Nutshell.** The REST reference is served as Markdown with an OpenAPI fragment per operation, and the hosted MCP server uses OAuth with PKCE and can create and update records but not delete them. No rate limit numbers, error format or API changelog were found in the reviewed documentation, and API keys carry no scopes.

**Relaticle.** Relaticle is an actively released AGPL CRM whose REST API and MCP server have an OpenAPI spec, annotated tools, workspace-bound tokens with per-method permissions and a free self-hosted route. MCP writes apply at once with no server-side confirmation, OAuth grants the whole toolset, and Cloud has no status page, SLA or certification.

## Before you call either

### Nutshell

1. Authenticate REST calls with HTTP Basic, a Nutshell user's email as username and the API key as password, against `https://app.nutshell.com/rest`
2. Use IDs in the `<number>-<type>` form, such as `3-accounts`, and send updates as JSON Patch with `content-type: application/json-patch+json`
3. Page lists with `page[limit]` and `page[page]`, which is 0-based, and call `/accounts/list/fields` or the lead and contact equivalents for valid filter keys
4. Ask for create and update access on the MCP consent page if the agent must write. A read-style grant stays read-only, and the MCP server cannot delete, so use REST for deletes
5. Filter webhook events yourself, because every webhook receives all events and subscriptions are created in Setup, not through the API

### Relaticle

1. Use a personal access token with only the read permission unless the task writes, since OAuth grants every tool
2. Ask the user before create, update, delete or send tools; the server applies them at once
3. Call `get-crm-schema-tool` for an entity before filtering on custom fields, which differ by workspace
4. Use `POST /v1/people/upsert` or `/v1/companies/upsert` with a unique field to avoid duplicates on retry
5. Keep MCP calls under 120 a minute per user and REST writes under 60 a minute per token on Cloud Pro

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Nutshell or Relaticle?

Relaticle scores 59.6 (C) on agent readiness against Nutshell's 49.4 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Nutshell leads on reliability and payments & pricing.

### Do Nutshell and Relaticle need an API key?

Both take an API key or an OAuth sign-in.

### Can an agent call Nutshell and Relaticle without installing anything?

Yes. Nutshell has a hosted endpoint at https://app.nutshell.com/rest and Relaticle at https://mcp.relaticle.com.

### Are Nutshell and Relaticle open source?

No open-source release is listed for Nutshell. Relaticle is open source (AGPL-3.0).


## For agents

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

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Query this catalogue directly over MCP: https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (Streamable HTTP, no key). How: https://www.anchorterminal.com/agents/#mcp