# Sendcloud vs Ship24

> Sendcloud scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Ship24's 55 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Ship24 leads on maintenance & community. Both do shipping tracking. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24.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

Sendcloud scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Ship24's 55 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Ship24 leads on maintenance & community. Both do shipping tracking.

- Sendcloud: grade B, 62/100, rank #352 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sendcloud.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sendcloud.json
- Ship24: grade C, 55/100, rank #522 of 722. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/ship24.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ship24.json

## Which one, for what

### Sendcloud (B)

Good for: An agent shipping parcels for a European shop that wants many carriers behind one account, including its own carrier contracts on paid plans.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 68 against 45
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 81
- Security & auth, 49 against 37
- Payments & pricing, 37 against 30
- Transparency & trust, 72 against 52

Watch for: One OAuth scope, `api`, and key pairs with full account access. No read-only credential was found in the reviewed documentation

### Ship24 (C)

Good for: An agent that only needs tracking events across many couriers, by webhook or by lookup, from a tracking number alone.

Ahead on:
- Maintenance & community, 80 against 67

Also in its favour:
- No incidents deducted, where Sendcloud loses 3 points for them

Watch for: No status page was found. `status.ship24.com` doesn't resolve, and neither the site nor the docs link to one


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Sendcloud | Ship24 | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 68 | 45 | Sendcloud +23 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 81 | Sendcloud +8 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 71 | 68 | Sendcloud +3 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 49 | 37 | Sendcloud +12 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 37 | 30 | Sendcloud +7 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 80 | Ship24 +13 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 72 | 52 | Sendcloud +20 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -3 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **62 · B** | **55 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Sendcloud | Ship24 |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Sendcloud B.V. | Ship24 Limited |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.sendcloud.com/mcp` | `https://api.ship24.com/public/v1` |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| Price for shipping tracking | not published | $0.045 per transaction |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under Sendcloud's terms and conditions | Proprietary service under Ship24's Terms and Conditions. The Node SDK and the AI plugin on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | none | 12 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | yes |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | `com.ship24/tracking-mcp` |
| Last release | 2026-10-05 | 2026-10-06 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | no date given |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2026-08-01 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Popularity | none | 0 stars, 79 npm/wk |

## Verdicts

**Sendcloud.** API v3 has 29 public OpenAPI 3.1 specs, an llms.txt index, a dated changelog and a hosted MCP server with toolset filtering. OAuth has one scope, `api`, so a credential can't be limited to reading. The changelog records response fields removed from tracking events on 25 September 2026 with no earlier deprecation entry.

**Ship24.** The REST API and the hosted MCP server share one public OpenAPI 3.1 spec, numbered rate limits with Retry-After, and tracker creation that is idempotent by payload. No status page, SLA or security certification was found, API keys carry no scopes, and the API agreement and data processing agreement named in the terms aren't published.

## Before you call either

### Sendcloud

1. Use API v3 at https://panel.sendcloud.sc/api/v3. The v2 create-parcel endpoint is closed to accounts created from April 2026
2. Test with `shipping_option_code` `sendcloud:letter` (returns use `sendcloud:letterreturn`). Any other label is billed unless cancelled within the carrier's deadline
3. Set `external_reference_id` on every shipment so a retry returns the existing shipment (409) instead of a second label
4. Read the `errors` array on synchronous announce responses. A carrier failure can arrive inside a success status
5. Connect MCP with `?toolsets=shipments,shipping-options,parcel-tracking,returns` to keep the tool list short. Create and cancel tools act on the live account

### Ship24

1. Send `Authorization: Bearer apik_...` to `https://api.ship24.com/public/v1`. The same key works on the MCP server, which lists tools without a key but answers 401 on calls
2. Store the `trackerId` or set a unique `clientTrackerId`. Tracking numbers aren't unique, and any changed field on a repeat `POST /trackers` creates a second tracker that uses quota
3. Allow up to 60 seconds for the first `POST /trackers/track` or `POST /tracking/search` call, since results are fetched from the courier synchronously
4. Cache `GET /couriers`. It is limited to one request a second and returns the whole courier list, and courier auto-detection usually makes `courierCode` unnecessary
5. Check for `quota_limit_reached` and `no_active_subscription`. `POST /tracking/search` needs a separate per-call plan, and the free plan blocks at 10 shipments a month

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Sendcloud or Ship24?

Sendcloud scores 62 (B) on agent readiness against Ship24's 55 (C), and leads in 6 of 7 scored categories. Ship24 leads on maintenance & community.

### Do Sendcloud and Ship24 need an API key?

Sendcloud takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. Ship24 needs an API key.

### Can an agent call Sendcloud and Ship24 without installing anything?

Yes. Sendcloud has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.sendcloud.com/mcp and Ship24 at https://api.ship24.com/public/v1.


## For agents

- This comparison as JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24.json, and with the fewest tokens: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-ship24.min.md
- Over MCP at https://www.anchorterminal.com/mcp (no key): `compare_tools {"a": "sendcloud", "b": "ship24"}`. From a terminal: `anchor compare sendcloud ship24`
- Each listing in full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/sendcloud.json and https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/ship24.json

## Other comparisons with Sendcloud or Ship24

- [EasyPost vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [Easyship vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easyship-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [Karrio vs Sendcloud](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-sendcloud.md)
- [Sendcloud vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-shipbob.md)
- [Sendcloud vs Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-shippo.md)
- [Sendcloud vs ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sendcloud-vs-shipstation.md)
- [EasyPost vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easypost-vs-ship24.md)
- [Easyship vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/easyship-vs-ship24.md)
- [Karrio vs Ship24](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/karrio-vs-ship24.md)
- [Ship24 vs ShipBob](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ship24-vs-shipbob.md)
- [Ship24 vs Shippo](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ship24-vs-shippo.md)
- [Ship24 vs ShipStation API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/ship24-vs-shipstation.md)