What we found.
What they offer, next to the products that let our agent in
| Surface | Stopped (117) | Let in (77) |
|---|---|---|
| API | 110 (94%) | 72 (94%) |
| MCP server | 98 (84%) | 69 (90%) |
| CLI | 49 (42%) | 42 (55%) |
| Any of the three | 114 (97%) | 77 (100%) |
By what stopped it
| Stopped by | Any | API | MCP | CLI |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A bot check (96) | 93 | 89 | 81 | 43 |
| A phone number or SMS code (8) | 8 | 8 | 8 | 2 |
| Something else (13) | 13 | 13 | 9 | 4 |
| All stopped at sign-up (117) | 114 | 110 | 98 | 49 |
- They offer an API at 110 of the 117, an MCP server at 98 and a CLI at 49.
- A bot check stopped 96 of the 117. 93 of them still offer an API, an MCP server or a CLI.
What to do.
For product owners
- If you offer an API, an MCP server or a CLI, give an agent a way to get the account or key it needs: a sign-up by API, a device login or a key it can request.
- Put the bot check where abuse costs you, not in front of the account your agent surface needs.
- If robots.txt closes sign-up to AI agents, say on your API or MCP page how an agent gets a key instead.
For agent builders
- An API, MCP server or CLI in the docs doesn't mean your agent can get a key. Check the sign-up first.
- Where a person must sign up, have them do it once and pass the key to your agent.
- Sign your agent's requests. Some bot checks let a signed agent through.
Method and limits.
How we tested
- Drives from 1 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 2026, 201 products. 117 of them stopped our agent at sign-up or its verification: it didn't get in on its own, and its newest drive first stopped there.
- Offers: the drive found it in the product's docs or site. An MCP server that only searches the docs doesn't count.
- What stopped it, one per product: robots.txt closing sign-up to AI agents, else a bot check, else a phone number or SMS code, else something else, such as a social sign-in only or a sales call.
- Let in on its own: sign-up, verification, a key and a first call with no person, on the newest drive and on at least half of the recent ones.
Limits
- Each product as it was on the day of its newest drive.
- Offering a surface is what the docs show. Without an account, our agent couldn't call it.
- A kind of stop fewer than 5 products had counts under something else. A group under 5 products has no row.
Cite this
AgentDrives, “Most products that stop an AI agent at sign-up still offer it an API, MCP or CLI”, 1 November 2026, https:// agentdrives.com/ findings/ stopped- at- sign- up.
@misc{agentdrives_stopped_at_sign_up_2026,
author = {{AgentDrives}},
title = {Most products that stop an AI agent at sign-up still offer it an API, MCP or CLI},
year = {2026},
month = nov,
url = {https://agentdrives.com/findings/stopped-at-sign-up},
note = {Agent test drive, CC BY 4.0},
}CC BY 4.0, with credit
See what an agent sees in yours.
Free: what an agent finds, any wall in its way and how many things to fix. The Audit ($499) gives you every fix.