# Sketch vs Zeplin (slim)

> Sketch scores 53.5 (D) to Zeplin's 47.5 (D) for design files. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sketch-vs-zeplin.md (~2,150 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sketch-vs-zeplin.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sketch-vs-zeplin
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Sketch scores 53.5 (D) on agent readiness against Zeplin's 47.5 (D), and leads in 4 of 7 scored categories. Zeplin leads on schema & documentation and security & auth. Both do design files.

- Sketch: D 53.5, rank #707 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/sketch.min.md
- Zeplin: D 47.5, rank #834 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeplin.min.md
- Sketch, good for A designer or developer at a Mac who wants an agent to inspect, audit, export or edit an open Sketch document, or turn a frame into code. Ahead on Reliability, 53 against 36; Agent ergonomics, 70 against 55; Maintenance & community, 65 against 33; Transparency & trust, 65 against 58. Also No key needed to call it; Free to start without a card.
- Zeplin, good for Teams that already publish designs to Zeplin and want an agent to read screens, components, tokens and notes, or turn a screen into code through the MCP server. Ahead on Schema & documentation, 70 against 64; Security & auth, 47 against 34.

| Category | Sketch | Zeplin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 53 | 36 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 64 | 70 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 70 | 55 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 34 | 47 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 30 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 65 | 33 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 65 | 58 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Sketch | Zeplin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Sketch B.V. | Zeplin, Inc. |
| Transports | Streamable HTTP, stdio | HTTP, stdio |
| Auth | None | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| Licence | Proprietary Mac app under Sketch's End User Licence Agreement and Terms of Service. The connector in sketch-hq/agents is MIT and the skills are Apache-2.0 | Proprietary hosted service under Zeplin's Terms of Service and Developer Terms. The JavaScript SDK and the MCP server on GitHub are MIT |
| Tools exposed | 8 | 4 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-14 | 2026-08-03 |
| Terms last updated | no date given | 2026-01-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | no date given | 2025-08-29 |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms or service can change without notice | yes | not found in the text |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 97 stars | 10 stars, 8.9k npm/wk |