# Pennylane vs rotki MCP server

> Pennylane scores 66.3 (B) to rotki's 45.6 (E) for accounting ledgers. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pennylane-vs-rotki-mcp
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pennylane-vs-rotki-mcp.md (~2,450 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pennylane-vs-rotki-mcp.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/pennylane-vs-rotki-mcp.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: 2026-10-10

Pennylane scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against rotki MCP server's 45.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Both do accounting ledgers.

- Pennylane: grade B, 66.3/100, rank #298 of 954. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/pennylane.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/pennylane.json
- rotki MCP server: grade E, 45.6/100, rank #865 of 954. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rotki-mcp.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rotki-mcp.json
- Best accounting and invoicing APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/accounting/index.md
- All 77 accounting comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/accounting/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Pennylane (B)

Good for: An agent working on the books of French companies or an accounting firm's client portfolio, with French chart of accounts, FEC export, Factur-X e-invoicing and VAT returns.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 75 against 50
- Schema & documentation, 85 against 76
- Security & auth, 68 against 20
- Payments & pricing, 20 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 65 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 76 against 48

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

Watch for: The API agreement allows changes, suspension or revocation with or without notice and supplies the API as is

### rotki MCP server (E)

Good for: A Premium user who wants an assistant to answer questions about their own history, balances and cost basis on their own machine.

Also in its favour:
- Open source

Watch for: The desktop endpoint at http://127.0.0.1:4445/mcp takes no token, because the session key is forced empty outside Docker, so any local process can call it while the server runs


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Pennylane | rotki MCP server | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 75 | 50 | Pennylane +25 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 85 | 76 | Pennylane +9 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 66 | 69 | rotki MCP server +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 68 | 20 | Pennylane +48 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 10 | Pennylane +10 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 65 | 35 | Pennylane +30 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 76 | 48 | Pennylane +28 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **66.3 · B** | **45.6 · E** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Pennylane | rotki MCP server |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Platform |
| Vendor | Pennylane SAS | Rotki Solutions GmbH |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.pennylane.com/api/external/v2` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Pennylane's API agreement and customer terms | AGPL-3.0 |
| Tools exposed | 31 | 8 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| Last release | 2026-09-30 | 2026-10-02 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no document linked |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given |  |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text |  |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes |  |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes |  |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text |  |

## Verdicts

**Pennylane.** The v2 API has per-resource read and write scopes, an OpenAPI definition on every reference page, llms.txt and a breaking-change process that ran over 24 weeks. Access needs a paid Essentiel plan or partner approval, creation endpoints are not idempotent, and the API agreement lets Pennylane change or revoke the API without notice.

**rotki MCP server.** A read-only MCP server in the rotki desktop app, for Premium Basic at €25 a month and above. Privacy modes mask addresses and account names, but amounts, dates, assets and counterparties reach the connected assistant in every mode. The desktop endpoint takes no token, and the feature shipped in v1.44.0 on 21 August 2026.

## Before you call either

### Pennylane

1. Call `GET https://app.pennylane.com/api/external/v2/me` first to confirm the token, user and company context
2. Stay under 25 requests per 5 seconds per token and wait for the `retry-after` value on a 429
3. Do not retry a create after a timeout without checking first. Only supplier invoice imports are deduplicated
4. Send `filter` and `sort` again with every `cursor`. The cursor stores position only
5. Send amounts as strings such as "120.00", and ask for `:readonly` scopes when the task only reads
6. Use the MCP server for reads only. It cannot create, edit or delete, and firm connections need `company_id`

### rotki MCP server

1. Ask the person to start the server under Settings > MCP in the desktop app, since it stays down until started, then connect to http://127.0.0.1:4445/mcp
2. Call info first. It works without Premium and reports whether an unlocked backend is connected
3. Call get_event_taxonomy before any aggregate over event_type, and sum on direction or event_group, since informational rows double count MEV and block rewards
4. Call refresh_analytics_data before query_sql, and check source.completeness and unpriced_rows before reporting any total
5. Check the privacy mode before answering from the data. Strict keeps amounts and dates, and raw sends addresses, hashes and notes verbatim

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Pennylane or rotki MCP server?

Pennylane scores 66.3 (B) on agent readiness against rotki MCP server's 45.6 (E), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories.

### Can an agent call Pennylane and rotki MCP server without installing anything?

Pennylane has a hosted endpoint at https://app.pennylane.com/api/external/v2. No hosted endpoint is listed for rotki MCP server.

### Are Pennylane and rotki MCP server open source?

No open-source release is listed for Pennylane. rotki MCP server is open source (AGPL-3.0).


## For agents

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

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