AgentDrives

MCP or API: which one lets an AI agent do the work?

Where a product has both, its MCP server usually reaches less of it than its API.

MCP and API1 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 2026

108 of 123products with both an API and an MCP server reach less of the product over MCP123 of 201Products an agent can reach over both an API and MCP24 of 50Our agent finished a task over MCP, of the products where it ran one

Our drives 1 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 2026Every product where it did real workJSONMarkdown

What we found.

What an AI agent reaches and finishes, through the API and through MCP. Features the API reaches: 2,346 of 3,955, Features the MCP server reaches: 1,232 of 3,955, Finished through the API: 831 of 2,054, Finished through MCP: 173 of 297.

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Whether an AI agent got in, by sign-up. Sign-up an agent can complete: 81 of 86, Sign-up needs a person: 3 of 76, A bot check stopped sign-up: 1 of 39.

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Everything on MCP and API.

Research and data 3

  1. MCP or API: how much of a product can an AI agent run through each?At 108 of 123 products with both an API and an MCP server, an AI agent can reach fewer of the product's features through MCP than through the API.
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  1. MCP servers everywhere, agents nowhere105 of 174 products with an MCP server keep an AI agent out.
  2. Sign-up decides: llms.txt, OpenAPI and MCP don't get an AI agent in81 of 86 products with a sign-up an agent can complete let our agent in (94%), against fewer than 5 of 115 where sign-up needed a person or a bot check stopped it. With the sign-up held equal, no file for agents moved that by more than 6 points.

Articles 1

  1. Does an MCP server mean an AI agent can use your product?Neon, Cloudinary and Apify handed our agent a working credential through their own routes, with no sign-up form in its way.Numbers: 191 products, 1–29 Oct 2026

Protocols and specs 2

  1. MCPA server that turns a product's actions into tools an agent can call.174 of 201 products we drove offer it
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  1. OpenAPIA machine-readable description of every route of an API.103 of 201 products we drove offer it

Fix guides 1

  1. MCP sign-in an AI agent can finish: OAuth and CIMDOAuth metadata, CIMD or DCR, and a way to approve without a browser on the agent's side.105 of 174 products with an MCP server our agent couldn't get into on its own

Products where our agent finished a task over MCP.

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