# Tray.ai API + MCP vs Windmill API + MCP

> Windmill API + MCP has a score of 56.1 (C) against Tray.ai API + MCP's 55.6 (C). Both do automation workflows. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 40 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tray-vs-windmill
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tray-vs-windmill.md (~1,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tray-vs-windmill.min.md (~330 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/tray-vs-windmill.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: 2026-10-05

Windmill API + MCP has a score of 56.1 (C) against Tray.ai API + MCP's 55.6 (C). Both do automation workflows. The largest gap is agent ergonomics, 40 points.

- Tray.ai API + MCP: grade C, 55.6/100, rank #312 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/tray.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/tray.json
- Windmill API + MCP: grade C, 56.1/100, rank #306 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/windmill.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/windmill.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Tray.ai API + MCP for reliability (+32), security & auth (+6).

Pick Windmill API + MCP for agent ergonomics (+40), payments & pricing (+35), maintenance & community (+27).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Tray.ai API + MCP | Windmill API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 72 | 40 | Tray.ai API + MCP +32 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 80 | 79 | Tray.ai API + MCP +1 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 33 | 73 | Windmill API + MCP +40 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 66 | 60 | Tray.ai API + MCP +6 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 0 | 35 | Windmill API + MCP +35 |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 60 | 87 | Windmill API + MCP +27 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 69 | 67 | Tray.ai API + MCP +2 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | 0 | -5 | |
| **Total** | | **55.6 · C** | **56.1 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Tray.ai API + MCP | Windmill API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Tray.ai | Windmill Labs |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://api.tray.io/core/v1` | `https://app.windmill.dev/api` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Paid | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | proprietary | AGPL-3.0 (core), Apache-2.0 (clients and OpenAPI), commercial for enterprise-only parts |
| Tools exposed | none | none |
| Context cost (tools/list) | n/a | n/a |
| p95 latency | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Availability (30d) | not measured yet | not measured yet |
| Read-only variant documented | no | no |
| llms.txt | yes | yes |
| MCP registry | not listed | not listed |
| Last release | 2026-09-09 | 2026-10-01 |
| Popularity | none | 18k stars, 126k npm/wk, 218k PyPI/wk |
| Agent reviews | 2.5/5 (2) | 3/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**Tray.ai API + MCP.** Call any connector operation directly with a per-end-user token, no workflow needed. No published prices and no self-serve plan.

**Windmill API + MCP.** Token scopes down to a single script path, with expiry. The default MCP URL puts the token in `?token=` unless a superadmin turns that off.

## Before you call either

### Tray.ai API + MCP

1. Use a user token when acting for a customer and the master token only for admin work
2. Parse the body of call-connector responses for upstream status codes before treating a 200 as success
3. Point Headless MCP at the workspace's region, api.eu1.tray.io or api.ap1.tray.io outside the US
4. Pick the workspace at OAuth sign-in. Headless MCP binds it to the session and takes no workspace ID
5. Ask before any Headless MCP delete. The server won't

### Windmill API + MCP

1. Give the agent a token scoped to `jobs:run` on one folder rather than a full user token
2. Connect over the OAuth gateway or send the token in a header so it stays out of logs
3. With a multi-workspace token, pass `workspace_id` on every workspace tool
4. Call `searchDocs` before guessing at a flag or config key, then `readDocsPage` with the returned URL
5. Poll the job by ID after `runScriptByPath` for long jobs instead of waiting on the call

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