Moz API

# Fix list: Moz API

From Anchor Terminal's listing at https://www.anchorterminal.com/tools/moz-api, the October 2026 research run, assessed 8 October 2026. Grade E, 45.3 out of 100.

This is everything the published grade says the listing lacks, the biggest possible gain to the total first. It comes from the reason given for each score, the checklist each category was scored against (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist), the provenance checks, the deductions, what we couldn't check and what the review panel asked for. A fix counts at the next check, once it's public.

For a coding agent working on Moz API: work through the items below in the product, its docs and its public pages. Each category gives the reason for its score, with the points each checklist item earned, and the checklist itself, so the gap is the items that earned less than their points. Change the product, not the wording, and keep a note of what you changed and where it's published.

## 1. Reliability, 42 out of 100, up to 11.6 more on the total

Why it scored 42: Graded on the public JSON-RPC API with the hosted lines. No working public status page was found. moz.statuspage.io redirects to a page saying Moz Status is inactive, the docs and help hub link none, and status.moz.com and health.moz.com did not connect from our network (0). No readable incident history (5). Edge limits are published with numbers, 2,000 requests in 60 seconds, 20 client errors in 60 seconds and a 30-minute block after ten 401 or 403 responses in five minutes, plus one request every ten seconds on the free plan (15). Per-method 429 responses carry `Retry-After` and the docs say to honour it, edge 429 responses carry none and the docs ask for exponential backoff, and no idempotency guidance was found for the Local write methods (12). The General Conditions promise commercially reasonable efforts at availability with no SLA or credits (0). The JSON-RPC API is generally available, and the MCP server is beta (10). 0 + 5 + 15 + 12 + 0 + 10 = 42.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-reliability):

Hosted APIs, MCP servers, models and platforms.

- 20, a public status page with component history (Statuspage, Instatus, BetterStack or the vendor's own).
- 0 to 30, the incident record for the last 90 days on that page. 30 for a clean record or trivial incidents only, 20 for minor incidents only, 10 for one major outage (an hour or more of a core API down, or errors across the board), 0 for several. 5 when there's no history we could read, and the note says so.
- 15, rate limits documented with numbers.
- 15, documented 429 or overload handling (Retry-After, backoff guidance), and idempotency keys or safe-retry guidance where writes are involved.
- 10, an SLA published for any paid tier.
- 10, the surface agents use is generally available, not beta or preview.

Local packages, SDKs, frameworks and stdio MCP servers.

- 20, installs from an official package with supported runtimes stated.
- 25, a public CI and test suite, passing on the default branch.
- 0 to 25, open crash or regression issues relative to activity (25 for few and handled, 0 for many, old and unanswered).
- 15, semver discipline and breaking changes called out in a changelog.
- 15, version 1.0 or later, or declared stable.

Protocols are read from their reference implementations, the public facilitators or servers, spec stability and test vectors.

## 2. Security & auth, 38 out of 100, up to 10.9 more on the total

Why it scored 38: Plain revocable tokens, up to five per account, sent in the `x-moz-token` header and never in a URL. No scopes were found. The beta MCP server adds OAuth with PKCE and dynamic client registration, with a single scope named `mcp` (20). The Data methods only read, but there's no read-only or per-product token, and the same token works on the Local endpoint, whose methods create, update, cancel and close locations (8). Results carry page titles, anchor text and search result snippets from the open web, and no prompt-injection guidance was found (0). Each response reports the quota used and the dashboard has a usage page, which sits behind a login we couldn't read. No audit log was found in the docs (5). security.txt gives a contact address, but it expired about three hours before our check and its policy, acknowledgements and PGP key links return 404. No SOC 2 or ISO 27001 statement and no bug bounty were found on the pages reviewed (5). 20 + 8 + 0 + 5 + 5 = 38.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-security):

- 0 to 30, the credential model. 30 for OAuth 2.1 with scopes, or scoped and revocable keys with rotation. 20 for plain revocable API keys. 10 for one all-powerful key. 10 off when a secret can travel in a URL query string as a documented option.
- 0 to 20, read-only or least-privilege modes, and confirmation or approval for destructive actions.
- 0 to 15, prompt-injection posture where the tool returns untrusted content (documented mitigations or guidance). A tool that returns no untrusted content gets 10.
- 0 to 15, audit logs or per-call visibility for the operator.
- 0 to 20, a security programme. security.txt or a disclosure policy, a bug bounty, SOC 2 or ISO 27001, advisories handled in public.

Models are read for retention, whether API data trains models (and whether that's off by default), zero-retention options and certifications. Frameworks for telemetry defaults, approval hooks, guardrails and sandboxing.

## 3. Payments & pricing, 20 out of 100, up to 10 more on the total

Why it scored 20: No x402, MPP or L402 (0). Plan prices, monthly rows and per-row overage prices are public without a login, and each method page states its row cost (20). The free plan of 50 rows a month requires a valid credit card, so it doesn't count (0). A person has to sign up and check out in a browser before a token exists. The MCP server's OAuth has dynamic client registration but still needs the account owner to sign in (0). 0 + 20 + 0 + 0 = 20.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-payments):

The published rubric, also on the [x402 page](https://www.anchorterminal.com/x402/).

- 40, a machine payment protocol (x402, MPP or L402) on the tool's own endpoints. 10 to 30 when it covers only some endpoints or only goes through a third party, and the note says which.
- 20, per-call or per-unit pricing published without a login. 10 for public plan-only pricing, 0 for "contact sales" or prices behind a login.
- 20, a free tier or trial that doesn't need a card.
- 20, autonomous onboarding, meaning an agent can get access without a person signing up in a browser (keyless use, x402, a programmatic key API).

Payment platforms and agent wallets rarely charge for their own API over a machine protocol, so the first line has steps for them, and the highest one that applies counts. 40 when x402, MPP or L402 runs on all their own endpoints, 30 when it runs on part of their own API, 25 when their merchants can accept one, 20 for running a facilitator, 15 for paying as a buyer, and 0 when the only protocol is their own. Merchant acceptance sits above a facilitator because the platform's own customers can charge agents through it, while a facilitator settles for sellers who wire up the protocol themselves. The counter-argument (a facilitator does more for the protocol as a whole) has a point. Each note says which step applied.

Open-source software you run yourself is scored on its hosted or paid option if it has one. A free, self-hosted package with nothing to buy gets 20, 20 and 20 for the last three lines, and 0 to 40 for the first only if it ships a payment protocol.

## 4. Schema & documentation, 50 out of 100, up to 8.1 more on the total

Why it scored 50: No downloadable OpenAPI or OpenRPC file was found, and api.moz.com/openrpc.json and /openapi.json return 404. Each method page is generated from JSON Schema definitions for payload, result and quota, which we count as a partial contract (8). moz.com/llms.txt returns 404 and no Markdown docs for agents were found (0). Method descriptions state the purpose and the row cost, and the guides explain async calls and errors, but few say when not to use a method (10). Inputs are typed with enums for scope, sort, filters, engine and device, numeric ranges and required fields (13). Request and response examples appear on each method page and in cURL, Python and JavaScript, and the error guide lists 13 codes with sample bodies (14). The docs say the API is not versioned, and the product updates archive holds one dated Moz API entry in the last 90 days (5). 8 + 0 + 10 + 13 + 14 + 5 = 50.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-schema):

APIs and MCP servers.

- 25, a machine-readable contract (a public OpenAPI file or similar; for MCP, typed JSON Schema inputs on every tool).
- 10, llms.txt or Markdown docs served for agents.
- 0 to 20, descriptions that say what a tool is for, when to use it and when not to, read from the tool definitions in the source or the API reference.
- 0 to 15, typed inputs with enums, constraints and required fields, and no free-form JSON blobs.
- 0 to 15, examples and documented error responses.
- 15, versioning and a public changelog.

Models are read from the API reference, the OpenAPI file, llms.txt, the structured-output and tool-use docs and the model cards. Frameworks from docs a model can follow, typed interfaces, examples and the API reference.

## 5. Maintenance & community, 28 out of 100, up to 6.3 more on the total

Why it scored 28: The newest dated Moz API entry in the product updates archive is the MCP server beta of 14 August 2026, 55 days before the check (20). That is the only Moz API entry in the last 90 days, the other nine dated since 15 June are Moz Pro and Moz Local (0). A dated archive exists, and support is by api@moz.com and the help team contact form, with 24/7 online support claimed on the product page. We could not test response times, and the contact page returned 403 to our reader (8). No official SDK was found (0). No packages to assess (0). The API General Conditions were revised with effect from 12 August 2026, and API responses report service version 2.28.2, which has no public release notes. 20 + 0 + 8 + 0 + 0 = 28.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-maintenance):

- 0 to 30, time since the last release, or the last published model or API change for a closed service. 30 within 30 days, 20 within 90, 10 within 180, 0 older.
- 20, at least three releases or dated changelog entries in the last 90 days.
- 0 to 25, responsiveness. Issues and pull requests answered on GitHub (the open issues and how recent the replies are). For closed services, a public changelog and a support or community channel that answers, 0 to 15.
- 15, presence in the official MCP registry under a verified namespace (MCP servers), or current official SDKs (APIs and models).
- 10, package health, current dependencies and CI.

Models are read for deprecation notice periods and model churn rather than release counts.

## 6. Agent ergonomics, 74 out of 100, up to 4.2 more on the total

Why it scored 74: List methods take `limit` (1 to 50 on link lists) and separate methods return a single keyword metric, but no field selection was found, and a site metrics object carries about 60 fields (15). Paging by opaque token, sort keys and named filters such as external, follow and gained_last_60_days (20). Errors carry a stable code, HTTP status, `data.issue`, `data.key` and an explanation, though the status field is named `status` in some bodies and `httpStatus` in others (19). The Data methods are reads, validation and quota checks run before any rows are used, and async calls can be polled again, but no idempotency keys were found for the Local write methods (13). `site_query` is the only required input on most site methods, the request `id` must be at least 24 characters, and no official SDK was found in the reviewed documentation (7). 15 + 20 + 19 + 13 + 7 = 74.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-ergonomics):

- 0 to 25, context cost. For MCP, the number and size of the tool definitions (25 for ten or fewer compact tools, 15 for 11 to 30, 5 for more than 30, plus up to 10 back for toolsets, dynamic loading or read-only subsets). For APIs, whether responses can be sized (field selection, limits, summaries).
- 20, pagination, filtering and output-size controls.
- 20, actionable, documented error responses, codes and messages an agent can recover from.
- 20, idempotency or safe retries, and for MCP the `readOnlyHint` and `destructiveHint` annotations.
- 15, sensible defaults, few required parameters, and official SDKs in at least two languages.

Models are read for tool use, structured output, prompt caching, context length, batch and SDKs. Frameworks for how much code and how many defaults a tool-calling agent with MCP needs.

## 7. Transparency & trust, 59 out of 100, up to 3.6 more on the total

Made of editorial 39, provenance 79.

Why it scored 59: Editorial half only. Closed service with clear terms, the API General Conditions (effective 12 August 2026) and an API legal page with attribution rules (15). The privacy policy (effective 8 April 2025) has a table of retention periods by data category and describes transfers under the EU-U.S. Data Privacy Framework, but covers the whole Moz site. No data processing agreement and no statement on retention of API queries were found on the pages reviewed (15). The docs say no breaking changes are expected outside beta methods, while the terms let Moz change or discontinue the service without notice, and the note that some methods are documented only in the legacy docs carries no dates (5). No list of subprocessors or data locations was found. The privacy policy says data is shared with other Ziff Davis companies (4). 15 + 15 + 5 + 4 = 39.

The checklist (https://www.anchorterminal.com/benchmark/#checklist-transparency):

- 0 to 30, source availability and licence clarity. 30 for open source under an OSI licence, 15 for closed with clear terms, 0 for unclear terms.
- 0 to 30, data handling and retention statements that agree with each other (privacy policy, DPA, retention periods, subprocessors).
- 0 to 20, a deprecation policy or notices with dates.
- 0 to 20, telemetry disclosed with an opt-out (local software), or subprocessors and data locations disclosed (hosted).

The other half of Transparency and trust is the provenance score, computed from checked facts (below). The category score is the mean of the two.

Provenance checks not met in full (half of this category, computed from checked facts):

- Terms of service: read, states 5 of the 7 things a reader expects, and has 2 clauses that cost points (4.3 of 10)
- Status page: not found (0 of 10)
- security.txt: published but past its Expires date (5 of 10)

## What we couldn't check

What we couldn't read counted as absent. Publishing it on a page a plain HTTP fetch can read (not only in a browser) lets the next check count it.

- unchecked: status.moz.com and health.moz.com did not connect from our network, so we can't say whether either hosts a live status page. moz.statuspage.io reports the page as inactive.
- unchecked: the MCP server's tool list, schemas and annotations. Both endpoints return 401 without an account.
- unchecked: the API dashboard and its usage page, which sit behind a login.
- unchecked: moz.com/help/contact returned 403 to our reader, so support routes are taken from the product page and docs.
- The founder's note said Moz's site could not be fetched earlier. On 8 October 2026 moz.com and api.moz.com answered curl with a plain user agent, and the docs were read from the page payload. WebFetch was refused for moz.com.
- security.txt carried an expiry of 2026-10-07T22:45:48-07:00, about three hours before the check. It may be regenerated on a schedule, so the expired reading could be short-lived.
- No data processing agreement, subprocessor list, SOC 2 or ISO 27001 statement was found on the pages reviewed. We tried moz.com/dpa, /subprocessors, /security and /trust, which return 404, and did not search further.
- The welcome page says the API is moving between versions and some link and site methods are documented only in the legacy docs, although current method pages exist for most of those named. Which methods remain legacy-only was not established.
- Whether an official SDK exists outside the docs was not established. None is named in the docs or on the product page.

## Weaknesses

- No working public status page was found, and moz.statuspage.io reports the Moz Status page as inactive
- No downloadable OpenAPI or OpenRPC file, no llms.txt and no official SDK in the reviewed documentation
- Tokens have no scopes or read-only mode, and one token works on both the Data and Local MCP endpoints
- The free plan of 50 rows a month requires a valid credit card
- security.txt expired on 8 October 2026 (UTC), and its policy, acknowledgements and PGP key links return 404

## What costs an agent a turn today

The notes we give agents before they call it. Each one is a workaround an agent shouldn't need.

- Send a request `id` of at least 24 characters (letters, numbers and hyphens). A UUID works. Shorter ids are rejected with -32654.
- Stop on a 401. Ten 401 or 403 responses in five minutes block the caller for 30 minutes.
- On 429 with code -32658 wait the `Retry-After` seconds. On code -32650 no wait time is given, so back off exponentially.
- Call `quota.lookup` (free) before large pulls. List methods charge one row per result, and `limit` is capped at 50 on link lists.
- Poll `async.call.lookup` for `data.keyword.serp.generate`, and collect the result within 20 seconds of first seeing it complete.

## When it's done

Send what changed and where it's published as a dispute (https://www.anchorterminal.com/builders/#disputes, or `POST https://www.anchorterminal.com/api/v1/contact` with `"kind": "dispute"`). Disputes are answered in public, and the listing is checked again by the same checklist. Paying for an audit or a listing claim changes nothing here.