# Square Appointments (Bookings API) vs Tock

> Square Appointments scores 68.1 (B) to Tock's 12.4 (F) for venue management. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/square-appointments-vs-tock
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/square-appointments-vs-tock.md (~2,200 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/square-appointments-vs-tock.min.md (~680 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/square-appointments-vs-tock.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: 2026-10-14

Square Appointments (Bookings API) scores 68.1 (B) on agent readiness against Tock's 12.4 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do venue management.

- Square Appointments (Bookings API): grade B, 68.1/100, rank #242 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/square-appointments.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/square-appointments.json
- Tock: grade F, 12.4/100, rank #1062 of 1076. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tock.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tock.json
- Best restaurant reservation and local appointment APIs for AI agents: https://www.anchorterminal.com/best/local-bookings/index.md
- All 36 bookings comparisons: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/local-bookings/index.md

## Which one, for what

### Square Appointments (Bookings API) (B)

Good for: Venue-side appointment booking for salons, clinics and other service businesses already on Square.

Ahead on:
- Reliability, 55 against 25
- Schema & documentation, 89 against 5
- Agent ergonomics, 80 against 0
- Security & auth, 70 against 0
- Payments & pricing, 40 against 0
- Maintenance & community, 71 against 23
- Transparency & trust, 70 against 52

Also in its favour:
- A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install
- Runs on your own machine

Watch for: Seller-level create, update and cancel fail with 403 unless the seller pays for Plus ($49) or Premium ($149) per location

### Tock (F)

Good for: Restaurants and wineries taking reservations and experience bookings, and for diners booking in person.

Watch for: No public API or MCP server an outside agent can call. The docs index reads "Docs coming soon"


## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Square Appointments (Bookings API) | Tock | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 55 | 25 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +30 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 89 | 5 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +84 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 0 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +80 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 70 | 0 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +70 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 40 | 0 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +40 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 71 | 23 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +48 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 70 | 52 | Square Appointments (Bookings API) +18 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **68.1 · B** | **12.4 · F** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Square Appointments (Bookings API) | Tock |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | Platform |
| Vendor | Block, Inc. | Tock (American Express) |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://connect.squareup.com/v2/bookings` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP, stdio |  |
| Auth | OAuth or key | API key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Paid |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | Proprietary service under the Square Developer Terms of Service. The OpenAPI specification and MCP server are Apache 2.0 | Proprietary service under the Tock Terms of Use (effective 12 February 2026) and merchant terms |
| Tools exposed | 3 | none |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-09-16 | none |
| Terms last updated | 2026-09-10 | 2026-02-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-09-15 | 2025-11-24 |
| Customer content may train models | not found in the text | not found in the text |
| Terms restrict automated access | yes | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | yes | not found in the text |
| Terms or service can change without notice | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | yes | yes |

## Verdicts

**Square Appointments (Bookings API).** The Bookings API lets an agent working for a Square seller search availability and create, change and cancel appointments, with a public OpenAPI spec, appointment OAuth scopes and idempotency keys. It acts for the venue. Seller-level writes need Plus or Premium, services with a no-show fee can't be booked through it, and it hasn't changed since September 2024.

**Tock.** Tock takes reservations and experience bookings for restaurants and wineries and now feeds its venues into Resy. There is no public API or MCP server an outside agent can call today. api.exploretock.com publishes reservation data models without endpoints, and the Terms of Use forbid automated access to the site.

## Before you call either

### Square Appointments (Bookings API)

1. Act for the seller. This API books into one Square seller's calendar, not across businesses
2. Call RetrieveBusinessBookingProfile and check `support_seller_level_writes` before trying to create or cancel a seller-level booking
3. Call SearchAvailability first, then CreateBooking with the service variation ID and version, team member, location and customer
4. Send a fresh `idempotency_key` on each create, update or cancel, and pass `booking_version` when cancelling
5. Check `no_show_fee` on the service. A service with a non-zero fee must be booked by the customer elsewhere

### Tock

1. Don't plan to call Tock from another agent. Hand the booking to the person on exploretock.com or in the Resy app
2. Do not script the Tock website, which the Terms of Use forbid. A venue wanting data should ask Tock through its dashboard account

## Questions

### Which is better for AI agents, Square Appointments (Bookings API) or Tock?

Square Appointments (Bookings API) scores 68.1 (B) on agent readiness against Tock's 12.4 (F), and leads in every scored category.

### Can an agent call Square Appointments (Bookings API) and Tock without installing anything?

Square Appointments (Bookings API) has a hosted endpoint at https://connect.squareup.com/v2/bookings. No hosted endpoint is listed for Tock.


## For agents

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

## Other comparisons with Square Appointments (Bookings API) or Tock

- [Chope vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chope-vs-tock.md)
- [Eat App Partner API vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eat-app-vs-tock.md)
- [OpenTable APIs vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opentable-vs-tock.md)
- [Resy vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/resy-vs-tock.md)
- [TableCheck API vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tablecheck-vs-tock.md)
- [TheFork B2B API vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/thefork-vs-tock.md)
- [Chope vs Square Appointments (Bookings API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/chope-vs-square-appointments.md)
- [Eat App Partner API vs Square Appointments (Bookings API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/eat-app-vs-square-appointments.md)
- [OpenTable APIs vs Square Appointments (Bookings API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/opentable-vs-square-appointments.md)
- [Resy vs Square Appointments (Bookings API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/resy-vs-square-appointments.md)
- [Square Appointments (Bookings API) vs TableCheck API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/square-appointments-vs-tablecheck.md)
- [Square Appointments (Bookings API) vs TheFork B2B API](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/square-appointments-vs-thefork.md)
- [SevenRooms vs Square Appointments (Bookings API)](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sevenrooms-vs-square-appointments.md)
- [SevenRooms vs Tock](https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/sevenrooms-vs-tock.md)