What we found.
| Step | Median | Drives |
|---|---|---|
| Start to the sign-up page | 1.7 minutes | 200 |
| Sign-up page to an API key | 5.8 minutes | 80 |
| API key to the first working call | 10 seconds | 67 |
| First call to the first checked task | 37 seconds | 69 |
| Start to the first working call | 8.4 minutes | 97 |
| Step | With OpenAPI | Without OpenAPI | With an SDK | Without an SDK |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start to the sign-up page | 1.7 minutes | 1.7 minutes | 1.8 minutes | 1.6 minutes |
| Sign-up page to an API key | 6.1 minutes | 5.6 minutes | 7.8 minutes | 5 minutes |
| API key to the first working call | 7 seconds | 16 seconds | 6 seconds | 12 seconds |
| First call to the first checked task | 37 seconds | 40 seconds | 37 seconds | 37 seconds |
| Start to the first working call | 8.3 minutes | 8.6 minutes | 9.1 minutes | 7.5 minutes |
| Drives to the first call | 62 | 35 | 39 | 58 |
- From nothing to a first working API or MCP call: a median 8.4 minutes, over 97 drives.
- Start to the sign-up page: 1.7 minutes (200 drives).
- Sign-up page to an API key: 5.8 minutes (80 drives).
- API key to the first working call: 10 seconds (67 drives).
- First call to the first checked task: 37 seconds (69 drives).
- With an OpenAPI description, the first working call came after 8.3 minutes (62 drives); without, after 8.6 minutes (35 drives). The products with one were 18 seconds faster.
- With an official SDK, the first working call came after 9.1 minutes (39 drives); without, after 7.5 minutes (58 drives). The products without one were 1.6 minutes faster.
What to do.
For product owners
- Link the sign-up and the API key from the first page of your docs, so an agent finds them at once.
- Hand out the API key over the API, or show it on the page right after sign-up.
- Put a first request in your quickstart that works when copied as it is.
For agent builders
- Plan for 8.4 minutes or more from nothing to a first call, most of it before the key.
- Look for a route that issues a key in the API reference before you open a browser.
- Once you have a key, make one call before you read further: on these drives it took 10 seconds.
Method and limits.
How we tested
- Each product's newest drive, 1 Oct 2026 to 1 Nov 2026. Times come from the drive's own tool calls: when it reached the sign-up page, got an API key, made its first working call and finished the first task whose result it checked.
- A step counts only on drives that reached both its ends, in that order. A drive that called before it had a key has no key-to-call step.
- OpenAPI and SDK: what the product publishes, as the drive found it.
Limits
- One drive per product, by one agent. Drives that never reached a step are not in its median.
- The splits compare different products, so they show a difference, not its cause.
- No median is shown on fewer than 10 drives.
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