# Subframe vs Zeplin (slim)

> Zeplin scores 47.5 (D) to Subframe's 39.7 (E) for design files. Prices, MCP, x402, uptime and agent notes side by side.

- Full: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/subframe-vs-zeplin.md (~2,250 tokens) · this version ~730 tokens · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/subframe-vs-zeplin.json · canonical https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/subframe-vs-zeplin
- Index: https://www.anchorterminal.com/llms.txt · API: https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/index.json · Updated: 2026-10-09

Zeplin scores 47.5 (D) on agent readiness against Subframe's 39.7 (E), and leads in 5 of 7 scored categories. Subframe leads on maintenance & community. Both do design files.

- Subframe: E 39.7, rank #915 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/subframe.min.md
- Zeplin: D 47.5, rank #834 of 950 · https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/zeplin.min.md
- Subframe, good 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 Maintenance & community, 65 against 33. Also A hosted endpoint, with nothing to install.
- 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 Reliability, 36 against 19; Schema & documentation, 70 against 54; Agent ergonomics, 55 against 47. Also Runs on your own machine; No incidents deducted, where Subframe loses 3 points for them.

| Category | Subframe | Zeplin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability (16%) | 19 | 36 |
| Performance (10%) | pending | pending |
| Schema & documentation (13%) | 54 | 70 |
| Agent ergonomics (13%) | 47 | 55 |
| Security & auth (14%) | 44 | 47 |
| Payments & pricing (10%) | 33 | 30 |
| Task success (10%) | pending | pending |
| Maintenance & community (7%) | 65 | 33 |
| Transparency & trust (7%) | 57 | 58 |

| Fact (where they differ) | Subframe | Zeplin |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | MCP server | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Atomic Design Inc | Zeplin, Inc. |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://mcp.subframe.com/mcp` | no (local only) |
| Transports | HTTP | HTTP, stdio |
| Licence | Proprietary 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 repository | 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 | 46 | 4 |
| Read-only variant documented | yes | no |
| Last release | 2026-10-08 | 2026-08-03 |
| Terms last updated | 2026-01-22 | 2026-01-12 |
| Privacy policy last updated | 2026-01-22 | 2025-08-29 |
| Terms restrict automated access | not found in the text | yes |
| Terms restrict benchmarking | not found in the text | yes |
| Arbitration or class-action waiver | not found in the text | yes |
| Popularity | 435 stars, 1k npm/wk | 10 stars, 8.9k npm/wk |