# Nutshell vs Twenty API + MCP

> Twenty API + MCP scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Nutshell's 49.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Nutshell leads on payments & pricing. Both do crm records. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nutshell-vs-twenty
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nutshell-vs-twenty.md (~2,400 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nutshell-vs-twenty.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/nutshell-vs-twenty.json (this page as data, same URL with Accept: application/json)
- Site index for agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt (full text: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms-full.txt)
- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-08

Twenty API + MCP scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Nutshell's 49.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Nutshell leads on payments & pricing. Both do crm records.

- Nutshell: grade D, 49.6/100, rank #607 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/nutshell.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/nutshell.json
- Twenty API + MCP: grade B, 65.9/100, rank #250 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/twenty.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/twenty.json

## Which one, for what

### Nutshell (D)

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

Ahead on:
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 30

Also in its favour:
- Free to start without a card

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

### Twenty API + MCP (B)

Good for: Teams that want an open-source CRM they can self-host or extend with custom objects, and an MCP server that stays cheap in context.

Ahead on:
- Schema & documentation, 88 against 57
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 44
- Maintenance & community, 97 against 46
- Transparency & trust, 80 against 71

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: No status page found


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Nutshell | Twenty API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 42 | 46 | Twenty API + MCP +4 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 57 | 88 | Twenty API + MCP +31 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 44 | 80 | Twenty API + MCP +36 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 58 | 58 | even |
| 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) | 46 | 97 | Twenty API + MCP +51 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 80 | Twenty API + MCP +9 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **49.6 · D** | **65.9 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Nutshell | Twenty API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Nutshell, Inc. | Twenty |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.nutshell.com/rest` | `https://api.twenty.com/rest` |
| Transports | HTTP | 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 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-08-21 | 2026-09-30 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-02 | 2026-08-07 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-02 | 2025-10-13 |
| 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 | 58k stars, 26k npm/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |

## 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 only read. No rate limit numbers, error format or API changelog were found in the reviewed documentation, and API keys carry no scopes.

**Twenty API + MCP.** Six MCP meta-tools by default with schemas loaded on demand, and `?mode=direct` for clients that load lazily. No status page found.

## 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. Use the REST API for writes. The MCP server only reads, and OAuth tokens need the `read` scope
5. Filter webhook events yourself, because every webhook receives all events and subscriptions are created in Setup, not through the API

### Twenty API + MCP

1. Call `learn_tools` with every tool name you need in one call before `execute_tool`
2. Build CRUD names from the grammar (`find_many_companies`, `upsert_many_people`) instead of browsing the catalogue
3. Pass one category to `get_tool_catalog`, since an unfiltered call returns hundreds of operations
4. Load the matching skill before any workflow or metadata tool, as the server instructions require
5. Batch up to 60 records a call to stay inside 100 requests a minute

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Nutshell or Twenty API + MCP?

Twenty API + MCP scores 65.9 (B) on agent readiness against Nutshell's 49.6 (D), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Nutshell leads on payments & pricing.

### Do Nutshell and Twenty API + MCP need an API key?

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

### Can an agent call Nutshell and Twenty API + MCP without installing anything?

Yes. Nutshell has a hosted endpoint at https://app.nutshell.com/rest and Twenty API + MCP at https://api.twenty.com/rest.

### Are Nutshell and Twenty API + MCP open source?

No open-source release is listed for Nutshell. Twenty API + MCP is open source (AGPL-3.0).


## For agents

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

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