MSP Software Categories API

openapi: 3.2.0
info:
  title: MSP Software Categories API
  version: 1.0.0
  description: 'Read-only JSON API for MSP Software: categories, software listings and vendors. No authentication, no writes, no PII, no individual price reports.


    The same data reaches machines four other ways: an MCP server at https://mspsoftware.net/mcp (Streamable HTTP, read-only), a short index at https://mspsoftware.net/llms.txt, every listing in one file at https://mspsoftware.net/llms-full.txt, and one listing as Markdown at https://mspsoftware.net/software/{slug}.md.


    Human documentation, with the feeds, is at https://mspsoftware.net/api.


    Facts, feature checklists, buyer guides, FAQ answers, aggregate ratings and reported-pricing aggregates on MSP Software may be quoted with attribution to MSP Software and a link to the page cited. Reviews are the reviewers'' own words and are not covered.'
  contact:
    email: contact@mspsoftware.net
servers:
- url: https://mspsoftware.net/api/v1
security: []
tags:
- name: Categories
paths:
  /categories:
    get:
      summary: List categories
      operationId: listCategories
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Every published category, with its published product count (primary or secondary).
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                required:
                - data
                - meta
                properties:
                  data:
                    type: array
                    items:
                      $ref: '#/components/schemas/Category'
                  meta:
                    type: object
                    properties:
                      total:
                        type: integer
      tags:
      - Categories
  /categories/{slug}:
    get:
      summary: Get one category, with its published products
      operationId: getCategory
      parameters:
      - name: slug
        in: path
        required: true
        description: 'A slug: the name in lower case with hyphens.'
        schema:
          type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: The category, its buying guide and FAQ, and its published products.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                required:
                - data
                - meta
                properties:
                  data:
                    $ref: '#/components/schemas/CategoryDetail'
                  meta:
                    type: object
                    properties: {}
        '301':
          description: 'A former slug of this category: Location is the current one.'
        '404':
          description: No resource at that slug.
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
        '410':
          description: The category is archived (error code "gone").
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
      tags:
      - Categories
components:
  schemas:
    CategoryDetail:
      allOf:
      - $ref: '#/components/schemas/Category'
      - type: object
        properties:
          allowed_units:
            type: array
            items:
              type: string
            description: The units a price in this category may be quoted per, most common first.
          updated_at:
            type:
            - string
            - 'null'
            format: date-time
            description: The freshest updated_at across the published products in this category.
          buyer_guide:
            type:
            - string
            - 'null'
            description: The category buying guide, plain text.
          faqs:
            type: array
            description: The questions section of the buying guide.
            items:
              $ref: '#/components/schemas/FaqItem'
          products:
            type: array
            description: Products filed under this category as their primary category first, then products that list it as a secondary category, each alphabetical.
            items:
              allOf:
              - $ref: '#/components/schemas/SoftwareSummary'
              - type: object
                properties:
                  listed_as:
                    type: string
                    enum:
                    - primary
                    - secondary
      title: CategoryDetail
    SoftwareSummary:
      type: object
      title: SoftwareSummary
      properties:
        slug:
          type: string
          description: The product name in lower case with hyphens, e.g. "datto-rmm".
        name:
          type: string
        tagline:
          type: string
        vendor:
          type: object
          properties:
            slug:
              type: string
            name:
              type: string
        category:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
          description: The primary category only. Null while that category is not published.
          properties:
            slug:
              type: string
            name:
              type: string
        url:
          type: string
          format: uri
        rating:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Rating'
        starting_price:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/StartingPrice'
        free_trial:
          type:
          - boolean
          - 'null'
        deployment:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
        featured:
          type: boolean
          description: 'Deprecated: the same value as sponsored.'
        sponsored:
          type: boolean
          description: The product has a live paid placement somewhere on the site.
        sponsorship_label:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
          enum:
          - Sponsored
          - null
          description: 'The label the site shows on a paid placement: "Sponsored" when sponsored is true, else null.'
        match:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
          enum:
          - product_name
          - vendor_name
          - previous_name
          - parent_vendor_name
          - domain
          - tagline
          - null
          description: 'Present on search results only: the field q matched, the best-ranked one when several do (a slug match counts as product_name). Null when there is no q.'
        placement:
          type: string
          enum:
          - sponsored
          - organic
          description: 'Present on search results only: "sponsored" for the at most two paid placements whose name matches q, shown first and labelled Sponsored; every other result is "organic" and ranked without regard to payment.'
        via_vendor:
          type:
          - object
          - 'null'
          description: 'Present on a vendor''s products only: the child company that makes this product, or null when the vendor makes it itself.'
          properties:
            slug:
              type: string
            name:
              type: string
        compare_url:
          type:
          - string
          - 'null'
          format: uri
          description: 'Present on alternatives only: the side-by-side comparison page for this product and the one it is an alternative to, or null when that pair is not comparable.'
    StartingPrice:
      type:
      - object
      - 'null'
      title: StartingPrice
      description: The vendor-published entry price. Null when the vendor publishes none.
      properties:
        minor:
          type: integer
          description: Integer minor units (pence, cents), never a decimal.
        currency:
          type: string
          enum:
          - GBP
          - USD
          - EUR
          - AUD
          - CAD
        unit:
          type: string
          enum:
          - endpoint
          - workstation
          - server
          - user
          - technician
          - site
          - mailbox
          - tb
          - tenant
          - network_device
          - connection
          - client
          - flat
          description: 'What the price is charged per: endpoint, workstation, server, user, technician, site, mailbox, tb, tenant, network_device, connection (a concurrent remote session), client (a managed client organisation), or flat (one price for the account, read as "per month").'
        period:
          type: string
          enum:
          - month
          - year
          description: How often the unit price recurs.
    FaqItem:
      type: object
      title: FaqItem
      properties:
        question:
          type: string
        answer:
          type: string
          description: Plain text, markdown stripped.
    Category:
      type: object
      title: Category
      properties:
        slug:
          type: string
          description: The category name in lower case with hyphens, e.g. "email-security".
        name:
          type: string
        description:
          type: string
          description: Plain text, markdown stripped.
        product_count:
          type: integer
        url:
          type: string
          format: uri
    Rating:
      type:
      - object
      - 'null'
      title: Rating
      properties:
        average:
          type: number
          description: Mean rating, one decimal place, out of 5.
        count:
          type: integer
          description: Published reviews counted in the average.
    Error:
      type: object
      title: Error
      required:
      - error
      properties:
        error:
          type: object
          required:
          - code
          - message
          properties:
            code:
              type: string
              examples:
              - not_found
            message:
              type: string
externalDocs:
  description: API documentation
  url: https://mspsoftware.net/api