# Rutter Accounting API vs Xero API + MCP

> Xero API + MCP has a score of 67.4 (B) against Rutter Accounting API's 55.8 (C). Both do accounting ledger. The largest gap is security & auth, 28 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

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- API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json
- Updated: 2026-10-05

Xero API + MCP has a score of 67.4 (B) against Rutter Accounting API's 55.8 (C). Both do accounting ledger. The largest gap is security & auth, 28 points.

- Rutter Accounting API: grade C, 55.8/100, rank #311 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/rutter.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/rutter.json
- Xero API + MCP: grade B, 67.4/100, rank #143 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/xero.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/xero.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Rutter Accounting API for nothing in particular (no category where it leads by five points or more).

Pick Xero API + MCP for agent ergonomics (+8), security & auth (+28), payments & pricing (+15), maintenance & community (+14), transparency & trust (+24).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Rutter Accounting API | Xero API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 67 | 68 | Xero API + MCP +1 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 79 | even |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 67 | 75 | Xero API + MCP +8 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 36 | 64 | Xero API + MCP +28 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 20 | 35 | Xero API + MCP +15 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 62 | 76 | Xero API + MCP +14 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 51 | 75 | Xero API + MCP +24 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **55.8 · C** | **67.4 · B** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Rutter Accounting API | Xero API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Rutter | Xero |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://production.rutterapi.com/versioned` | `https://api.xero.com/api.xro/2.0` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | API key | OAuth |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | none | MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 51 |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | no | no |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-24 | 2026-10-01 |
| Popularity | none | 350 stars, 395k npm/wk, 64k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Rutter Accounting API.** Idempotency-Key header on writes, and prefer_sync writes that fall back to async after 30 seconds. Production prices are quote-only.

**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

### Rutter Accounting API

1. Send X-Rutter-Version: 2024-08-31 on every call
2. Send an Idempotency-Key on every create so a retry after a timeout doesn't write twice
3. Use response_mode=prefer_sync and handle the 202 async_response anyway
4. Treat 452 as the ledger throttling you and 429 as Rutter's 500-per-10-seconds organisation limit
5. Keep access_token out of logged URLs. The docs only show it as a query parameter

### Xero API + MCP

1. Send xero-tenant-id on every call. The token alone doesn't name the organisation
2. A bill is an Invoice with Type ACCPAY, a sales invoice is ACCREC. There's no separate bills endpoint
3. Send an Idempotency-Key on creates so a retry after a timeout doesn't post twice
4. Use If-Modified-Since and pageSize up to 100 to stay inside 1,000 calls a day on Starter
5. Set XERO_SCOPES to read scopes only when the agent shouldn't write. The MCP still lists its write and delete tools

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