Head to head · Accounting ledgers · October 2026 research run
rotki MCP server vs Xero API + MCP
Xero API + MCP scores 67.2 (B) on agent readiness against rotki MCP server's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category. Both do accounting ledgers.
Best accounting and invoicing APIs for AI agents · All 77 accounting comparisons
Which one, for what
Best 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
Best for An agent keeping the books for UK, Australian or New Zealand businesses, or any team that wants read-only scopes and long deprecation notice.
Ahead on
- Reliability, 68 against 50
- Agent ergonomics, 75 against 69
- Security & auth, 64 against 20
- Payments & pricing, 35 against 10
- Maintenance & community, 76 against 35
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 48
Also in its favour
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Runs on your own machine
Watch for
Developer docs, including the per-minute rate limits, only render with JavaScript
Score by category
| Category | Weight this run | rotki MCP server | Xero API + MCP | Edge |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Reliability | 16%20 | 50 | 68 | Xero API + MCP +18 |
| Performance | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13%16.2 | 76 | 79 | Xero API + MCP +3 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13%16.2 | 69 | 75 | Xero API + MCP +6 |
| Security & auth | 14%17.5 | 20 | 64 | Xero API + MCP +44 |
| Payments & pricing | 10%12.5 | 10 | 35 | Xero API + MCP +25 |
| Task success | 10%pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7%8.8 | 35 | 76 | Xero API + MCP +41 |
| Transparency & trust | 7%8.8 | 48 | 72 | Xero API + MCP +24 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total | E 45.6/100 | B 67.2/100 |
Facts side by side
| Fact | rotki MCP server | Xero API + MCP |
|---|---|---|
| Kind | Platform | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Rotki Solutions GmbH | Xero |
| Hosted endpoint | no (local only) | https://api.xero.com/api.xro/2.0 |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 | MIT |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 51 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-02 | 2026-10-01 |
| Terms last updated | no document linked | 2025-12-04 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2025-02-11 | |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | |
| Popularity | none | 350 stars, 395k npm/wk, 64k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | none | 3.5/5 (2) |
Verdicts
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.
Xero API + MCP
Granular OAuth scopes, such as accounting.reports.profitandloss.read, required for apps created from 29 April 2026. Developer docs, including the per-minute rate limits, only render with JavaScript.
Before you call either
rotki MCP server
- 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
- Call info first. It works without Premium and reports whether an unlocked backend is connected
- 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
- Call refresh_analytics_data before query_sql, and check source.completeness and unpriced_rows before reporting any total
- Check the privacy mode before answering from the data. Strict keeps amounts and dates, and raw sends addresses, hashes and notes verbatim
Xero API + MCP
- Send xero-tenant-id on every call. The token alone doesn't name the organisation
- A bill is an Invoice with Type ACCPAY, a sales invoice is ACCREC. There's no separate bills endpoint
- Send an Idempotency-Key on creates so a retry after a timeout doesn't post twice
- Use If-Modified-Since and pageSize up to 100 to stay inside 1,000 calls a day on Starter
- Set XERO_SCOPES to read scopes only when the agent shouldn't write. The MCP still lists its write and delete tools
Questions
Which is better for AI agents, rotki MCP server or Xero API + MCP?
Xero API + MCP scores 67.2 (B) on agent readiness against rotki MCP server's 45.6 (E), and leads in every scored category.
Can an agent call rotki MCP server and Xero API + MCP without installing anything?
No hosted endpoint is listed for rotki MCP server. Xero API + MCP has a hosted endpoint at https://api.xero.com/api.xro/2.0.
Are rotki MCP server and Xero API + MCP open source?
rotki MCP server is open source (AGPL-3.0). No open-source release is listed for Xero API + MCP.
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Machine-readable
- This page as Markdown
/compare/rotki-mcp-vs-xero.md· slim.min.md· JSON.json(or sendAccept: text/markdown) - Each listing in full
/api/v1/tools/rotki-mcp.json·/api/v1/tools/xero.json - From a terminal
anchor compare rotki-mcp xero(the CLI) - Over MCP
compare_tools {"a": "rotki-mcp", "b": "xero"}at/mcp, no key