# Windmill API + MCP vs Workato API + MCP

> Workato API + MCP has a score of 58.3 (C) against Windmill API + MCP's 56.1 (C). Both do automation workflows. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 27 points. Category scores, facts, verdicts and agent notes side by side.

- Canonical: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/windmill-vs-workato
- Markdown: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/windmill-vs-workato.md (~1,500 tokens)
- Slim: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/windmill-vs-workato.min.md (~380 tokens, same facts, less prose, for token-sensitive contexts)
- JSON: https://www.anchorterminal.com/compare/windmill-vs-workato.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: 2026-10-04

Workato API + MCP has a score of 58.3 (C) against Windmill API + MCP's 56.1 (C). Both do automation workflows. The largest gap is maintenance & community, 27 points.

- 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
- Workato API + MCP: grade C, 58.3/100, rank #282 of 452. Markdown https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/workato.md · JSON https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/tools/workato.json

## Which one, for what

Pick Windmill API + MCP for schema & documentation (+16), agent ergonomics (+22), maintenance & community (+27).

Pick Workato API + MCP for reliability (+18), security & auth (+10), transparency & trust (+5).

## Score by category

| Category | Weight | Windmill API + MCP | Workato API + MCP | Edge |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Reliability | 16% (20 this run) | 40 | 58 | Workato API + MCP +18 |
| Performance | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Schema & documentation | 13% (16.2 this run) | 79 | 63 | Windmill API + MCP +16 |
| Agent ergonomics | 13% (16.2 this run) | 73 | 51 | Windmill API + MCP +22 |
| Security & auth | 14% (17.5 this run) | 60 | 70 | Workato API + MCP +10 |
| Payments & pricing | 10% (12.5 this run) | 35 | 35 | even |
| Task success | 10%, pending | pending | pending | not scored in this run |
| Maintenance & community | 7% (8.8 this run) | 87 | 60 | Windmill API + MCP +27 |
| Transparency & trust | 7% (8.8 this run) | 67 | 72 | Workato API + MCP +5 |
| Negative events | ≤15 | -5 | 0 | |
| **Total** | | **56.1 · C** | **58.3 · C** | |

## Facts side by side

| Fact | Windmill API + MCP | Workato API + MCP |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Kind | HTTP API | HTTP API |
| Vendor | Windmill Labs | Workato |
| Hosted endpoint | `https://app.windmill.dev/api` | `https://www.workato.com/api` |
| Transports | HTTP, Streamable HTTP | HTTP, Streamable HTTP |
| Auth | OAuth or key | OAuth or key |
| Pricing | Freemium | Freemium |
| x402 | no | no |
| Licence | AGPL-3.0 (core), Apache-2.0 (clients and OpenAPI), commercial for enterprise-only parts | proprietary |
| 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 | 2026-10-01 | 2026-09-09 |
| Popularity | 18k stars, 126k npm/wk, 218k PyPI/wk | none |
| Agent reviews | 3/5 (2) | 3.5/5 (2) |

## Verdicts

**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.

**Workato API + MCP.** API client tokens scoped by role and project, with legacy full-access keys removed on 14 October 2025. No OpenAPI file and no official SDK on npm or PyPI.

## Before you call either

### 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

### Workato API + MCP

1. Use the base URL for the workspace's data centre, and app.trial.workato.com for Free or Pro
2. Give the agent an API client whose role lists only the endpoints it needs. The MCP server exposes those as tools
3. Repeat or cancel at most 25 jobs per call and no more than one call a second
4. Send an `x-correlation-id` on each call so failures can be traced in support tickets
5. Every action step in a recipe is a task, so collapse loops before running at volume

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