# PayFit vs Zeal

> PayFit scores 55.5 (C) to Zeal's 45.4 (E) for payroll records. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payfit-vs-zeal
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payfit-vs-zeal.md (~2,250 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payfit-vs-zeal.min.md (~630 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payfit-vs-zeal.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: 2026-10-09

PayFit scores 55.5 (C) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community. Both do payroll records.

- PayFit: grade C, 55.5/100, rank #656 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/payfit.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/payfit.json
- Zeal: grade E, 45.4/100, rank #865 of 950. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeal.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/zeal.json
- Best payroll APIs and embedded payroll for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/payroll/index.md
- All 55 payroll comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/payroll/index.md

## Which one, for what

### PayFit (C)

Good for: An agent working for an employer that already runs payroll on PayFit in France, the UK or Spain and needs employees, contracts, payslips, absences or the payroll journal.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 79 against 42
- Schema & documentation, 78 against 68
- Security & auth, 51 against 34
- Payments & pricing, 10 against 0
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 51

Watch for: No operation runs, previews or approves a payroll. The API reads payroll status, payslips and accounting exports

### Zeal (E)

Good for: A US staffing platform, marketplace or workforce product that will sign a partnership and run payroll for many employers under its own brand, including daily and on-demand pay.

Ahead on:
- Agent ergonomics, 63 against 51
- Maintenance & community, 61 against 28

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install

Watch for: No self-serve signup. Zeal's team creates the partner account after a demo request, and no price is published


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | PayFit | Zeal | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 79 | 42 | PayFit +37 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 78 | 68 | PayFit +10 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 51 | 63 | Zeal +12 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 51 | 34 | PayFit +17 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 10 | 0 | PayFit +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 28 | 61 | Zeal +33 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 51 | PayFit +19 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **55.5 · C** | **45.4 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | PayFit | Zeal |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | PayFit SAS | Puzzl Group Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | `https://api.zeal.com` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under PayFit's general terms of service | Proprietary service. The npm SDK declares MIT. The SDK repositories on GitHub carry no licence file |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-07-23 | 2026-07-31 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-06-15 | 2026-01-16 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-06-15 | 2026-01-16 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 8 npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**PayFit.** A public OpenAPI 3.0 file, llms.txt and scoped keys let a paying customer's agent read payroll outputs and write absences. The API cannot run or approve a payroll, new partner integrations are not being accepted, and no idempotency keys or SDKs were found.

**Zeal.** Graded on the partner REST API at api.zeal.com, which is the only access route. Three OpenAPI specs, llms.txt, a test environment that moves no money, a preview endpoint and a per-cheque approval flag are documented. Access starts with a demo request, prices are not published, each environment has one unscoped key, and no status page or working changelog was found.

## Before you call either

### PayFit

1. Have a company admin create the key at app.payfit.com/integrations/hub/api with only the scopes the task needs. The key is shown once
2. POST the key to `https://oauth.payfit.com/introspect` to get `company_id`, then call `https://partner-api.payfit.com/companies/{companyId}/...`
3. Page lists with `nextPageToken` and `maxResults`, which defaults to 10 and stops at 50
4. Check before repeating a failed POST. There is no idempotency key, and `POST /absences` creates an absence that is already validated
5. A collaborator or contract created through the API stays incomplete until an HR admin finishes it in the PayFit app, and a new contract takes 2 to 5 minutes to appear

### Zeal

1. Use the Test API key until a person has approved live payroll. Error code 0 (403) means the account has no production access
2. Send `companyID` on almost every call and `partnerID` on partner-level calls, in the body for POST and PATCH and the query for GET
3. Create cheques with `approval_required: true`, run POST /preview/checks, then PATCH /employeeCheck with `approved: true`. Without the flag Zeal processes pending cheques automatically
4. Send `x-idempotency-key` on every create so a retry within 24 hours doesn't pay twice
5. Previews and reports are jobs. Keep the `job_id` and poll GET /preview or GET /reports, or wait for the Job Queue webhook
6. Check dates must be bank days and submitted before 2 PM Pacific two bank days ahead, or the call fails with code 89

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, PayFit or Zeal?

PayFit scores 55.5 (C) on agent readiness against Zeal's 45.4 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Zeal leads on agent ergonomics and maintenance & community.

### Do PayFit and Zeal need an API key?

PayFit takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Zeal needs an API key.

### Can an agent call PayFit and Zeal without installing anything?

No hosted endpoint is listed for PayFit. Zeal has a hosted endpoint at https://api.zeal.com.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with PayFit or Zeal

- [Argyle vs PayFit](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-payfit.md)
- [Argyle vs Zeal](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/argyle-vs-zeal.md)
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