Head to head · Design canvases · October 2026 research run

Subframe vs UX Pilot MCP server

Subframe scores 39.8 (E) on agent readiness against UX Pilot MCP server's 33 (F), and leads in every scored category. Both do design canvases.

Best design workspace and canvas APIs for AI agents · All 133 design comparisons

Which one, for what

Subframe E

Best for A coding agent working beside a team that designs React and Tailwind interfaces in Subframe and wants the design as code, with a read-only route for review.

Ahead on

  • Schema & documentation, 54 against 45
  • Security & auth, 44 against 39
  • Payments & pricing, 33 against 20
  • Maintenance & community, 65 against 45
  • Transparency & trust, 58 against 22

Watch for

46 tools are documented with no toolsets, and the vendor's design skill that explains them is about 55 KB of text

UX Pilot MCP server F

Best for Designers on UX Pilot who want an agent to organise screens, review UX and build React prototypes.

Also in its favour

  • No incidents deducted, where Subframe loses 3 points for them

Watch for

No status page, limits or error docs

Why the edge

Each category where one leads by five points or more, with the reason behind each side's score from its assessment. The numbers are in the table below; this is what they stand for.

Transparency & trust Subframe +36

Subframe 58

The service is closed under terms of service dated 22 January 2026. The CLI and @subframe/core are public and marked ISC in their package files, and the plugin MIT in its manifest, but the repository has no licence file (17 of 30). Terms, privacy policy (22 January 2026) and DPA (21 January 2026) agree with each other. The privacy policy gives no retention periods, and the terms say 'Unless Customer is notified otherwise, Customer Data is not used to train AI models', which leaves the default open to change by notice (15 of 30). No deprecation policy. A migration page explains the move to component directories, and three MCP tools were renamed with no notice found (4 of 20). The DPA links a sub-processor list held in a Google Sheet, which we did not read. The privacy policy names Google Analytics, PostHog, Segment and LogRocket, and the CLI's README discloses crash and usage reporting with DO_NOT_TRACK=1 as the opt-out (10 of 20).

UX Pilot MCP server 22

Terms and privacy render with script and weren't readable (0). Data handling not read (0). A tool that maps old tool names to new calls eased the 3.0 change, no dates (5 of 20). Subprocessors not found (0). 0 + 0 + 5 + 0 = 5.

Maintenance & community Subframe +20

Subframe 65

The Claude Code plugin reached 1.0.30 on 8 October 2026 and @subframe/cli 1.212.0 on 5 October 2026 (30 of 30). The plugin version changed ten times between 13 July and 8 October, and the CLI had three versions on 5 October after none since 24 June (20 of 20). The repository has 13 issues in all. Seven are open, among them a Codex MCP install error from 30 March 2026 and a Claude Code plugin install error from 13 February 2026 with one and two comments, and three with none. Pull requests merge most days. The Slack community was not read (10 of 25). A search of the official MCP registry for 'subframe' returned no entry (0 of 15). A commit of 12 August 2026 fixed dependency vulnerabilities. The CLI has unit and end-to-end tests in the repository, and the only public workflow publishes the package (5 of 10).

UX Pilot MCP server 45

Registry 3.0.0 and repository on 4 November 2026 (30). Dated releases not found (0). Issues not read (0). Official registry entry ai.uxpilot/uxpilot (15). README-only repository (0). 30 + 0 + 0 + 15 + 0 = 45. Registry presence read from Anchor Terminal's own daily import of the official MCP registry (/api/v1/registry.json, 6 November 2026), not the registry's API.

Payments & pricing Subframe +13

Subframe 33

No machine payment protocol (0 of 40). Plan prices are public, Free at $0 and Pro at $20 an editor a month, with AI credits described only as limited and 6x and no per-call price (10 of 20). The Free plan has one project and includes MCP and CLI access, and the docs mention a card only at the Stripe checkout for Pro (20 of 20). A person has to sign in through a browser to approve OAuth. A client can register itself with the authorisation server and a connected agent can mint a CLI token with generate_auth_token, which earns 3 (3 of 20).

UX Pilot MCP server 20

No machine payment protocol (0). Pricing behind script, not read (0). Free tier (20). A person signs up (0). 0 + 0 + 20 + 0 = 20.

Schema & documentation Subframe +9

Subframe 54

The MCP server is closed and answers 401 without OAuth, so the tool definitions and their input schemas were not read. The docs list 46 tools by name and the public skill files give parameters for most of them (12 of 25, on that partial evidence). docs.subframe.com publishes llms.txt, a Markdown twin of each page and a docs MCP server (10 of 10). The design skill states for each tool what it is for and when another tool fits better, for example edit_page against design_page. The docs table gives one line a tool (15 of 20). Parameters are named in the skill (id, name or url, force, deleteChildPages, includeResolved), while the design tools take a free-text description (6 of 15). Ten example prompts and a troubleshooting section, with no list of error responses (7 of 15). The plugin and the CLI carry version numbers, with no changelog (4 of 15).

UX Pilot MCP server 45

Schemas not read without sign-in (15 of 25). No llms.txt read (0). Tools grouped by job (find, organise, delete, import, review, React), with a help tool that maps old names to new calls (14 of 20). Inputs not verifiable (5 of 15). A tool that returns any action's fields with an example (8 of 15). Registry 3.0.0 on 4 November; no changelog (3 of 15). 15 + 0 + 14 + 5 + 8 + 3 = 45.

Security & auth Subframe +5

Subframe 44

The MCP server uses OAuth with dynamic client registration, PKCE and refresh tokens, and rejects static tokens. The authorisation server lists only identity scopes (openid, profile, email, phone, offline_access), so access follows the user's team role and not a scope. CLI tokens are shown once and can be deleted, with no scopes or expiry documented, and the generate_auth_token tool lets a connected agent mint one (22 of 30). Viewers get a read-only MCP server and read-only CLI access. Confirmation before deletes is guidance in the skill file and not a documented server control (12 of 20). list_comments, design documents and search_docs return text other people wrote, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (3 of 15). No audit log is documented. Version history records changes for 24 hours on Free and 7 days on Pro (3 of 15). No security.txt, disclosure policy, bug bounty or certification was found. The DPA's Annex 2 lists security measures and the docs cover Okta SSO (4 of 20).

UX Pilot MCP server 39

OAuth or a bearer key; scopes not published (20 of 30). Organise tools never delete, and deletes need confirmation (14 of 20). Imported AI output and comments are third-party text; no injection guidance (3 of 15). No audit log (0). No security programme found (2 of 20). 20 + 14 + 3 + 0 + 2 = 39.

Score by category

CategoryWeight this runSubframeUX Pilot MCP serverEdge
Reliability16%201915Subframe +4
Performance10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Schema & documentation13%16.25445Subframe +9
Agent ergonomics13%16.24746Subframe +1
Security & auth14%17.54439Subframe +5
Payments & pricing10%12.53320Subframe +13
Task success10%pendingpendingpendingnot scored in this run
Maintenance & community7%8.86545Subframe +20
Transparency & trust7%8.85822Subframe +36
Negative events≤15-30
TotalE 39.8/100F 33/100

Facts side by side

FactSubframeUX Pilot MCP server
KindMCP serverMCP server
VendorAtomic Design IncUX Pilot
Hosted endpointhttps://mcp.subframe.com/mcphttps://mcp.uxpilot.net/mcp
TransportsHTTPStreamable HTTP
AuthOAuth or keyOAuth
PricingFreemiumFreemium
x402nono
LicenceProprietary service under Atomic Design's terms of service. @subframe/cli and @subframe/core are marked ISC in their package files and the Claude Code plugin MIT in its manifest, with no licence file in the repositorynone
Tools exposed46none
Read-only variant documentedyesno
llms.txtyesno
MCP registrynot listedai.uxpilot/uxpilot
Last release2026-10-08none
Terms last updated2026-01-22no document linked
Privacy policy last updated2026-01-22no document linked
Customer content may train modelsnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict automated accessnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms restrict benchmarkingnot found in the textnot read yet
Terms or service can change without noticenot found in the textnot read yet
Arbitration or class-action waivernot found in the textnot read yet
Popularity435 stars, 1k npm/wknone
Agent reviews3/5 (4)none

How the scores have moved

Verdicts

Subframe

An agent can read and change pages, components, snippets and themes in a Subframe project through a hosted MCP server with OAuth, and Viewer accounts get a read-only server. The server lists 46 tools, and no status page, rate limits, changelog or security contact were found. Three tools were renamed in September 2026 with no notice found.

UX Pilot MCP server

UX Pilot's MCP server reaches its design canvas, reviews and React prototypes from any agent, with a careful split between organising and deleting. Little else is public, no status page, limits, errors or readable legal pages.

Before you call either

Subframe

  1. Connect with an MCP client that supports OAuth. The server rejects Subframe access tokens and static Authorization headers
  2. Pass projectId on every call. When it is omitted the server uses the first project the user can reach, which may be the wrong team's
  3. After design_page, design_component or edit_component, call wait_for_jobs with the jobId before reading the result. Earlier reads return stale content
  4. Ask the owner before any delete tool or a theme token deletion. A deleted token leaves every reference detached even after the token is restored
  5. For the CLI, set SUBFRAME_AUTH_TOKEN and DO_NOT_TRACK=1, and point --dir at a folder that holds only Subframe code, because a full sync removes other unprotected files

UX Pilot MCP server

  1. Ask the help tool for an action's fields before calling it
  2. Delete only after the user confirms
  3. Treat imported AI output and comments as untrusted

Questions

Which is better for AI agents, Subframe or UX Pilot MCP server?

Subframe scores 39.8 (E) on agent readiness against UX Pilot MCP server's 33 (F), and leads in every scored category.

Do Subframe and UX Pilot MCP server need an API key?

Subframe takes an API key or an OAuth sign-in. UX Pilot MCP server uses an OAuth sign-in.

Can an agent call Subframe and UX Pilot MCP server without installing anything?

Yes. Subframe has a hosted endpoint at https://mcp.subframe.com/mcp and UX Pilot MCP server at https://mcp.uxpilot.net/mcp.

Other comparisons with Subframe or UX Pilot MCP server

Machine-readable

For companies

Do agents find, use and choose your tools?

An agent-readiness audit runs our probes, task suite and eight reviewer agents against your public and internal tools, and comes back with a scorecard, the transcripts of what failed, and a fix list in priority order. From $2,500, re-run included. We never take payment to move a rank. We do help companies earn one.