API.market vs handup
API.market vs handup: score breakdown
handup scores 72/100 against 68/100 for API.market, a 4-point gap. API.market is ahead on Delivery (15 vs 11); handup is ahead on Capability (20 vs 18), Ease of use (19 vs 17) and Value (22 vs 18). Each sub-score is out of 25.
Features and platforms
| Feature | API.market | handup |
|---|---|---|
| Pricing model | Freemium | Paid |
| Free plan | Yes | No |
| Platforms | Web, API (REST), MCP gateway (Streamable HTTP) | Web (demo), Linux (x86-64, ARM64), macOS (Intel, Apple Silicon), Windows x86-64 (beta), Android |
| Best for | AI agent builders and developers integrating multiple third-party APIs | Solo developers running multiple AI coding agents who need a human checkpoint before risky actions |
| Skip if | Teams needing predictable flat-rate billing or a single-vendor SLA | Teams needing shared approval queues or users who want a hosted relay without running their own server |
Cost and usage limits
API.market has a free plan. handup has a free plan.
Prices from each vendor's pricing page. API.market checked September 2026 · handup checked November 2026
Pros and cons
API.market
- Hosted MCP gateway exposes 3,650+ tools through a single endpoint, removing per-provider integration work for AI agent builders.
- Free trial units are available on most APIs without a credit card, with some APIs offering as many as 5,000 free units to start.
- 590+ APIs across diverse categories in one dashboard means developers can discover, compare, and switch providers without leaving the platform.
- Per-API billing from independent sellers makes total cost unpredictable: a project using five APIs means five separate pricing models to track, and there is no consolidated spend cap or budget alert at the platform level.
- The MCP gateway is proprietary and hosted with no self-hosted option, so teams with data-residency or audit requirements cannot inspect or control the gateway layer.
- Seller quality is uneven: ratings on the marketplace range from 0.0 to 5.0 with as few as one or two reviews on many APIs, giving buyers little signal on reliability before committing.
handup
- Hash-bound approvals tie your decision to the exact content you reviewed, preventing agents from substituting a different command after approval
- Denials return structured feedback to the agent so it revises and asks again rather than erroring out, keeping agentic workflows moving
- 14-day fully featured trial with no account or credit card, and a $30 one-time price with no subscription and a 30-day refund window
- Team licensing does not exist yet, so a two-person team cannot share an approval queue at any price
- The managed relay for reaching your phone without running a server is planned but not for sale; you must run the relay binary on your own Linux server today
- Windows support is beta and unsigned, requiring users to click through SmartScreen warnings during installation
Our verdict
API.market verdict
API.market is the right starting point for developers or AI agent builders who want to browse, trial, and integrate many third-party APIs without juggling separate accounts for each provider. Its hosted MCP gateway is a genuine differentiator for agent workflows, but the per-API pricing model means your actual monthly cost is nearly impossible to predict before you start building. Developers who need a single, well-documented API with predictable flat-rate pricing should go directly to that API's provider instead.
Read full API.market review →handup verdict
handup is the right tool for a solo developer who runs agentic coding workflows and wants a single place to approve or block consequential actions before they happen. It does one thing and does it with real depth: previews are hash-bound to the exact content you approved, denials reach the agent as structured feedback rather than errors, and the Android app wakes even when closed. The tradeoff is that team licensing does not exist yet, and the planned managed relay is not available for purchase, so anyone who needs multi-seat access or a hosted relay today will hit a hard wall.
Read full handup review →